My Alpha Told Me to Stop Needing Him. So I Disappeared novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Don't Go Back

Ewan drove with his burned arm on the wheel and his jaw tight, and nobody in the truck spoke for the first four miles.

Tobias sat between us on the bench seat, wet to the thighs.

"He didn't wait for the moon," Tobias said. "Tiffany's deal is dead, so the old man came early. The ford is the first thing he wants."

"What's Corbin doing?" I asked.

"He sent every wolf with children back to the pack house. He's standing at the ford with the ones who stayed."

"Standing."

"On two legs." Tobias rubbed his face. "He says if he shifts and loses, the pack sees a beaten wolf. If he stands and loses, they see a man who stood."

Ewan turned onto the river road, and the pines began to open.

"Tobias," he said. "Get out and walk the last quarter mile. I need a minute alone with Anneliese."

Tobias looked from him to me and climbed down without a word.

The truck rolled forward alone.

I turned in the seat.

"Say it," I said.

"Say what?"

"What you've been carrying around since last night."

He didn't look at me.

"He's going to be hurt," Ewan said. "Bleeding in a river, with his pack watching. A man like that, when he's finally down, you don't leave him down."

"No."

"You went back to him once. For four years."

"I was twenty-three."

"You're allowed to go back, Anneliese. I'd never stop you." His knuckles were white on the wheel. "I only need to know now. Before I fight beside him."

I put my hand over his on the wheel and made him stop the truck.

The engine ticked in the quiet.

"Look at me," I said.

He did.

"I can't go back. There's nothing to go back to. I put my hand on that stone and I gave back every thread, and what I felt this morning when I woke up wasn't pull. It was a choice."

← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend