“He loves you; he’s happy. I let that be enough for me. You never said anything either.”

Her eyes falling closed, Adele let out a shaky breath. “I thought about telling him, but it would have destroyed me to watch him walk away.” Her eyes opened, glittering with guilt. “I know what I stole from you, but I need him. I love him. I can’t be without him. He would have chosen you over me.”

Mila shook her head. “I don’t believe he would have.”

Adele snorted. “I see how drawn he is to you. See how he worries about you, how he seeks you out, how easy it is for him to be around you.” Her voice cracked. “It kills me, Mila.”

Honestly, Mila never thought she’d ever find herself feeling sorry for Adele, but she did. “I know what it’s like to love someone who fate gave to another female. I don’t know her, true—she’s just a hypothetical person to me. But I’d be lying if I said I’d have been up front in your position. I wouldn’t want to lose Dominic.” Mila pinned the other female’s gaze. “You hear me? I’m happy, Adele. I don’t want Joel. I’m not interested in coming between you. But I can’t say the same for Dean.”

Her brows squished together. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that he’s the person who put the bounty on my head.”

“What?” Adele let out a surprised laugh. “No. That’s ridiculous. Why would he ever—?”

“He can’t talk you into leaving Joel, can he? Dean hoped that my being threatened would somehow stir up Joel’s protective instincts and make him see the truth—make him leave you.”

Adele vigorously shook her head. “No. No, Dean wouldn’t do that. He said he was happy as long as I was happy.”

“And I’ll bet he meant it. But I’m guessing he thinks he can make you happier than anyone else ever could. The name of the person who put the price on my head is Dean Preston.”

Adele flinched. “I just can’t believe he’d do that. No. No. You have to be wrong. He wouldn’t risk my cousin’s life. He wouldn’t do anything that would hurt me.”

“Where is he?”

“With his pride, of course.”

Mila shook her head. “They haven’t seen him in days.”

“Call him,” Dominic told Adele. “You’re in contact with him, so you must have his number. Call him. Arrange to meet him somewhere. You can ask him yourself.”

“And you’ll be waiting, ready to pounce,” Adele accused, her eyes narrowed.

Dominic shrugged. “If he’s innocent, we’ll have no need to pounce.”

Adele rubbed at her temples. “I promised myself I wouldn’t meet with him again. It’s not fair to Joel. Oh God, I’ll need to tell him everything, won’t I?”

“That’s up to you,” said Mila. “You might have a chance at convincing Vinnie to keep a chunk of the story quiet from Joel and the rest of the pride.”

Adele swallowed, and the movement looked painful. “He’ll leave me. Joel. He’ll choose you.”

Dominic’s nostrils flared. “Mila’s not a fucking option for him.”

Mila put her hand on Dominic’s thigh. “I think you’re wrong, Adele. Joel loves you. I’m not saying it won’t be a shock, and it might hurt that you haven’t been straight with him about a lot of things. But he will understand why you didn’t tell him you suspected I was his predestined mate. He’s more likely to be upset at you secretly communicating with your true mate. So be sure to remind him that although you may have been in contact with Dean, you refused to leave Joel—he’s your choice.”

Dominic leaned forward. “Call Dean.”

Adele licked her lips. “I don’t have his number. I—”

“He’s not going to walk away from you, Adele. Just as Joel’s drawn to Mila, Dean is drawn to you. The difference is that Joel doesn’t want Mila, but Dean sure as fuck wants you. And since Dean’s little plot didn’t pay off, how long do you think it will be before he takes Joel out of the equation himself?”

The color left Adele’s face in a rush. “Dean wouldn’t do that.”

“Would you bet Joel’s life on that?” Dominic tapped the table. “Call Dean.”

“I told you, I don’t have his—”

“Call him.”

Adele pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped at the screen with her thumbs. “I don’t believe he did this,” she said, putting the phone to her ear.

“I hope you’re right,” said Mila.

After a few moments, Adele’s brows snapped together. “He’s not answering. He always answers.”

“Try calling him again,” said Dominic.

She muttered under her breath but did as he asked. “He’s still not answering.”

Just then, Mila’s phone rang. She whipped it out of her pocket. “It’s Vinnie.” Swiping her thumb across the screen, she answered with, “You have Dean?”

“No, I have news.” Vinnie sighed heavily. “Rosemary Pierson tried to hang herself in her cell.”

Mila’s mouth went slack. Shit. Mentally fumbling, she asked, “Is she okay?”

“No,” replied Vinnie, grimly. “She’s alive, but she’s in a coma. And the docs don’t expect her to wake up. Her brain went without oxygen for too long.”

Mila shoved a hand through her hair, feeling a momentary pang of sympathy for the woman.

“Does Adele know where Dean is?” Vinnie asked.

Mila met the female’s eyes. “No, and he’s not taking her calls.”

“Tell her I expect to see her at the antique store in an hour. She and I are going to have a long talk.” The line went dead.

Pocketing her phone, Mila said, “Vinnie wants—”

“To see me in an hour,” finished Adele, her expression pained. “I heard.”

“So did I.” Dominic sighed, giving his mate’s neck a gentle squeeze. “I guess we should have expected Rosemary to try something like that. She’s never been good at facing reality. Not to sound insensitive, but this will feed that media circus I mentioned earlier.”

Mila puffed out a breath. “Her father will now officially want us both dead and buried.”

“It will never come to that,” Dominic said, his voice low and menacing. “I’ll kill him before I let him touch you.”

“Not if my cat gets there first.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Three weeks. It had been three weeks of “lying low” while they waited for the protests outside pack territory to stop and for the media attention to die down. If Emmet Pierson had been feeding it by making statements to reporters, the drama might have dragged on. But he’d been extraordinarily quiet since his daughter’s attempted suicide.

Rosemary was still in a coma, and Mila imagined that her father felt partially to blame for it. If his past behavior was anything to go by, Emmet would eventually displace that guilt onto someone else—probably Dominic.

Dean had also lapsed into silence. According to Adele, he still wasn’t taking her calls. If he had, she probably would have told him that she’d finally told Joel the truth. Mila only knew this because Joel had told Luke everything while in a drunken stupor at a local bar.