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I'd escaped there when the kitchen filled with people. Amber had passed through twice, and both times I'd found something fascinating to do with my hands so I wouldn't have to look at her while I was still carrying the words I'm going to trade my soul around in my mouth.

The back door opened behind me. Alex lowered himself onto the step at my side, and the wood groaned beneath his weight. He smelled like coffee, cold air, and several hours of being furious, and didn't say anything immediately. Neither did I.

"He told me," Alex said eventually.

"Everything?"

"All of it. He stood in my yard with about five people close enough to hear and told me every goddamn word. I didn't ask him to do it with an audience, and I have decided not to comment on that particular piece of stupidity today." Alex scrubbed one hand down his face. "He didn't defend himself once. I gave him three separate openings, mostly out of habit, and he walked past every one of them."

"That's because I told him not to."

Alex turned his head and fixed one mismatched eye on me. "No. That's because he decided not to. There's a difference, kiddo. It matters. Let the male have it."

"Fair enough." Leaning back on my hands I stared unseeing at the horizon. "Now what?"

"I told him he can stay."

My head snapped to the side so fast something in my neck cracked loudly. Whatever Alex saw on my face made him sigh.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't forgive him. I'm still angry enough to put him through that new fence, and if he'd given me one excuse for what he did, we might be having a different conversation."

"But he didn't."

"No." Alex leaned forward, resting his forearms across his knees. "The one thing I've learned about people who keep things from you for your own good is that yelling at them doesn't cure them of it. They stop when somebody makes them stand there and say what they did without giving them anywhere to hide from it."

I looked toward the yard, trying to picture River standing in the middle of it while Alex learned exactly how badly he'd failed him.

"He stood there," Alex continued. "He said it. He didn't ask me to understand, and he didn't ask me to forgive him. That's enough for today."

"And tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow I might make him fix the fence."

A laugh almost escaped me. It didn't quite make it, but Alex heard enough of it to glance sideways.

"He'll make another mistake, Hazel. So will you. So will I. I'd rather the male make his next one somewhere I can see him."

The wind came through the gap where the trees had been cut and found every opening in my jacket. I tucked my hands beneath my arms and stared at the spare tire lying in the grass.

"Alex, I'm going back to the coven on Sunday."

He didn't move, but something about the silence beside me changed.

"I'm going to offer Danika a straight trade. Me for her contract, with the sanction lifted off this pack in writing and witnessed by the Council. She has the standing to make them honor it, and she has eight days left, which means she doesn't have enough time to play games."

He still said nothing.

"Amber is going to try to stop me. Or Ace will. Or you will." I forced myself to turn toward him. "And I'm asking you not to. Last time I stood in this yard and asked to leave, you told me no in front of your people. I've thought about that every day since, and I'm still not sure I've forgiven you for it."

"Hazel…"

"So I'm not asking this time. I'm telling you. That's different, and I need you to honor my decision."

Alex waited until he was certain I'd finished. Then, maddeningly calm, he said, "No."

Anger hit before I could stop it. "I am an adult…"

"Not because you asked." One enormous hand came up between us. "Hear the whole thing before you set my porch on fire. I'm not saying no because you're pack, though you are, and I'm not saying no because this is my land, though it is. I'm saying no because your plan won't work."