Because I believed there was a future worth waiting for.
But after that night, I no longer wished to wait.
At dawn, Cassian’s parents arrived with several elders from his bloodline.
The omegas had just finished laying out breakfast when they entered. His mother glanced around and immediately asked, “Has Cassian returned?”
I smiled faintly.
“He never came back last night.”
Her face paled.
One of the elder aunts caught her sleeve. “Stacey, call him back at once. This is unacceptable.”
Then she turned to me, patting my hand awkwardly.
“Elara, don’t be angry. Have you eaten? Sit with us.”
I looked at them quietly.
They were embarrassed. Ashamed for him. Sorry for me.
But none of that changed where he had spent the night.
I sat with them and ate breakfast as though it were an ordinary morning.
When Cassian finally answered his mother’s mindlink, his voice was low and impatient. He said he could not leave yet. Odette had not awakened, and he needed to remain by her side.
The room fell silent.
One aunt lowered her cup. Another looked away. Stacey’s fingers tightened against the table.
Everyone looked at me.
I only smiled.
“I’m due at the Alpha Hall,” I said as I rose. “You may wait for him here.”
I picked up my cloak and left.
The day passed in a blur of Luna duties—reports, patrol records, disputes among pack members. I buried myself in work until sunset stretched long shadows across the hall.
Cassian never returned.
Strangely, I felt no anger.
No disappointment.
Only relief.
Because this… was exactly what I had expected.
His family did not leave until close to midnight.
By then, the Ashbourne estate had gone quiet. The fire in the front salon had burned down to embers, casting a dull red glow across the marble hearth. The chandeliers had been dimmed, and only the wall sconces remained lit, throwing thin gold light over the dark wood panels and the portraits of dead men who had built the family empire with blood and gunpowder. The dinner prepared for Cassian sat untouched in the dining room, the steak cold, the wine breathing for no one.
His mother and aunts stayed far longer than they should have, as if lingering in the house might somehow cover the disgrace he had left behind.
But some things could not be covered.
Not when the heir to the Ashbourne name had failed to come home.