The car reached the gates.

Rolled through them smoothly.

Disappeared around the curve in the drive that would eventually lead to Shadowmere territory.

And all three brothers felt the mate bond stretch one final time....a desperate, anguished pull that made them all inhale sharply as if they’d been struck.

Then it settled into a dull, constant ache. A presence that would live in their chests forever. A reminder of what they’d found and what they’d had to release.

Lucian stopped pacing.

"Why did we let her go?" His voice sounded broken. Raw. Like the question was being torn from somewhere deep inside him.

"Because we had to," Nicholas said. He didn’t turn from the window. Didn’t watch Lucian. Just kept his eyes fixed on the empty drive where the car had been. "Because keeping her would have made us monsters. And because..."

He paused.

"Because she’s our mate," he said quietly. "And mates deserve the choice to stay. Not to be trapped. Not to be forced. She deserves to choose us. And right now, we haven’t earned that choice."

***

The hospital parking lot smelled the same as it always had.

Antiseptic and dying flowers and something underneath that suggested sickness. Lilith stood outside the black car for a moment, just breathing it in, grounding herself in the familiarity of it.

Marcus had pulled up to the curb with quiet minutes ago and turned to her before opening the door.

"Good luck," he’d said simply.

She’d nodded, grabbed her small bag, and stepped out into the Shadowmere afternoon.

The car had pulled away smoothly, carrying the last piece of the Blackwood estate with it. Lilith watched it disappear into traffic before turning toward the hospital entrance.

The glass doors slid open automatically.

Inside, the lobby was exactly as she remembered. Fluorescent lights casting everything in harsh white. The check-in desk staffed by a young woman who’d never made eye contact with her even before she became omega.

Lilith kept her head down.

She knew better than to meet anyone’s gaze. Knew that the moment someone recognized her, whispers would start. Pack members had long memories. They’d remember that she was the traitor’s daughter. They’d remember that she’d been sent away as payment. They’d wonder what had happened to her. They’d judge her for whatever they imagined had occurred.

She walked toward the elevator with her eyes on the polished floor.

Out of her side vision, she caught sight of two warriors near the waiting area. They turned to look at her. She felt their eyes tracking her movement. Felt the moment recognition hit them.

She didn’t look back.

The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside, pressing the button for the third floor. The doors closed. She was alone in the small metal box as it climbed, carrying her back to the place she’d visited every single day for two months.

Room 304.

Third floor, left wing, third door on the right. She’d walked this route so many times she could do it in her sleep.

The hallway was quiet. Afternoon shift meant fewer visitors, fewer staff moving between rooms. Lilith walked slowly, counting doors. One. Two. Three.

She stopped at Room 304.

Through the small window in the door, she could see the bed. Could see the figure on it. Could see the machines maintaining her mother’s life.

Her hand shook as she reached for the door handle.

She pushed it open gently and stepped inside.

Her mother lay exactly as she had for the past two months.

The machines beeped their steady rhythm....heart monitor, oxygen levels, the quiet hum of medical equipment designed to keep a body alive when it had decided to retreat from consciousness. Her mother’s dark hair was spread across the white pillow. Her face was pale but not skeletal. She looked like she was sleeping. Like she might wake up at any moment and ask what had happened.

But she wouldn’t wake up.

Lilith knew that now. Had accepted it somewhere between the Blackwood estate and this hospital room.

She pulled the chair close to the bed and sat down. Her legs suddenly felt unable to support her weight. Her whole body was shaking despite the warmth of the hospital room.

She reached out and took her mother’s hand.

Her mother’s skin was warm. The IV was in her left arm, taped securely. Her right hand...the one Lilith held, was soft and familiar and exactly as it had always been. Her mother’s hand. The hand that had held hers through childhood. That had braided her hair and wiped her tears and steadied her when she was afraid.

"Hi, Mom," Lilith whispered.

Her voice sounded small in the quiet room.

"I’m back. I came back like I promised."

The machines beeped. Her mother’s chest rose and fell with mechanical regularity. Nothing changed.

Lilith sat there for a long moment, just holding her mother’s hand and trying to process the fact that she was actually here. That she’d survived the days she spent with them. That she’d made it through.

And then something inside her broke.

It started as a tightness in her chest. A pressure that had been building for weeks....since the contract, since the arrival at the estate, since everything had changed. The pressure built and built, pushing against her ribs, making it hard to breathe.

Lilith bent forward until her forehead nearly touched their joined hands.

"I’m sorry," she whispered.

The words came out like a confession. Like an apology for things she hadn’t done. Like she was asking forgiveness from the only person in the world who mattered.

"I’m sorry, Mom. I’m sorry."

Her shoulders started to shake. The tears came without warning....not the controlled, managed tears she’d allowed herself over the past two months, but deep, wrenching sobs that tore up from somewhere inside her core. Sobs that bent her double, that made her grip her mother’s hand like it was the only thing keeping her tethered to the world.

"I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry."