I Loved You Through Seven Losses Chapter 08

I Loved You Through Seven Losses Chapter 08

Three years later, my suitcase wheels hummed across the polished floor.

Abroad-shouldered man in a dark coat took the handle from me.

“Ms. Reed. I’m Liam. The Badlands assignment is closed, and Command assigned me as your

personal security.”

I glanced at his credentials and nodded.

Three years out in the Badlands had worn every soft thing off my old life.

My skin had gone brown, and my hands were full of calluses. I wore my scars like armor.

In that other life, I had turned down the Council’s offer for Asher’s sake.

I had wanted something quiet and ordinary. I had wanted to be a mate and a mother.

I had been such a fool. That life was never anything but a cage.

This time, I chose to live for myself from the very first day.

Liam was walking me toward the private exit when two figures came shoving out of the crowd.

“Roxie!”

“Roxie!”

I stopped.

Asher and Garrett stood there, both of them years older, hollowed out and wor

Liam stepped forward at once. “Stop there. Identify yourselves.

Asher’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”

Garrett flushed with anger. “You dare block my way?

I’m her

down.

“Doesn’t matter,” Liam said flatly, and his hand slid toward the weapon at his hip.

I gave Liam a nod.

He fell back to a spot that kept a polite distance, close enough to step in, far enough to let us talk.

“Roxie… he isn’t…?” Asher’s eyes moved between the two of us, and jealousy flickered through the gold.

“That has nothing to do with you,” I said coldly. “What are you doing here?”

Asher’s face crumpled with pain.

“Roxie, we’ve spent three years paying for it. I don’t sleep.”

“Every time I close my eyes, I see you. Give me one more chance. I swear to you…

“I don’t care,” I cut in. “We ended three years ago. Go find something else to obsess over ”

I turned to Garrett. “And you. I don’t recognize you as family.”

“Our parents would understand. If you want my share of the inheritance, talk to my lawyer.”

Garrett reached out to me, and his fingertips were trembling. “Roxie… you’d really cut off your own

brother?”

Asher grabbed my arm. “I never accepted that rejection! Under Pack law, we’re still mates.”

I threw his hand off, out of patience. “Fine. Let me tell you a story.”

I laid it out for them in a few sentences.

The bet, the poison, the seven pups who never made it, and the night our parents died.

The color drained from both men’s faces until they were as white as paper.

Later that night, my phone rang on an encrypted line.

“Garrett lost control of his car on the cliff road and died at the scene. Asher was in the

seat.”

passenger

The report came with a photo of the wreck and a note that had been pinned to the dashboard.

[Maybe dying is the only way either of us gets to start over.]

I looked at that line for a long time, and I didn’t say anything. Then I set the phone down.

However many times I had to relieve in, I would take the same road.

It was the road that saved me once, and would go on sa

e a thousand times over.