Olive – POV
I waited. And waited.
The silence in Jace’s room was deafening, broken only by the ticking of the clock and the dull thud of my own heartbeat. Every second that passed without him returning twisted the knife in my chest a little deeper.
Maybe he just needed time. Maybe he was calming Jenelle down. Maybe... he was still going to choose me.
But minutes turned into nearly half an hour, and still, no sign of my mate. The warmth of hope began to fade, replaced by a hollow ache.
“I can’t sit here any longer,” I muttered to myself, standing up. “He’s probably in his office.”
I stepped out into the hallway, the cool floor biting against my bare feet as I made my way down the stairs. The packhouse was quiet, almost eerily so. Each footstep echoed in the silence, like the whole bui
