Chapter 21 Accept and Decide
Sienna
“I’m sorry.” I said, the words feeling small. I hadn't meant to call him out so suddenly, hell, I could've misread the signs.
He didn't look at me. He just started walking again, his eyes fixed on the path ahead. I fell into step behind him, waiting for the silence to break.
“When did you catch on?”
“When you were talking about the Alpha,” I said softly. “I just... I recognized the look.”
Cole let out a dry laugh. “Well, he was my childhood crush. Hard to hide that kind of obsession, I guess.”
I didn’t say anything. Honestly, who wouldn't have Sev as their childhood crush? But for Cole, I realized the stakes were infinitely higher than just a schoolboy infatuation.
“As you have noticed, this pack follows a very narrow, very ancient tradition. Around here, heritage and lineage are everything. They wouldn’t even begin to understand what it means when someone says they don't feel that pull toward the opposite sex—that their heart, and their heat, is meant for the same.”
Cole paused, his usual swagger vanishing as he stared at nothing, his knuckles whitening as he clenched them.
“That fact alone makes me a failure to my parents,” he added, his voice dropping so low I could barely hear it. “They don’t know yet, I haven't said a word, but I can already feel the weight of their disappointment. Every time my father talks about me finding a strong mate or carrying on the family name, I feel like a liar. I’m a dead end in a culture that only cares about the next generation. I’m keeping this secret locked inside because the second it comes out; I stop being their golden son and start being the end of their legacy.”
I didn't say a word. I just stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a warm, grounding hug.
He stiffened for a fraction of a second before he collapsed into me, burying his face in the crook of my neck. He held me so tight I could feel the slight tremble in his chest, the silent release of a secret he’d been choking on for years.
“You know, you don’t need to change to be accepted, Cole,” I whispered, resting my chin on his shoulder and rubbing his back. “If they can’t see how great you are regardless of who you love, then their legacy isn't worth a damn anyway.”
“Shit,” I muttered, the word dying in my throat the second I spotted that familiar black car idling just outside the gates.
I looked at Cole, who was giving me a look so pitiful I actually felt the urge to apologize for existing. Thankfully, it wasn’t Sev who had come to drag me back personally—it was Jordan.
“There you are,” Jordan said, rising from the sofa where Cole’s entire family had now gathered like they were watching the season finale of a drama they hadn't signed up for.
“Cole! You didn’t tell me the Alpha’s guest was here!” Cole’s mother said, her voice spiking into a frantic, high-pitched panic.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” I cut in, giving a slight, apologetic bow. “It’s my fault for not letting the people at the mansion know. Thank you for having me, but we’ll be leaving now.”
I turned to Cole, offering a weak smile. “Sorry. Sleepover next time?”
Cole just shook his head slowly, his eyes wide as he looked at Jordan. “I think you should save your apologies for the man waiting at the mansion, Sienna. Good luck.”
Jordan stepped forward, and I followed him out after a quick goodbye to Cole’s family. The ride back was agonizing.
“The Alpha is furious, Miss,” Jordan murmured, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror for a split second.
I didn't even bother to reply. I just let him open the car door for me once we pulled up. So what if he was furious? I was the one who had been ignored for a week.
“Sienna.”
Sev’s voice hit me the second I reached the entrance. It was low, dangerous, and I could practically feel the anger radiating off him in waves.
I just raised an eyebrow, tucked my chin, and tried to brush past him toward the stairs. I wasn't going to give him the chance to lecture me like a toddler. But he had longer legs, and he was a hell of a lot faster than I was. His hand clamped around my arm just as my foot hit the first step, jerking me to a halt.
“What?!” I snapped, turning on him. I was nearly screaming. The heat of his palm through the fabric of the hoodie made me remember that night—the way he’d touched me, the way he’d looked at me—before he’d decided to pretend it never happened.
He didn't speak. Not at first. His gaze dropped, scanning the oversized grey hoodie and the baggy joggers Cole had lent me.
“You smell like him,” he growled, his voice dropping into a register that made the hair on my arms stand up. “You smell like that boy. Like Cole.”
I rolled my eyes, leaning back against the banister. “Let me fucking go, Sebastian. I won’t say it twice.”
As if he’d been burned, he suddenly let go of me.
“What do you want from me, really?” I asked, my voice shaking with all the frustration I’d been bottling up. “I’ve done nothing but be honest with you. But all you do is pull me in when you’re hungry and then push me away the second you're full. I’m not a toy, Sev.”
Truth be told, I was just as guilty for the mess we’d become. I kept throwing myself at him, but I only did it because I saw the truth in his eyes. Every look and every lingering touch told me he wanted me, even while he was doing everything in his power to pretend he didn't.
“You’re my friend’s sister,” he said, falling back on that tired excuse. “And you’re only nineteen.”
“I’m turning twenty in eight weeks,” I shot back.
He heaved a heavy, exhausted sigh. “It doesn’t matter. In our world, you’re still a child, Sienna. It was a mistake for me to ever look at you and think of things so dark even the devil would call them a sin.”
My breath hitched. My heart hammered against my ribs—not with fear, but with a dark, electric thrill. Hearing him admit it, knowing that his silence wasn't because he didn't want me, but because he wanted me so badly it scared him, was dangerously delicious.
“So,” he said. “Better focus on your studies. I’m going back to how I’ve always been. We’re done with this.”
“No.”
“I don’t care anymore,” I told him, closing the gap until I was standing right in his space, looking up into those golden, haunted eyes. “I don’t care if you call other women to distract yourself. But you don’t get to ignore me, Sev. We are way past that. So, stop acting like you’re the ‘child’ and face your fucking feelings.”