Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack (Evelyn and Damon) novel Chapter 217

Ethan pov

I found Priya near the edge of the training grounds, still lingering with a few others despite the session having officially ended, and felt the weight of what I needed to actually say settle heavy in my chest as I approached.

"Priya," I said, and she turned immediately, her face lighting up with the same hopeful warmth I'd been careless enough to encourage for weeks now.

"Ethan! I was hoping you'd come find me before dinner."

"We need to talk," I said, gesturing toward a quieter spot away from the others, and something in my tone must have carried enough weight that her expression shifted immediately, uncertainty replacing her earlier easy warmth.

I explained it as carefully and honestly as I could manage, understanding I owed her genuine clarity rather than the vague, noncommittal deflection I might have offered months earlier. I told her about Nadia, about the mate bond, about my genuine intention to actually pursue that connection properly rather than continuing whatever casual understanding had existed between us.

She took it better than I expected, though hurt was still evident beneath her careful composure. "I appreciate you actually telling me directly," she said quietly, "rather than simply letting me continue hoping for something that was never genuinely there."

"I'm sorry," I said, meaning it completely. "I should have been clearer from the beginning, rather than allowing you to invest genuine hope in something I clearly wasn't prepared to actually offer."

She nodded, something resigned but not entirely unkind in her expression, and excused herself shortly after, leaving me standing there with the genuine, uncomfortable weight of accountability I'd apparently been avoiding for years.

I made my way back toward the main pack house, intending to actually find Nadia and confirm I'd followed through on what I'd promised, when I caught sight of her standing near the entrance, watching me with an expression I couldn't immediately read.

Then I noticed who else was gathered nearby.

Danielle. Sera. Two other women whose names I could barely recall despite whatever brief, careless attention I'd once offered them, all clustered together near the courtyard, apparently having arrived for some portion of the ongoing negotiations or simply visiting the compound for other reasons entirely.

And they were talking.

I couldn't hear the specific words from where I stood, but I could see it clearly enough—animated gestures, sympathetic nods between them, occasional glances directed pointedly toward where I now stood frozen near the entrance.

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