Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack novel Chapter 60

Chapter 60

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Chapter 60

I nodded slowly, some of the panic finally settling into something calmer, more measured, though the underlying unease didn’t fully dissipate. “I should have been here,” I said quietly. “I shouldn’t have left you alone, even with Sarah nearby.”

“You can’t be everywhere at once, Damon,” Evelyn said gently. “And honestly, I think it mattered that I handled it myself, without you standing between us the entire time. He needed to actually see me, hear directly from me that Willow was safe, rather than filtering everything through you.”

I considered that, understanding the logic even as every protective instinct in me still rebelled against the idea of her facing my father alone, however calm the actual exchange had turned out to be.

“What do we do now,” I asked, looking between Evelyn and Callum both. “If this is genuine, if he’s actually trying to change something, what does that even look like, practically?”

“Slowly,” Evelyn said firmly. “If it’s real, it doesn’t need to be rushed. He doesn’t get immediate access to Willow, doesn’t get to simply insert himself back into normal life because he’s decided to apologize once. If this is genuine, he can prove it over time, the same way you’ve had to prove yourself to me.”

Something in her tone made clear she wasn’t just talking about his father in that moment, and I felt the weight of the comparison settle into my chest-the reminder that whatever genuine progress we’d made over the past few days, I was still working to prove myself too, still earning back trust one careful day at a time rather than simply expecting it handed over because I’d said the right things in a council chamber.

“That’s fair,” I said quietly. “For both of us.”

Evelyn met my eyes, something warm and complicated passing between us, before she looked back toward Callum. “What’s your read on the pack, more broadly? Is this apology going to be visible to anyone beyond just me, or is it staying private?”

“Word will spread,” Callum said. “It always does, in a compound this size. Whether it helps or hurts him depends entirely on whether people believe it’s genuine, and whether his actions over the coming weeks actually back it up.

“Then that’s exactly what we watch for,” I said, feeling something settle into resolve despite the lingering uncertainty. “Not just words. Actions. If he’s genuinely trying to change, it’ll show up in more than a single doorstep apology.”

We sat together for a while longer, the conversation gradually softening into something quieter, more domestic, Willow eventually stirring awake and needing attention, the practical rhythm of caring for her pulling us both back into something steadier than the anxious uncertainty that had driven me racing back here less than an hour earlier.

Callum excused himself eventually, promising to keep Sarah briefed and maintain the same careful watch we’d established before, and I stayed, settling onto the floor beside Evelyn’s chair, watching her feed Willow again, some of the earlier panic finally, fully draining out of my chest.

“I keep thinking about what you said,” I told her quietly, after a long stretch of comfortable silence. “About proving myself over time instead of expecting trust because I said the right things once.”

“It’s true for both of you,” Evelyn said, not looking up from Willow. “I meant that. I’m not going to hold you to a different standard than I’m holding him to, Damon. Words matter, but they’re not enough on their own. Not from either of you.”

“I know,” I said, and found, somewhat to my own surprise, that I actually welcomed the accountability rather

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Chapter 60

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than resenting it. Eight months ago, I might have argued, might have insisted my intentions alone should count for something. Now, watching her carefully, patiently rebuild trust in her own time, on her own terms, I understood exactly why that standard mattered, and why I needed to keep meeting it, day after day, for as long as it actually took.

Outside, the evening had settled fully into darkness, and somewhere across the compound, my father sat alone with whatever genuine reckoning he was apparently working through, the outcome of it still entirely uncertain.

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