“Ella, I love you, but you’re driving me crazy,” my sister, Cora, said, her voice sounding more exasperated than irritated. After Sinclair showered, he went to his office, and I immediately called Cora for advice.

“What do you mean?” I asked hesitantly, having just finished explaining the situation.

“I mean,” she sighed heavily, “who are you, and what have you done with my sister? You’ve always known exactly what you wanted and done whatever was necessary to get it. You are a strong, independent woman—not some bratty, indecisive, emotional basket case who’s too caught up in a man to know her own heart.” She groaned.

I wished I could argue, but I knew she was right. Before I could acknowledge this, she continued, “It’s like this: you like Sinclair, you don’t like Sinclair. You want to be with him one moment, and the next you’re trying to foist him off on another woman—just make up your mind! I swear, I don’t even recognize you anymore!”

“Can’t you see that’s the problem? I don’t even recognize myself anymore!” I exclaimed, rubbing my sore neck. “My entire life has been turned upside down—”

“I know! Because that’s all you ever talk about anymore!” she burst out, interrupting me. “Do you have any idea when you last asked me about my life? When you showed interest in anything other than your own problems?”

Her words stung, and I realized she was right. I had been so wrapped up in my own drama that I’d neglected her. I hated to admit it, but I had no idea what was going on in her life. “I’m sorry, Cora. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing, but it would be nice to know you care!” she snapped, sounding petulant.

“And she had the nerve to call us bratty!” a little voice in my head observed.

“Are you serious?” I hissed. “People are trying to kill me, Cora. A psychotic woman drugged and attempted to rape the father of my child. I’m committing a massive fraud to save an entire species from civil war. And you’re upset because, for the first time in our lives, I’m not ignoring my own needs to take care of yours?”

“I never asked you to do that!” Cora argued. “You made that choice.”

“Because I had to!” I growled. “I had to be the strong one because you always fell apart at the first sign of trouble.”

“Then maybe you should have let me fall apart!” Cora countered defensively. “Maybe if you had, I would have learned to stand on my own instead of relying on you.”

Nausea seized my stomach, and I clenched my eyes shut. “You know what I went through to protect you,” I finally said, my voice hoarse. “Do you really wish I hadn’t? Was I supposed to stand by and let my sister be abused?”

A shaky breath vibrated against the receiver, and Cora’s voice was small when she spoke again. “You know that isn’t what I meant… but I have to live with the guilt of knowing you were hurt because of me. And sometimes I just think that maybe… maybe if you hadn’t protected me, then at least we would have been in it together, rather than you being all alone.”

“And I would have never forgiven myself if I had,” I said, even as sorrow swelled inside me at her guilt. “Why haven’t you ever said this before?”

“Because you’ve never been willing to talk about it,” Cora scoffed. “I suppose that’s one thing I can thank Dominic for. Trust a bossy wolf to make you finally unlock your emotions.”

“He really did,” I acknowledged wryly. “I think maybe that’s why this is all so hard for me. I feel so raw. I don’t think I’ve ever been so emotionally vulnerable, and I don’t know how to cope.”

“I can tell,” she laughed. “And it’s not your fault you never learned how to handle your feelings, Ella, but you also have to take responsibility for learning now that you recognize the problem. You do realize this is why you’re having so many issues with Dominic, right?”

“No, it’s that our situation is insane,” I objected. “It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been in love.”

Oh my god, I thought belatedly. I’m in love. I’d admitted I was falling for Sinclair a while ago, but this was the first time I’d acknowledged that I’d passed the point of no return—even to myself. I wasn’t just falling; I was completely in love with Sinclair, and avoiding a relationship with him wasn’t going to change that.

“I swear, El, if you call your relationship with that little weasel ‘love,’ I will come over there and smack you right in that beautiful face of yours,” Cora threatened, completely serious.

“Hey, I know it wasn’t great in the end, but it’s not like it started that way,” I defended, wondering if I was being honest. “I did love him.”

“Ella, let me ask you something. Did you ever feel even a fraction of what you feel for Dominic, for Mike?” she asked.

I paused. It had been so long since I’d thought of Mike, and I’d been in such deep denial about Sinclair that I hadn’t considered comparing my feelings. As soon as I thought back on the relationship, I saw the truth: “No,” I exhaled sadly. “Never.”

“And why do you think you believed you were in love with him for all those years?” she pressed. “Why do you think you let him treat you so terribly?”

I grimaced. “Because I didn’t have the first idea what a healthy relationship looked like,” I suggested.

“Bingo,” she agreed. “That little shit preyed on you from day one—we were just too young and inexperienced to realize it at the time.” She had the grace not to say “I told you so.” Cora had tried to warn me about Mike more than once, but I’d been too stubborn to listen. Instead, she continued, “I wish I could go back in time and kick him in the balls before he could ever introduce himself to you.”

“Me too,” I chuckled, shaking my head.

“Now the real question is: What are you going to do about Dominic, now that you’ve figured all this out?” Cora asked sternly.

“What can I do?” I questioned, feeling overwhelmed. “So what if I love him? So what if my baggage is causing these mixed-up feelings? That doesn’t change our situation. I can’t make myself a wolf, and I can’t make him a human or non-alpha—I probably wouldn’t even if I could, because then he wouldn’t be the same man I fell for.”

“Are you sure you’re not just trying to protect yourself from getting hurt?” Cora questioned. “I know you’re in hot water with the campaign and everything, but is it possible those are just excuses?”

The gravity of our circumstances loomed, and I knew we’d made the right decision. Even so, I admitted my sister wasn’t wrong. “I think it’s both,” I murmured sadly. “I have been afraid, and I haven’t trusted him. But Dominic and I don’t have the luxury of being selfish—we’re going to be parents, he’s going to be a king. Our responsibility is to the pack and our baby—not our feelings.”

“That’s fair,” Cora conceded. “But is knowing that enough to help you move forward and stop torturing yourself?”

“I don’t know,” I moaned. “It just feels so unfinished. We never even talked about our feelings… I mean, he tried, and I…”

“Ran away?” Cora surmised. I hummed in confirmation, and her voice took on a sympathetic note. “I’m afraid if you don’t make peace with the decision, you’re going to keep being confused and indecisive, El. You need closure.”

“I wish there was some way for me to get it without making things worse,” I agreed. “If I tell him, knowing Dominic, he’ll go all wolfy on me and insist we can find a way to make it work… assuming he even loves me back.”

“Hey, he’s not the one who’s been avoiding this,” Cora reminded me. “At minimum, you know he wants you. And I wouldn’t discredit him without giving him a chance to prove you wrong, Ella. You’re making excuses again.”

“Maybe,” I sighed.

“Maybe definitely,” she snorted.

Suddenly, a solution occurred to me. “Cora, I just remembered! Wolves can meet in their dreams. I accidentally called Dominic to me once. Maybe if I can figure out how to do it again, I can tell him, and we can be together—without complicating reality.”

“That’s amazing!” she exclaimed. “Do you think you can figure it out?”

“I don’t know, but I’m certainly going to try.”