#CHAPTER 17: Connections

Chris POV We waited a few minutes for Ethan's voice to fade, then looked at each other. I wanted to apologize, but she held up a hand. "As crude and drunken as Ethan's remarks were, he's not wrong. I am a decade your senior and previously mated, and I have no intention to abandon the Pack. You are I cannot be together, now or in some imaginary future." "Ethan is a bully." "Even your friends-" "They meant no harm, and if you hadn't said your age, which you had every reason to do, don't get me wrong, they would never have known." I ran a hand through my hair. It drove me insane that she wouldn't understand how wonderful she was, how much I wanted to be with her. Who cared about her age? We could both die tomorrow or live for a two hundred years. I calmed myself. Ava wasn't going to respond to protestations of love. I think she did know, or at least was starting to realize, how much I loved her. The problem seemed to be more about the daily realities. "We have been apart for