15 32 % Chapter 9 Blake's head snapped up , hope flaring in his bloodshot eyes . " Lena , I was blind before - I thought I was just some repayment for Grandfather's debt . But I see clearly now . I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you . " His trembling fingers brushed my doorstep . " We're still young . We can have more pups- The slap echoed through the porch before I even realized I'd moved . " You're still trampling on everything we had ! " My voice shook with decades of pent - up fury . " Of all the ways to rebel against your family , why choose this ? Why break me ? Because I was the easiest target ? " This Alpha never understood that everything was irrevocably lost . Our love had long been shattered by his own hands , just like our two daughters . It was all too late - forgiveness could never bridge the chasm created by death's cruel measure . Tears carved paths through the stubble on his hollowed cheeks . The great Alpha reduced to silence . I tried to smile . Failed . Saltwater betrayal spilled down my face instead . " If you're truly sorry , Blake Wilder , then let me go . Let our daughters rest in peace . " " The bond is already severed . Sign the deal or don't - I'm never coming back . " The door slammed so hard the windowpanes rattled . Dawn revealed an empty porch . Just the bond - breaking deal lying there , his signature slashed across the bottom like an open wound . When I met Sierra at the Moonbeam Café weeks later , the silence between us weighed more than the sugar cubes she kept stirring into untouched tea . The updates came haltingly : The Obedience Den - shuttered . Its torturers now facing lifetime pack bans . Blake - found unconscious in a liquor - flooded bedroom , his wolf howling so loudly neighbors thought it was a rogue attack . The healers diagnosed something even silver bullets couldn't fix : a soul sickness . As for Hannah ? A neat stack of embezzlement records saw her incarcerated before her abortion scars had even healed . Sierra's fingers twitched toward mine . " He asks for you in his lucid moments . Would you- " " No. " The word left no room for negotiation . She exhaled through her nose . " Grandpa warned me not to come . Said reopening wounds helps no one . But I needed you to know ... " A shaky breath . " You'll always be family . And I pray someday , and you'll find it in your heart not to hate him . " The coffee turned to ash on my tongue . Suddenly I was eighteen again , watching golden - hour light gild Blake's blush as he whispered : " Fated or not , I choose you . " Had he meant it ? It didn't matter now I drained my cup and stood , the chair screeching like a dying animal . No promises . No lies . Just the truth neither of us could outrun Some wounds never heal . Never Chapter 9 .