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“Mama,” Harper cries as she comes tearing through the door. The nurse had already explained that Callum and the others had her and were on their way to the clinic, but I knew I wouldn’t really believe it until she was in my arms.

Harper leaps onto the bed and buries her head in my arms. A sob escapes me as I ignore the burning pain from my healing injuries to pull her closer. Then, after a moment, I lift her slightly away so I can check her over for any injuries, my eyes darting to Callum for reassurance.

He stands at the door, looking a mixture of relieved and full of rage, his shoulders almost sagging as he takes in our reunion. “She’s okay,” he assures me, “The doctor is going to come in and check her over here, but she seems alright. Her gift seems unaffected.”

“Unaffected by what?” I ask, and then listen in horror to what happened. A sob breaks free as Callum details what they saw during the rescue and the monster that had been holding Harper. I pull her closer, and Callum walks to the bedside, crouching down beside us and pulling us both into his arms. I breathe in his masculine, steadying scent. My wolf, who hasn’t calmed down since they woke me from the sedation, calms for the first time as Harper, Callum, and I embrace in silence, and I realize that it’s not possible to feel more whole as a family than I do right now.

Eventually, Harper begins to squirm, restless from being held so tightly, so Callum steps back, and she snuggles against me in the bed. “So, it wasn’t the Collinses?” I ask, deeply confused.

Callum shakes his head. “Byron stayed on with the others to interrogate the surviving rogues,” he replies, and I wince as Harper settles against my healing wound. Callum looks concerned, but I urge him to continue. “Apparently, the Collins were mouthing off about the trouble Harper caused with her gift, and it caught the attention of some kind of shapeshifter, Malik. He was already on the island. We knew the rogues were suddenly more organized. We just didn’t know why.”

“Malik?” I ask.

Callum nods. “We don’t have the full picture yet, but it seems he steals magic, growing his own powers. He arrived and immediately took out some of the witches that live near Tristen’s pack, but no one noticed because they were rogues.”

“By took out, you mean killed?” I ask, holding Harper tight.

“When the magic is removed, the person dies,” Callum confirms, his face stony. He reaches out and takes my hand. “She’s okay, though. We got there in time.”

“She’s just a little girl,” I say, tears falling down my face as I try to stay calm for Harper’s sake. Then, whispering over her head, I ask, “Is he coming back?”

“I’m not going to let that happen,” Callum replies, still holding my hand. “Tristen’s pack has a coven who has agreed to provide protection; a witch is arriving tomorrow. He’s also bringing in what’s left of the rogue witches to keep them safe.”

“But if the witches were attacked themselves, how can they help protect Harper?” I ask, my mind racing with a thousand questions.

“The rogue witches came up with some kind of talisman; that’s how the rest survived. We’ll know more tomorrow,” he says, and I see the weight of all these revelations coming down on him. “We’ve never seen anything like Malik before. The rogues that survived seem like true followers. Disciples, almost.”

I look down at Harper, her soft golden curls hiding her face. She seems to have fallen asleep; no surprise when I consider all she’s been through. “The Collinses never mentioned anything about Malik or magic. They just seemed annoyed or scared by Haper’s gift.”

“I don’t think they’re central to the rogue uprising,” Callum shrugs. “The ones Byron has interrogated didn’t have any information on them. If Malik had known about Harper before you fled, he’d have just taken her from there. Word must have gotten out after her fire caused the damage at their property.”

The blood in my veins turns to ice at the thought. If I’d stayed at the Collinses’ after Harper caused the fire, Malik might have attacked there, and no one could have saved Harper.

Callum seems to sense what I’m thinking and squeezes my hand. “No one is ever going to hurt her, hurt either of you ever again, I swear.” He glances down at our interwoven hands and takes a deep breath, “Ava, I—”

He’s interrupted by the doctor, who knocks and cautiously enters. “Can I check Harper now?” she asks, as Callum stands. “I can come back.”

“No, it’s important. Let’s get her checked over,” Callum says, turning to me. “We can talk later.”

Harper stirs as I gently wake her for the doctor to begin her checks. At first, she seems disoriented, and it breaks my heart as she recoils from the doctor’s touch. “Shush, it’s okay,” I soothe her as she clings to me, and sparks begin to fly from her fingers as her distress builds.

Suddenly, she looks toward Callum, and he instinctively reaches for her. “How about I hold you the whole time,” he says, and she nods. I watch as she calms in his arms as the doctor carefully listens to her heart and checks her for injuries; luckily, these appear to be mainly just scrapes and bruises that are already healing.

“And we can see her gift is still intact,” the doctor muses as tiny sparks continue to flicker. Turning to Callum, she says, “Have the witch stop by the clinic too, if she will, to update us.”

He nods, thanking her before she finishes checking Harper, and turns to me. “If those wounds are healed enough, we should be able to get you home tonight, too. As long as you promise no more heroics.”

I brush the comment away. “There was nothing heroic about it. I didn’t save her; Callum did.”

The doctor scoffs. “You took on three male wolves on your own. Put one down and carried on fighting. There’s not a wolf in this clinic that doesn’t think you’re a hero fighting for your daughter like that.”

“Damn right,” the nurse who sat with me earlier, Becca, says as she enters the room. “Now, let’s get those bandages changed so you can get into your own bed to rest.”

Back at Callum’s house, I’m sore but healing fast. I'm grateful I can manage enough to help Harper get ready for bed. I can see how worn out she is; no child should go through all that she has. I pull the covers back and let her climb into the bed we share, tucking her in while I put some pillows behind me and lean back.

Almost wordlessly, she curls up and closes her eyes as I begin to tell our usual bedtime story. Only this time, there’s a twist. I begin to tell her about how her daddy is the most powerful alpha on the island, and he loves her more than anything in the world, how they’re going to practice her magic in the meadow, and we’ll all play in the tall grass. As I talk, I can feel the last of the tension leave her body, and the sound of her breathing evens out. I softly stroke her hair. “Sleep tight, my little angel. Know that your daddy is right downstairs, and the whole pack is out tonight to protect you.”

With patrols taking place around the clock, I know that much is true. Having Harper safe in her bed means everything tonight, and as I slip from the bed, I go to look out the window and see the guards stationed around the house and down the street.

Feeling grateful for the security of the pack, I go in search of Callum and find him in his office, just finishing a call. I hear him saying goodbye to someone as I approach the door, and he jumps up when he sees me coming, rushing to help me sit down in one of the chairs by the fire. “You shouldn’t be walking around,” he grumbles.

I chuckle. “You know I’m nearly healed,” I say, but he still looks skeptical. “Okay, it does hurt, but I can walk around. I think I ache from shifting more than anything.”

“Did you have any signs your wolf was coming back?” he asks.

I nod. “She’d been getting closer ever since we—” I pause, blushing. “She’s been closer recently, but when they attacked, she just broke through.”

“For Harper,” he nods. “You really are a super mom. I’m so glad you protected her like that; if they’d taken her straight away, Malik would have had longer to extract her magic.”

I can feel the tears welling as he speaks, and I brush them away. “I’ve never been so scared, I thought they were going to kill her,” I sob, the tears breaking free. “I thought we’d never see you again.”

Callum crouches down in front of me, my head falling onto his shoulder as emotion consumes me. My wolf howls in distress at the memory of telling Harper to run, knowing I couldn’t hold them off for long. In my distress, at first I barely notice the waves of calm that seem to be coming from Callum as he simply holds me. It’s only after a minute that I realize those feelings are coming through our bond.

After a moment, he leans back slightly, lifting my chin with his hand. “You feel it too,” he says quietly. “The bond.”

I nod as time stands still. “I do. It’s been in the background for a while. But I feel it stronger now.”

“It’s always been there,” he replies. “I’ve just been a fool not to let myself feel it. Not to let myself have what I’ve always wanted.”

I shake my head. “You don’t have to say these things because of what’s happened or because of Harper,” I say. “I won’t take her away from you. I know she’s safer here in the pack, with her dad, and I want her to be happy. But you don’t owe me anything.”

“I love Harper, but I’m talking about me and you,” he says, his wolf staring back at me through the shifting Amber in his eyes. “I love you, Ava. I love you and Harper.”

I search his face for a hint of deception, but all I see is hopeful honesty. In my mind, I remember those weeks we spent together when the rest of the school was at the tournament, and our bond developed until he threw it away in the blink of an eye.

“You rejected me once, Callum, how do I know you won’t do it again?” I ask. “I would rather you be honest. I don’t think I would survive it if the bond were broken again.”

He dips his head, taking a deep breath. “I was scared. I knew my father would never accept you, and I never wanted to challenge him. We lived in constant fear of upsetting him,” he begins. I knew some of it, everyone knew what Ralph was like, but I couldn’t have known the extent of it. “When he died, the pack was fracturing, and they expected me to step up, and I panicked. I acted just like him when all I ever wanted to do was be your mate. I have no excuse. I just ask for your forgiveness.”

“You could never be like Ralph,” I say, lifting my hand to cup his face.

“I fear that’s exactly what I’m like,” he replies, “but you and Harper make me want to be better. I want to be a better man, wolf, and leader. But more than anything, I want you. I want us to be a family.”

Tears roll down my cheeks, but this time, they are happy tears; I can feel his sincerity shining through the bond, and it almost takes my breath away. “I love you, Callum, I always have. And you are already a better man and a better father.”

He kisses me hard, the salt of my tears drowning in the sweetness of his embrace. I grip his shoulders as he deepens the kiss, drawing me to him as though he’ll never let me go, though careful of my wounds.

“I will spend forever making sure you feel my love,” he says, and I find myself believing him.