--
The office had grown dim around him, the afternoon sun sliding toward evening, casting long shadows across the floor. He hadn't moved. Hadn't eaten. Hadn't done anything but sit with his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands.
His mind was twisted into a million parts.
Each thought pulled in a different direction, tearing at him from every angle. He couldn't focus. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think past the roaring in his ears.
“Mate,” Athos pushed, his voice insistent, almost frantic. “She is our mate. Accept her. Claim her. Bring her home.”
Attia squeezed his eyes shut.
“And then what?” he asked bitterly. “Bring her home to what? To my father's sneers and my mother's cold silence? To a family that measures worth in bloodlines and bank accounts?”
“She is our mate. Nothing e
