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“Sorry to just show up at your door like this.” I hadn’t fully decided I was going to come here until I walked out of Ren’s place this morning. But despite what Xavier said, that this couldn’t be undone, I had to try. He was my only hope.

“Do you want to come in?”

“Please.”

He stepped back, and I walked inside.

He motioned to the living room, and we took our seats. Sitting back, he crossed his legs and sighed, a look on his face that said he was far from happy. “I assume this isn’t a social call?”

I’d offended him when I turned him down, obviously. “About what happened between us. It wasn’t you—”

“No, then what was it?” he asked, and his voice was colder than I’d ever heard it. “You’re just not a fan of money and power? You don’t like presents or being treated like a princess? Or being flown all around the world? I could have given you anything you wanted, Jasmine. Anything.”

This whole arrogant routine was new. “I’m sorry if I hurt you—”

“You didn’t hurt me. You wasted my time.” He tapped the arm of his chair impatiently. “And now you’re here wanting something else from me, yes?”

I shifted in my seat, guilt filling me. “I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

“And what is it you want, little witch?” He sat forward, eyes narrowed. “What made you come here this morning, reeking of another male, an animal no less, mouth still swollen from…well, it’s not hard to guess. What made you think you could walk in here and ask anything of me after you led me on, then brushed me aside like nothing?”

I didn’t want to be here. Everything inside me was telling me to get the hell out of this house, but he was the only person who could help me, if it was even possible at all. He said it wasn’t, that he couldn’t reverse what he did, but I had to try. “I really do like you, Xavier. There just wasn’t…a spark between us, you have to know that. You had to feel that as well. And I…I think I know the reason for that. Ren, the male I came to you about, well, it turns out, he’s my mate, and what I did…it was a terrible mistake.”

“The fates may have selected you for him, but that doesn’t mean their choice was correct.”

“It was, Xavier, I know it was the right choice. I need to know, is it possible…if I spend time with him, if I try to strengthen the bond between us, can I fall in love with him again?”

“That’s what you’ve been doing? Why you smell of him?”

“Yes.” I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. He looked angry.

“No,” he said without flinching. “Even if you mated with him, let him mark you, nothing would change. You can like him very much.” His brow arched. “You can lust after him, but I think you worked that out for yourself. But no, there can never be love, not for him.”

Oh goddess. “There has to be a way to reverse this. Please, Xavier. Please, there has to be something you can do—”

“I’ve always believed people should stick to their convictions.” His gaze slid away, his jaw pulsing like he was grinding his teeth. “I told you what would happen. I told you it would never be undone, and now you’re here begging me to undo it.” His face was stone, but something had shifted in his eyes. “You disappoint me, Jasmine. I thought you were different than the rest. I thought you were a female of your word. But you’re just like all the others, like her, aren’t you?”

Would never be undone. He didn’t say couldn’t. Not this time. “Who are you talking about? I’m like who?”

He stood suddenly and paced away. “You truly want the barriers removed, despite all the pain your love for this male caused you?” he said, his back to me.

“Yes.”

He paused. His hands were balled into fists, his knuckles white under the strain. “Is love truly worth it, the risk of all that pain, do you think?”

“Yes, absolutely. I didn’t think he could ever love me back, but I was wrong. When it’s real, Xavier, when it’s returned, there’s nothing else like it,” I said, ready to fall at his feet and beg him to help me. “Is there anything you can do? Anything?”

“When your sister and Ronan found each other…I was surprised,” he said, ignoring my question. “A male such as me with a female, not to just sate a base need but because he held affection for her. Because he…loved her.” He shook his head. “I didn’t think it was possible. Not after all he’d been through. If he can find that, then a male like me, a male capable of those kinds of emotions should be able to as well, shouldn’t he?”

“Yes.” I stood and moved closer to him. “I absolutely believe there is someone out there for all of us, Xavier.”

His gaze sharpened, filling with a determination that had me taking a step back. “Doing what I’m about to ask of you is…going against my own convictions. Convictions I’ve lived by for almost all of my life, but I’ve been contemplating it for some time. Then I met you and began thinking more seriously about it, about what my life would be if only I’d allow myself to truly experience it. To move forward, though, I need someone like you to help me. If I do as you ask, you will do something for me?”

“You can do it? You can remove the barrier?” Hope fired through me.

His lavender eyes were so dark now they looked black. “Not easily, and at a great cost to me. Are you willing to pay a great cost in return?”

“What do you want me to do?” I’d do anything to be with Ren, to give him all of me. I was desperate. This week with him had been one of the best of my life, but every day he told me he loved me was like a slice to my soul. I was hurting him, not being able to give him that in return, and it was killing me.