Leah's POV
The afternoon sun hung low, casting long shadows that stretched like fingers across the cracked pavement. I followed Liam into his house, the air inside stale and heavy with the scent of old cigarettes and desperation. He collapsed onto the sofa, his body sinking into the worn cushions as if the weight of the world had finally crushed him. Within moments, his breathing evened out, and he was asleep.
I knelt beside him, my eyes tracing the lines of his face - lines that were usually etched with worry but now smoothed into something almost childlike. For a fleeting moment, he wasn‘t the man burdened by debt, loss, and the scars of a life that had never been kind. He was just Liam, the boy who should've been. My fingers brushed a strand of hair from his forehead, lingering longer than they should have.
The sharp trill of his phone shattered the silence. I snatched it up before the noise could wake him.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice, hesitant and edged with surprise, crackled through the line. "Who is this? Why are you answering Liam's phone?"
"A friend," I replied, my tone guarded. "Who's this?"
"Talia," she said, her voice tightening. "I'm the nurse taking care of his grandmother. Is Liam there?"
Ah, the ex. The one whose heart, according to Liam, had less freezer burn than a supermarket cod.
"He's sleeping," I said, glancing at his peaceful form.
"Wake him," Talia snapped, urgency sharpening her words. "I'm at Mount Sinai. His grandmother's condition is critical. If he doesn't come now, he might not see her again."
My stomach dropped. I looked at Liam, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. He'd been chased by debt, by loss, by life itself. For once, he'd found a moment of peace. Waking him felt like a crime. But I didn't have a choice.
I hung up and shook his shoulder gently. His eyes fluttered open, bleary and unfocused.
"Leah?" he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep. "How long have I been out?"
"Liam," I said softly. "The hospital called. You need to go."
His face paled, the color draining like water down a sink. He bolted upright, grabbing his phone. "What happened?! Fuck! Talia called?!"
I nodded, watching as he scrambled to his feet, his movements frantic. He rushed for the door, barefoot and still in his sleep-rumpled clothes.
"Liam!" I called after him, snatching his pants from the floor. I chased him outside, the afternoon sun pressing down on us like a weight. He darted into the street, oblivious to the stares of passersby.
I flagged down a taxi and dragged him inside. He was trembling, his hands rubbing at his face as if trying to wipe away the reality of the situation.
"This is it, isn't it?" he muttered, his voice breaking. "I knew this day would come, but I never thought it'd be so soon. Nonna's dying. What do I do now?!"
I tossed his pants at him. "Put those on first. Then we'll talk."
The taxi driver shot us a sideways glance in the rearview mirror but said nothing. Liam yanked on his pants, his tears falling freely now. I watched him, my chest aching with a strange, unfamiliar pain.
In that moment, I heard the voice of my wolf - a voice I hadn't heard in what felt like an eternity, "You never yield to strong men, but when a man cries, your heart softens. Don't you think you have more important things to do now?"
I replied silently, my thoughts sharp, "You've been silent for so long, I thought you were dead. Now you show up to lecture me on priorities? Where were you when I was trapped in the slave market?"
"I was suppressed," my wolf shot back. "You can't blame me for things beyond my control."
"Fine," I snapped. "But now's not the time. This boy's only family is dying, and I need to be there for him."
"Lucian's been calling you through the mindlink," my wolf said, its tone urgent. "He's your family too. He needs you."
I scoffed inwardly, "He wanted to kill me. That's not something I can help him with. Now get out of my mind."
The wolf fell silent, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Liam was on the phone now, his face a mask of anxiety. I knew immediately he was talking to Talia.
"...Yes, she's with me. But I'll say it again - she's just a friend. Not a girlfriend!"
The woman on the other end was yelling, her voice loud enough for me to hear even without supernatural hearing.
"Don't you have a heart?! If I hadn't been helping your Nonna with her medical bills and taking care of her all these years, could you be as carefree as you are now?! I broke up with you because I was angry, not because I stopped loving you!"
Liam's voice was dull, defeated. "Are you saying you still love me?"
"I don't know!" Talia shouted. "Just get to the hospital!"
The line went dead. Liam slumped back in his seat, his hands gripping his hair.
"You've never fully understood women, have you?" I said, my tone dry.
"I know most women, but I just don't know what she wants," he muttered.
"How did you meet someone like her?" I asked, trying to keep him talking, keep him grounded.
"Seven years ago," he said, his voice distant. "She was a nursing student, interning at the hospital. I went in for stitches, and we met. I was his first and only boyfriend. I don't even know what she saw in me. I've got nothing to offer her."
"Let me get this straight. She's been with you for seven years," I pointed out. "Helping with your grandmother, paying bills, taking care of both of you. She wanted to marry you, but you refused. So she broke up with you."
He nodded, his eyes downcast.
I reached over and knocked his head lightly. "You're an idiot. If you don't marry a woman like that, what are you waiting for?"
He rubbed his eyes, his voice weak. "You sound like Nonna."
I sighed, my thoughts drifting to Lucian's Beta, Jorah. The way he'd looked at me, pitiful and pleading.
"But you have money now," I said softly. "You don't have to worry about dragging her down. What's stopping you?"
He shook his head. "Leah, Vinny's money is yours. As long as you're here, he'll keep paying. But I know someone like you won't stay forever in my pathetic life. When you leave, Vinny will come after me - and anyone I care about."
"But you love Talia," I said, my voice firm.
"Yeah," he admitted. "But sometimes, loving someone means letting them go."
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. Werewolves - myself included - were obsessed with possession. Lucas with me, me with Finn, Leo with Gean. We clung to love like it was a lifeline, even when it strangled us. Humans, it seemed, understood something we didn't.
I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Liam, believe me. I'll stay by your side until you're strong enough to stand on your own. I'll help you take back everything that's yours."
He looked at me, confused but grateful. The taxi pulled up to the hospital, and before it even stopped, Liam was out the door, running toward a petite nurse standing at the entrance.
I watched him go, my chest tightening. The way he ran toward her - reckless, desperate - reminded me of how I'd once run toward Lucas.
Thinking of him, I clenched my fists. Our bond was severed, but I could still feel him - alive, distant, and haunting.
The pain in my chest was familiar, sharp and suffocating. It was the ache of rejection, of being ignored, of love twisted into something ugly.
No, I told myself.
He's gone.
He's just a memory, just like all the wounds that I suffered from.
He will eventually fade with time.