Chapter 7: Run First, Regret Later
1338 Words
The room was silent.
Too silent.
Rowan’s voice still hung in the air, trembling with emotion.
“You have to choose. Now. Or I walk.”
Tessa couldn’t breathe.
Lucien was still as stone beside the bed, his entire presence locked onto her like she was the only thing in the world.
She looked from one to the other. Two Alphas. Two completely different kinds of danger.
Rowan had always made her feel safe. Gentle. Steady. Like the world wasn’t out to swallow her whole.
Lucien had never promised safety. He was chaos in human form, sharp edges and hunger. He made her feel alive and exposed all at once.
Her body still ached from the heatwave. Her heart was splintering.
“I... I can’t,” she whispered.
Rowan blinked. “You can’t or you won’t?”
“I can’t do this,” she repeated, voice cracking.
Then she did the one thing neither of them expected.
She ran.
Tessa threw the blanket off her, scrambled to her feet, and bolted from the bedroom. She heard both of them calling her name, but their voices barely registered. Her wolf was screaming too loud inside her head.
Not this. Not now. Not them.
She snatched her coat from the hook and ran barefoot out the front door. Down the stairs. Into the night air, cold and sharp on her flushed skin.
Her legs ached. Her lungs burned. But she didn’t stop.
She ran until her feet were sore and her thoughts turned numb. The streetlights blurred past. A few late-night pedestrians stared at her, a barefoot girl in an oversized hoodie sprinting through the city like she was being chased by ghosts.
She was.
Tessa ducked into a narrow alley between two buildings, leaning against the wall, gasping for air. Her hands shook. She slid down to the cold pavement and wrapped her arms around her knees.
What the hell was she doing?
She’d never run from anything in her life—not like this. But tonight… tonight had crossed a line she hadn’t even known existed.
She’d been caught in a war between two Alphas.
A war she never agreed to fight.
“Why me?” she muttered.
Her body still pulsed with the remnants of heat, but her mind was painfully clear now. That clarity hurt worse than the fever.
Because the truth was, she didn’t know what she wanted.
Lucien made her feel things she didn’t understand. He touched her like she was something sacred, even when his past said otherwise. But he’d taken her choice once—and no matter how kind he acted now, that wound hadn’t healed.
And Rowan? Rowan was everything a girl should want. Sweet, loyal, sincere. He looked at her like she was worth more than gold. But even his patience had a limit.
She’d pushed them both away.
Maybe that’s what she was best at.
“Tessa?”
The voice echoed faintly down the alley.
She froze.
No. Please, not now.
“Tessa, it’s me,” Rowan said gently.
She didn’t move.
He stepped closer. His scent followed him—softer now, tempered. No longer sharp with possessive Alpha instincts.
“I’m not here to force you,” he said. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
She let out a shaky breath. “How did you find me?”
“You always run east when you’re overwhelmed. You hate walking toward the river at night.”
He sat down beside her without asking.
Tessa stared down at her knees. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be.”
“Yes, I do. I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have let things get this far.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Rowan said softly. “We’re the ones who pushed. Me and him. We were treating you like a prize to win.”
Tessa flinched.
Rowan noticed.
He sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. “You don’t owe me a choice, Tessa. Not tonight. Not ever, if that’s what you decide.”
“I just wanted to help Haylee,” she whispered. “That’s all. And now everything’s ruined.”
Rowan tilted his head toward her. “Is it ruined… or just different?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s real anymore. My wolf wants one thing. My heart wants something else. And my brain keeps screaming at me to get away from both of you.”
He smiled a little. “Sounds exhausting.”
She laughed. Just once. It hurt her throat, but she needed it.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked quietly.
“Because I like you. A lot more than I should.”
She looked away.
Rowan stood, brushing the dust from his jeans.
“I’ll give you space. But if you need anything—anything at all—I’ll be here.”
She nodded slowly.
He turned and walked away, disappearing around the corner.
Tessa stayed there for a while, trying to breathe through the ache in her chest. She didn’t know how long she sat there.
Long enough for the wind to start biting at her skin.
Long enough for regret to start setting in.
Then footsteps echoed down the alley again.
Heavy. Slower. Different.
Her stomach turned.
Lucien.
“Tessa.”
She didn’t look up.
“You ran,” he said simply.
“You said to tell you to leave. I didn’t have the words, so I used my feet.”
“I got the message.”
He stepped closer. The scent of him curled around her like smoke—dangerous, intimate, impossible to ignore.
“I told you I wouldn’t touch you. And I meant it.”
She finally looked up at him. His eyes weren’t angry. They were hollow. Quiet.
“You scare me,” she said softly.
Lucien didn’t blink. “I scare myself sometimes.”
“That’s not comforting.”
“I’m not trying to be comforting.”
Tessa stood slowly, barefoot on the gritty pavement.
“I need to be alone right now.”
He nodded.
“I get that.”
But he didn’t move.
“You’re still here,” she said.
“I’m not chasing you.”
“You followed me.”
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t collapse on the sidewalk.”
Her lips twitched. “So noble.”
Lucien shrugged. “Can’t help it.”
She tilted her head, studying him.
“What are you even doing here, Lucien? Really?”
“I don’t know anymore,” he admitted. “Everything was simple before I met you. I never cared what people thought. I never cared who I hurt. But now…”
He trailed off.
She waited.
Lucien’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Now I see you in my sleep. I smell your scent when I close my eyes. It’s like you’ve carved yourself into me and I didn’t even get a choice.”
Tessa swallowed hard.
“I don’t want to belong to anyone,” she whispered. “Not even someone who says all the right things.”
“I don’t want you to belong to me,” Lucien said. “I want you to stand next to me. Because you choose to.”
She stared at him, speechless.
And for one tiny second… she believed him.
But then her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She glanced down.
One message.
From Haylee.
“We need to talk. Now. I messed up. Bad.”
Tessa’s stomach dropped.
She looked at Lucien.
“I have to go.”
He stepped aside.
But as she turned, he caught her wrist—just for a moment.
“Whatever your sister tells you… don’t let it break you.”
She stared at him, her heart thundering.
Then she pulled away and ran again—this time toward a truth she hadn’t expected.
And far behind her, Lucien stayed in the shadows.
Watching.
Waiting.
And preparing for the storm to come.
- Writer
