Mia’s POV
Sitting in the car with the four brothers felt suffocating. The air was thick with tension, their eyes burning into me, each one waiting for me to slip. I hated this-being trapped with them, feeling their presence too close, their voices too demanding.
Nathan was the first to break the silence. “Why did you run to him?” His voice was low, almost calm, but I could hear the edge beneath it.
I crossed my arms, leaning back against the seat. “I didn’t run to him,” I lied, keeping my face neutral. “I was just hiding.”
Xavier scoffed. “Hiding?” His fingers tapped against the steering wheel, his jaw tight. “From us?”
“Yes.” The word slipped out before I could stop it. But I didn’t regret it. I was hiding-from them, from the truth, from the pain they caused me.
Rolex turned in his seat, studying me with narrowed eyes. “You’re lying.”
I met his gaze head-on. “Believe whatever you want.”
Silence filled the car again.
Then Sean, the quietest of them all, spoke. “Are you… are you choosing him over us?”
His voice wasn’t mocking, wasn’t taunting like it usually was. It was just… lost.
Something inside me twisted, but I ignored it. “It’s not about choosing anyone. It’s about not choosing you.”
Nathan’s grip tightened on his knee. “Mia-”
“I’m not going to help you,” I cut him off, my voice firm. “Not even as the white wolf.”
The second the words left my mouth, I knew I had made a mistake.
The car went dead silent. Four pairs of eyes locked onto me, shock flickering across their faces.
Shit.
I had just exposed myself.
For a moment, none of them moved, like they were trying to process what I had said. Then Nathan turned fully in his seat, his golden eyes burning into mine. “You knew,” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. “This whole time… you knew.”
I lifted my chin. “Yes. And I don’t care.”
Xavier slammed on the brakes, the car skidding to a stop in the middle of the empty road. My body lurched forward, my hands flying out to brace myself against the dashboard.
“What the hell?!” I snapped, whipping my head toward him.
He turned in his seat, his dark eyes stormy. “You’re our mate and the white wolf-our only chance-and you’re saying you won’t help us?”
I let out a sharp laugh, shaking my head. “Now you care? Now, suddenly, I’m important to you?” I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms. “You didn’t care when I was starving. When I was beaten. When you humiliated me over and over again. But now that you need something-now, I’m supposed to care?”
Xavier exhaled heavily, raking a hand through his hair. “Mia, we messed up, okay? We know that.”
Nathan leaned closer. “But we need you. We’re sorry, we-”
“No,” I snapped, my voice like ice. “You don’t get to say sorry. Not now.”
They all started speaking at once.
Nathan tried to reason with me. “If we could go back-”
Rolex attempted to joke his way through it. “Alright, we were terrible, but come on, you can’t actually want us dead.”
Sean barely spoke, but his gaze was desperate. “Mia, just listen, please.”
I didn’t care.
I didn’t care about their guilt, their regret, their empty apologies.
I reached for the door handle, shoving it open. “I’m done with this conversation.”
But before I could step out, Xavier grabbed my wrist, not hard, but firm enough to stop me. “Mia-give us one chance.”
I barely made it three steps before they moved.
One by one, they dropped to their knees.
Right there. In the middle of the road.
I froze.
Nathan-who had once looked at me like I was dirt beneath his feet-knelt with his head bowed, his fingers digging into his thighs like he was holding himself together. Xavier, always cold and unreadable, gazed up at me, his dark eyes filled with something that looked frighteningly close to desperation. Rolex and Sean mirrored them, their usual arrogance stripped away, replaced with something raw and painfully real.
They weren’t just apologizing.
They were begging.
The weight of it pressed down on me, suffocating, making my throat tighten.
“Mia,” Nathan’s voice cracked, barely above a whisper, “please.”
His shoulders trembled slightly, like it was physically painful for him to admit how much he needed me.
Xavier swallowed hard, his hands pressing into the pavement. “You don’t have to forgive us today. Not tomorrow, not next year. But don’t… don’t push us away forever.” His voice had lost its usual arrogance-it was just him, stripped bare, aching. “You can hate me. You can curse me. But don’t tell me to live in a world where I can’t try to make it right.”
Sean’s knuckles turned white against his jeans, his gaze locked onto the ground. “We broke you.” His voice was barely audible. “We ruined you. And we hate ourselves for it every damn day.” He exhaled shakily, lifting his eyes. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll stop fighting for you. Because we love you, Mia. We love you.”
Rolex let out a shaky laugh, but there was no amusement in it-only pain. “We were monsters,” he admitted, his golden eyes glassy. “We were cruel, selfish, blind. But, Mia… you’re our mate. Not because of some damn curse. Not because you’re the white wolf. But because it’s you.” His fingers curled against his knees. “It’s always been you.”
I let out a sharp, broken laugh. “Now you love me?” My voice cracked, my chest aching.
I stared down at them-the same men who had torn me apart piece by piece, the same ones who let me suffer, who turned their backs when I needed them the most. And now… now they were on their knees before me?
It should have made me feel powerful.
Instead, it just made me feel exhausted.
I shook my head, my throat burning. “Do you think this changes anything?” The words came out uneven, but I didn’t care. “Do you think kneeling in front of me suddenly erases the years of suffering?”
Nathan flinched.
Xavier clenched his jaw. “No. But tell us how to fix it, and we will.”
My breath shuddered. “Where was this when I cried myself to sleep every night?” Tears blurred my vision, but I forced myself to keep looking at them. “Where was this when I begged you to just leave me alone?”
Sean sucked in a breath like my words had physically hit him.
Xavier opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him speak.
“I don’t forgive you.”
The silence that followed was crushing.
Their faces crumbled, but I didn’t care.
I wiped at my tears furiously, hating how weak I still felt, hating how much they still had a hold on me.
A faint rumble echoed in the distance.
A car.
Its headlights cut through the darkness, illuminating the scene-the four Alphas kneeling before me, and me standing over them, trembling.
The car rolled to a slow stop across from us.
I barely looked at it-too consumed by the storm raging inside me-until the door opened.
And my world tilted.
A man stepped out.
Tall. Powerful. Commanding.
And the moment I saw his face, my breath hitched.
He looked exactly like me.
Not similar. Not just a little resemblance.
It was like staring into a mirror.