CHAPTER 15

The Breaking Point

"Flora, you need to concentrate!

Leo's voice cut sharply through the fog in her brain as they wove their way through the jostling, crowded camp. Flora blinked, shaking her head to clear the fuzziness. She had been staring at her hands, her fingers wrapped around the edges of her tactical map, but her mind was elsewhere. The mission. Adrian. The choices looming over her. She was barely holding it together, and Leo could see it.

"I'm fine," Flora muttered, her chin raising in defiance. She didn't need Leo- didn't need anyone telling her what to do. She'd handled worse.

But Leo wasn't buying it. He shifted in front of her, standing in her way with a glare that pinned. "No, you're not fine. You've been off for days. I get things are complicated, but you got a job. The whole mission depends on it, you being sharp.

Flora’s jaw tightened, but she didn't argue. It wasn’t the first time she had been told to pull herself together. It wasn’t the first time someone had tried to fix her. She was done with being fixed. She’d fought too hard to stand on her own.

“I’m good, Leo,” she said, softer this time, but still firm. “I’ve got this.”

Leo seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding tightly at her. "I hope so. We all do."

The mission had been a disaster.

Behind a ruined wall, fingers tight around her rifle, Flora's mind races wildly. They'd been ambushed, and now they were pinned down. It had been too good an ambush, too efficient-somebody had tipped them off. It felt like a kick in the guts as this realization hit her. They had been betrayed.

"Flora, we need to move!" Leo's voice came through her earpiece, but his words barely reached her. Her pulse was thudding in her ears while her gaze raked over the area for a possible getaway from there. Nothing. Nothing but dust and the ongoing crackling of gunfire.

"Go!" she yelled back, her voice hoarse with frustration, but she didn't move. She had to figure this out. She had to make the call. "We hold here, or we break for the trees?"

Leo's voice crackled again. "We can't hold here! They'll overrun us!"

But Flora knew the team was exhausted. They wouldn't make it far, not in this terrain, not in their current condition.

Cover me," she said, her voice even, though her hands were shaking. She was tired, so tired of fighting, of doubting herself, of the weight of everything upon her. She didn't want to make this choice, but she had to.

She charged out into the open, firing a few shots to draw enemy fire. Her heart slammed against her ribs, adrenaline pounding in her veins. They were counting on her, and she couldn't let them down.

Gunfire echoed in her ears as she sprinted for the tree line. It was as if the earth beneath her feet was heaving. She wasn't sure for one moment if she was running for her life or running from the life she had built.

Later, after the dust had finally settled and they had managed to regroup-barely-Flora stood before her team, an unreadable grimness etched upon her face. They had survived-but at what cost?

Everyone okay?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady after what she had just gone through. She knew better than to show weakness in front of them. But Leo caught the way her fingers were trembling as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Just tired, boss," he said, giving her a knowing look.

Flora's eyes flickered away from his gaze. She didn't want to talk about it, not now. There was too much at stake.

Then, without warning, her comm unit buzzed through the silence. She froze. It was a message from Adrian. Her heart skipped, but she quickly silenced the notification, the anger and the pain swooping right back in upon her in waves.

Later that night, back at the campsite, Flora lay awake. A thousand thoughts were racing through her mind, and she was too restless to let herself calm down. She stood at the edge of the camp, staring into the distance, trying to make sense of everything.

The sound of footsteps broke her out of her reverie. She didn't need to turn to know who it was.

"Flora."

Her body tensed at the sound of his voice. She slowly turned to him, her eyes meeting Adrian's. It felt like a heavyweight was pressed down on her chest, but she didn't flinch.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice cold as ice.

Adrian wore an exhausted face, haggard, and something in his eyes.something she hadn't seen in a while. Regret. Longing. Not enough. Not today.

"I need to explain," he said, low, almost pleading. 

Flora crossed her arms, her eyes turning hard. "Explain what? That you couldn't make up your mind when it mattered? You chose Alice over me, over what we had?"

Adrian winced at this, yet he didn't back down. "I know I made mistakes, Flora. I never stopped caring, never stopped. thinking about what could have been.

Flora laughed, but it wasn't a joyful sound. It was bitter, empty. "It's too late for apologies, Adrian. You made your choice. And so did I.

"Just hear me out," Adrian huffed, suddenly desperate, one step closer to her. "I've tried to fix things. I've fought for my pack, fought for my future, but not without you means nothing. Not a thing, Flora. I'm asking for a second chance, not forgiveness.

Flora's chest felt constricted as her eyes flashed with anger and sorrow at once. All this time, she had dreamed of this moment-of him coming back and saying this very thing. Now that it was here, it felt hollow. Years of pain, months of fighting, realization that she didn't need him-it all swelled to the surface.

You've changed, Adrian. You are not the man I thought you were." Every word cut through him like a knife as she shook her head. "I'm not waiting around for someone who's only now realizing what they lost."

He reached out, his hand hovering in the air between them, but she stepped back.

You don't get it, do you?" she said, voice even, though the rawness inside threatened to spill over. "I'm not the girl who needed saving anymore. I don't need you to fix me. I'm finally fixing myself."

Adrian's face fell, but there was something in his eyes-something she couldn't let go of. Regret. Loss. It was too late.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, but the apology didn't reach her. Not anymore.

The tension between them was stifling, but she turned away, not looking back. She had made her choice. And though it hurt, she knew it was the right one.

The world was shifting around her—Adrian's future, the pack's future, her own future—but Flora was done living for anyone but herself.

And no matter what came next, she would face it alone. But for the first time in a long time, she wasn't afraid.

Meanwhile, the pack's political environment was deteriorating. Alice was losing her grasp on Adrian, and with each passing day, it weighed heavier on his shoulders to choose between her and his own desires. The looming fight was inevitable, and it would appear that neither Adrian nor Flora would leave the battlefield of their decisions without bruises.

And though Adrian had made his move, it was yet to be seen if either of them would ever find peace again.