JACK
She was fidgeting and nervous. Overcome with emotion and unraveling—yet somehow that was the bravest thing about her.
Jack had faced down rival packs, made choices that haunted him, buried people he loved—but this? Watching this girl pretend she wasn’t breaking?
That wrecked him in a way he couldn’t name.
She was trying so hard not to look like she needed saving. And he wasn’t here to play hero. But he couldn’t stop the way his hand twitched beside hers. Wanting to reach. To anchor her.
“You’re not pathetic,” he said. “You’re doing more than most people ever could.”
Her eyes shimmered, just for a second, then she looked away. “I don’t know what I’m doing most days.”
Jack let the silence hold for a beat, then two.
“Neither do I,” he said. And it was the truth.
She turned her h
