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“Is Dad gonna be okay?”

The question guts me.

I pull back, brushing Noah’s dark hair away from his face, trying to smile even though my lips are shaking. “They’re helping him now. He’s strong, remember? He’s going to fight.”

I don’t know if it’s a lie. I want it to be the truth so badly that I can barely breathe.

Cal comes forward and touches my shoulder. “I’ll stay with Noah. Go to Rowan, Alina. Your Mate will need you. The bond will help the healing process.”

I hesitate, but only for a second. I press a kiss to Noah’s forehead and rise on legs that don’t feel like mine.

The battlefield is scattered with bodies and smoke. Greenbriars in wolf and human forms circle the fallen, and I think I spot a search party heading out to track down any runaway Blackburns who think they can actually get away with this. The moans of the injured mingle with the cries of the grieving, but I don’t really register any of it.

I only see the trail of blood leading toward a grassy, moon-soaked clearing. Kseniya is there, and so are a few other elder healers that I’m pretty sure I recognize from when I was younger.

But, most importantly, Rowan is there.

Alive.

Still breathing.

I follow that path like it’s the only thing left in the world that matters.

Chapter 28

Rowan

Everything hurts.

Not in the normal way, either. It’s not the kind of pain I can grit my teeth through and keep moving with. It’s not a sore muscle or random scrape.

This is the kind of pain that pins me down, saps my strength, and makes the world blurry at the edges. The kind of pain that has settled into my bones and is now howling throughout my bloodstream.

Honestly, I’d like to think I’m no stranger to suffering. I’ve taken claws to the ribs before. Teeth to the throat. I’ve broken bones as a kid and later in training, and had them re-broken and splinted without medication. I’ve rejected the Mating bond and felt the agony of my own heart being torn straight from my chest.

But this pain is worse, mostly because I’m not supposed to be feeling it this acutely. My body should be healing by now. Shifters bounce back fast, and especially Alphas.

But something has stalled, according to Nora, the head healer, and we all know what it is.

Alina.

There’s still one final piece of our bond that lies in tatters. I didn’tknow it either until right now, when I can feel those jagged tendrils brushing against my wounds with all the careless pressure of a bull in a china shop. We’ve made our promises, made love on the bed of those promises, and gone to war at each other’s sides…and yet, the bond still thirsts for more.

While I do my best not to let the pain pummel me into complete submission, Alina sits beside my bed, her fingers twisted together in her lap. The room is quiet except for the occasional creak of the old wood floors and the hushed murmur of Nora preparing her various salves and concoctions in the next room.

My parents are also here, quiet and watchful.

Even Cal and Noah sit across the room, the elder talking to the boy in low tones. I can hear Noah’s heartbeat skip every time he glances my way.

He’s still not sure what to make of me, even now. I don’t blame him. He all but watched me kill someone. Even if it was necessary, I know that’s not an easy thing to know your own father is capable of.

My son.

And my Mate.

I almost lost both of them.

“Rowan,” Alina whispers, squeezing my hand.