Page 61 of Knot Your Romeo
“I’m starting to believe that, thanks to you.” I take a tentative step closer, encouraged when she doesn’t back away. “Jolie, I know I hurt you. I know I was a coward when you offered me everything I’d ever wanted. But I’m not that man anymore.”
“What’s changed?” There’s something in her voice—not quite hope, but not complete dismissal either.
“Everything.” I laugh, the sound carrying three years of suppressed emotion. “I realized that being afraid of losing you is no reason to push you away. That my fear of not being enough is exactly what makes me not enough.”
She studies my face in the moonlight, and I can see her weighing my words against the hurt I’ve caused her.
“What exactly are you asking for, Eli?”
“A chance to prove that I can be the Alpha you deserve. The man who will choose you every day, not because biology demands it, but because I can’t imagine a life without you in it.” I pull something from my pocket—a small velvet box. “I’m asking you to let me love you the way you should be loved. Completely. Without reservation. Without fear.”
Her eyes widen as she slides her fingernail over the box as we stand beside the lake where we first kissed, where I first understood what it meant to be chosen.
“I’m not asking you to marry me,” I say quickly, seeing the panic that flashes across her face. “It’s a key to my home. For you to come and go as you please, or…move in. But what it also represents is proof that I’m ready to be your Alpha in every way that matters.”
“Eli...” Her voice is breathless, uncertain.
“I know you said I had one chance, and I threw it away. But Jolie, if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I swear I will spend every day proving that your faith in me wasn’t misplaced.”
She stares down at me for a long moment, moonlight playing across her features. When she finally speaks, her voice is thick with emotion.
“I can’t.” My stomach drops to the floor, but I force myself to hear her out completely. “I can’t because my mother was right about one thing—alpha pheromones have influenced me. I’ve been making decisions with my body instead of my head, and I need space to figure out what I actually want versus what biology is telling me to want.”
Hope flickers in my chest despite her rejection. She’s not saying no forever—she’s saying not right now.
“How much space?” I ask quietly.
“I don’t know.” She wraps her arms tighter around herself, and that’s when I notice she’s shivering. “We’re leaving, Eli. Mom and I. This weekend.”
“Leaving?” I shoot to my feet. “Where?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Jolie, please—“
“Don’t.” She holds up a hand, stopping my approach. “This is what I need, Eli. Time away from all of this to figure out who I am when I’m not surrounded by Alphas who make me feel things I can’t trust.”
“What things?”
“Like I belong with you. With your brother—“
“Beckett?”
She nods and I want to argue, to point out that running away won’t solve anything, that what we have is real regardless of biology. But the determined set of her jaw tells me that pushing now will only drive her further away.
“Okay,” I say instead, the word tasting like surrender. “If that’s what you need.”
Surprise flickers across her features. “You will not fight me on this?”
“I spent three years fighting my happiness,” I whisper. “I won’t make the same mistake by fighting yours. If you need space to be sure, then I’ll give you space.”
“Thank you.” Relief clear in her voice, but there’s something else there too—disappointment, maybe, that I’m not fighting harder.
“But Jolie?” I wait until she meets my eyes. “When you’re ready—if you’re ever ready—I’ll be here. However long it takes, wherever you go, I’ll be here waiting for you to come home.”
She nods, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I should go. Mom will worry.”
“Wait.” I catch her hand gently as she turns away. “The wind chimes. On my porch. Do you want them?”
