(DARIAN)

I told myself that I would stay away from anything related to Alice. I even threw away the report Jimmy had compiled for me.

So, why am I sitting across the road from the elementary school where Alice’s daughter goes? Why is Jimmy’s report sitting on the passenger seat next to me?

I try not to think about it, my fingers tapping on the steering wheel as I look at the school. Parents are arriving to pick up their children. Some of the kids are still exiting the building into the little playground where the parents meet them.

I see Alice pull up. She parks at the curb and gets out of the car. She’s wearing a pale blue blouse with puffy sleeves paired with a dark pencil skirt that reaches her knees. Purse in hand, she strides over to the gate. One of the teachers greets her and then motions to somebody in the playground. That’s when I see the little girl.

She’s older than she was in the picture I saw. Her hair is braided, and her smile is broad, filled with mischief and love. She runs over to her mother, arms outstretched, and leaps into her embrace.

My eyes settle on Alice’s face. She’s looking at that little girl with an adoring gaze. I roll my window down slightly, and I hear her ask, "How was your day, Mira?"

"It was okay. Mrs. Jefferson said I was too smart for my own good. Is that a bad thing?"

Alice frowns at her. "Maybe Mrs. Jefferson should keep her opinions to herself. I’ll talk to her."

"Don’t talk to her." The girl holds Alice’s hand as they walk back to the car. "She also gave me a sticker ’cause I got all the answers right. Everyone clapped for me."

Mira smiles. One of her front teeth is missing. "Where’s your scarf?" Alice asks.

"Right here." Her daughter retrieves a green scarf from inside her jacket, and I freeze.

I recognize that scarf. It’s the one I got Alice for her birthday! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

She kept it?

Alice kneels in front of her daughter and carefully wraps it around her neck. "You should wear it so you don’t get sick. I told you there’s a cold spell going on with all the rain. You have to make sure to stay covered up."

"You worry too much, Mama." "Because that’s my job."

Mira giggles. "You have too many jobs, Mama."

I am so focused on the scarf that I don’t think too much about why the six-year-old girl is so articulate.

I lean back against my seat as they drive off.

She kept it.

I look out the window, dazed.

Why did she keep the scarf?

What am I even doing here? I keep telling myself to stay away from her, and now I’m parked outside her daughter’s school, obsessing over the scarf that I gave her years ago and that she kept. Maybe the scarf was simply not important to her? Maybe she forgot who gave it to her? Maybe it’s not even the same scarf!

I try to find reasons to walk away, but nothing I tell myself gives me the assurance I need. Do I need to hear it from her mouth? Do I need to hear her tell me that she hates me, that she never wants to see me again? Is that what will finally get me to give up?

My wolf feels restless, desperate to go after her, to touch her. My hands tighten around the steering wheel. I can’t do this. I shouldn’t do this. As long as the white witches’ coven retains its power, Alice will always be in danger.

The mark on her ankle is the sign of a dark witch. I don’t know how Alice, a wolf shifter, can bear that mark, but the ritual that was meant to seal her

powers remains incomplete. According to the white witches, Alice had to be branded on her back for the seal to be completed. If I drag her back into my world, the white witches will stop at nothing to take her from me. And with how powerful they have become and how far their influence has reached within my kingdom, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop them.

I can’t be selfish.

I need to do what’s right. If anybody else finds out Alice is alive, the white witches will go after her, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to protect her.

Even if I can protect her, it will start a war between the white witches’ coven and the Wolf Kingdom. There is already growing friction among the wolves; adding to it will be catastrophic.

Right now, the only reason Willow and her father still have some level of control within the royal palace is because of the coven. If I strip the white witches of their power, there will be nothing standing in my way.

The idea intrigues me. This could work. I’ve already uncovered quite a lot of financial discrepancies between the funding provided to the witches and how much they are spending. If I can fast-track everything, maybe I can approach Alice. I don’t mind raising her daughter; I’ll even give her my name. If I can convince Alice to forgive me, if I explain everything to her, maybe she will—

The memory of her writhing on the floor, pleading with me, comes to mind. That defeated look in her eyes, that dull acceptance of her fate, it all comes crashing down. Will she forgive me? I don’t think so. I don’t know if she ever will. My insides are twisting. I have to at least try. If I just talk to her...

Hopelessness fills me. As always, when it comes to Alice, I can’t think straight.

Get her to forgive me or stay out of her life?

I can’t decide which path to follow. But without Alice, I know I’m a shell of a man. I need her. I didn’t realize how desperately I needed her till I saw her again.

I start the car, my heart aching.

I don’t know what to do, but I do know that I would give anything to see her smiling at me again, to see that trust in her eyes when she looks at me.

But Jimmy was right. I need to be real with myself. That’s never going to happen.