Leo’s POV

​I stood in the center of Leonard’s hotel room, my heart broken into pieces. I had spent the last thirteen hours fueled by a desperate, panicked need to track Scarlett down. I had scoured Nigeria, terrified she had vanished into some dark corner of the world where I could never reach her—only to come back to Australia empty-handed and exhausted.

​And now, here was my brother, barking orders and demanding truths I wasn’t allowed to speak.

​"What I do is none of your business, Leonard," I snapped, my voice filled with annoyance. "I have a life outside this circle. Respect that."

​"Respect?" Leonard laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "You’ve been acting like a weirdo since you returned from Nigeria. You lie about where you’re going; you lie about what you’re doing. We are triplets, Leo. We are supposed to be a unit, but you’re treating me like an outsider."

​"Maybe because you’re acting like a child!" I roared, the frustration of losing Scarlett finally boiling over. "I don’t owe you an itemized list of my every move. If I want to fly across the globe to clear my head, that is my right. Stop suffocating me!"

​"I’m not suffocating you; I’m calling you out on your bullshit!" He stepped closer, his Alpha aura flaring to challenge mine. "Something happened in Nigeria. You came back different. And then you lie about New Zealand? What are you hiding?"

​"Nothing!" I lied, even as the weight of my secrets was suffocating me. "Get over yourself, Leonard. I’m going to my room."

​I didn’t wait for his reply. I turned and stormed out of his suite, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the frame. I needed to get away from him before I said something I couldn’t take back. I started down the long, quiet hallway, my boots thudding against the carpet, my head down as I rubbed my temples.

​Then, the air changed.

​A scent hit me. It was faint—sharp, floral, and chemical—the fake scent of Scarlett. My wolf went from zero to a hundred in a split second, his claws digging into my subconscious. Her.

​I looked up. At the far end of the hall, a door was opening. A woman in a simple hoodie stepped out. I couldn’t see her face yet, but I knew that silhouette. I knew the way she held her shoulders.

​"Scarlett?" I breathed in, disbelieving.

​I didn’t think. I rushed toward her, my speed blurring the hallway. She must have heard the thud of my footsteps because she turned in my direction. Her eyes widened, her pupils blowing out with shock as she took me in.

​"Le—"

​I didn’t let her finish. I reached her in a flash, slamming my hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. I looked back toward Leonard’s door, my heart racing. If he heard her voice, if he smelled even a hint of her through that fake scent, it was over.

​"Open your room door," I hissed, my voice a low, urgent vibration. "We have to go in. Now."

​She looked completely confused, her eyes darting around in panic, but she didn’t fight me. I reached into her hand, snatched the keycard, and swiped it. The light flashed green. I pulled her inside, shoved the door shut, and engaged the deadbolt.

​I turned to her, my chest heaving. I just stared. For the past thirteen hours, I had been imagining every horrible thing that could have happened to her. I thought she had vanished. I thought I’d have to spend the rest of my life hunting her down through the forests of Africa. And here she was. In Australia. In the same hotel as me. It was so simple it felt like a trap.

​Scarlett stared at me like I was a ghost. She looked small in the oversized hoodie, her face pale.

​"Leo... I’m so sorry," she began, her voice trembling as she backed away. "I had to leave. I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep seeing you behind your family’s back. It’s too much... the lying, the hiding..."

​I knew why she ran. I knew she was trying to protect herself—and maybe even me—from the mess our lives had become. And surprisingly, I wasn’t angry. Looking at her now, I realized I had no right to ever be angry with her again. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

​"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry," she kept whispering, tears starting to well in her eyes.

​I didn’t let her finish. I stepped forward, cupping her face in my hands, and pulled her into a kiss. It was deep, passionate, and filled with all the words I couldn’t say. She froze for a second, then melted against me, her hands clutching at my shirt as she responded with a hunger that matched my own.

​I pulled away just an inch, our foreheads resting together. "I’m sorry," I breathed.

​She blinked, her eyes wet and confused. "What?"

​"My mother... and your parents... they’re alive," I said. I saw the way she swallowed hard, her eyes shifting. She already knew. "Scarlett, I am so sorry. For all the pain I let you go through. I was supposed to protect you. I was supposed to cherish you... love you. But instead, I let everyone bully you. I turned a blind eye to your pain because I thought you deserved it."

​I stroked her cheek with my thumb, my heart breaking for the girl I had failed. "Scarlett, can you ever forgive me?"

She shook her head. "It’s not your fault."

​I felt the weight of my past actions crushing me. Hearing her say it wasn’t my fault felt like a knife to the chest because I knew better. I was supposed to be her friend, and yet I had acted like a monster to the one person I was meant to cherish.

​"No," I said, my voice cracking as I held her face. "I have to take the blame, Scarlett. Even if your parents did have a hand in my mother’s death, I shouldn’t have done what I did to you. I used you as a punching bag for my grief. I stood by while the pack broke you, and I did my own share of the breaking."

​Scarlett looked at me, her eyes shimmering with a kindness I didn’t deserve. "Leo, we were kids. We were being played by people who had been planning this since before we were born."

​"That doesn’t make it right," I insisted, my thumbs wiping away the tears that finally spilled over her lashes. "I looked into your eyes for years and chose to see a traitor instead of my mate. I was so focused on my own pain that I became the villain in your story."

​I pulled her closer, needing to feel her heart beating against mine to remind myself she was actually here, actually alive. "I spent thirteen hours thinking I’d lost you forever. I went to Nigeria, I went to that pack, I saw Alpha Samuel... I heard about what happened at the competition."

​At the mention of the competition, she stiffened in my arms. The fake scent she was wearing couldn’t hide the spike of fear that radiated off her.

​"I know what Musa and Tony tried to do," I growled, my wolf snarling at the memory of Samuel’s words. "And I know you fought them off. I’m angry that you were in a position where you had to protect yourself... I’m angry that you felt you had to run to another continent just to feel safe from me."

​I stepped back just enough to look her in the eye, my expression grave. "Leonard is in the room down the hall. He’s suspicious. We can’t stay here."

​Scarlett’s breath hitched. "Leonard is here?"