Chen stared with alarm.What did you—
Pressure point manipulation.He’ll be unconscious for an hour.She stood, shouldering the bag.Tell him I kept my promise.I’m not running from what we are—I’m protecting it.
The drive back to Sunburst territory passed in weighted silence.Each mile brought clarity about the choices ahead.
Gregory was alive, planning something requiring elimination of his daughter and her mate.Using a pack insider for intelligence.And Conall would never believe evidence against his twin.
At the apartment, she gathered her few possessions—the coffee mug Conall had given her, a spare jacket carrying his scent, a photograph from the pack gathering Sarah had printed.Evidence of the life she might have built.
She left the photograph on the kitchen table with a note:
Conall—
By the time you read this, I’ll be gone.The evidence about Quinton is in the storage unit.Gregory is alive and planning something threatening the pack.I won’t let him use our connection to hurt innocent people.
I’m going to end this.Not because I don’t trust you to help, but because I can’t watch you choose between your mate and your twin.You shouldn’t have to make that choice.
The mate bond was real.What we built was real.Remember that.
Don’t follow me.Take care of your pack.Take care of your brother—whatever his involvement, he’s still family.
—N
The mate bond flickered as Conall began regaining consciousness.Nadine closed her eyes, feeling his presence one last time before doing what was necessary.
Then she closed the bond.
Not permanently, but enough to create psychic distance keeping him from tracking her.The separation felt like tearing away part of her soul, but it was necessary.For his protection.For the pack’s safety.
She drove east into gathering darkness, following intelligence leads toward the confrontation she’d been avoiding.Behind her, Sunburst territory fell away into memory, carrying the only chance at happiness she’d found.
Through the fading connection, she felt his moment of awakening, his shock at being alone, his desperate reach for their bond finding only barriers.
I’m sorry, she projected before closing it completely.But this is the only way.
The mate bond went silent, leaving her truly alone.The silence felt like death, like losing a vital organ.
But it was the price of keeping him safe.
Some choices had to be made alone.Some family business could only be settled by the people who’d created the problem.
Gregory wanted to eliminate threats to his operation?
Let him try.
He was about to learn exactly what his daughter had become—and exactly how much she was willing to sacrifice to protect the people she’d learned to love.
Even if it meant doing it alone.
CHAPTER 21
THE STORAGE UNIT FELTlike a tomb when Conall finally dragged himself back to consciousness.His neck throbbed where Nadine had struck the pressure point with surgical precision.
His memory came crashing back.
The evidence.Gregory’s deception.Nadine’s analysis pointing toward Quinton.
The way she’d looked at him when he’d refused to accept her conclusions—like he was choosing willful blindness over truth.