Page 10

R owan

After escorting Alina and Noah home by following at a respectful distance in my truck, I head back to Greenbriar territory, where I have to step right into an important pack meeting.

“It’s true, Alpha,” reports Lillian, one of my father’s Betas. “The Blackburns appear to be pushing into the Whiterose borders in the west, taking advantage of their perceived weakness. The western villages are where many of their older folks live. The Whiteroses, I mean.”

Lillian looks worse for wear. She’s just returned from a scouting mission, and it’s clear that she hastily chucked on some clothes after shifting back into her human form without bothering to clean the mud and stray foliage out of her fur.

I glance at my father now. He’s frowning deeply. I’m trying not to fidget. My skin feels warm and itchy, like I’m wearing a wool sweatsuit. The confirmation of Blackburn aggression makes me want to shift and run at top speed to Alina.

For now, however, I need to be here.

“Any signs of violence?” my father asks.

Lillian cringes. “No, sir, but only because it seems that violence hasn’t been necessary. Given how, uh, mature the Whiteroses are, it looks like they have simply been doing their best not to get in the way.”

“So, the old farts are clearing a path directly to the heart of their territory,” mutters Cal.

“Quiet,” I grumble at him, even though I was thinking the same thing.

Cal presses his lips together.

My father sighs. “It’s unfortunate. It’s happened throughout our history, of course.

Packs struggle to reproduce enough younglings.

Perhaps due to too many males. Or not enough males.

A lack of urgency, on occasion. Sicknesses, plagues, whatever.

Before they know it, the majority of the pack is walking boldly toward death.

I think Henry is aware that this problem hangs over his pack, but I’m not certain he knows what to do about it. ”

“He’s going to let the Blackburns take over their territory if he doesn’t figure it out,” I comment. “Either that, or he’s going to let us fight the battle for him.”

My father frowns, but he doesn’t disagree.

Just like that, I can see it happening. The Blackburns sweeping in, eating up territory where the Whiteroses don’t have the numbers or the strength to prevent it.

That’s why Samson has been biding his time for years, I’m sure.

He’s been waiting for Henry to get even older, for his Betas to age past their prime. He’s been playing the long game.

I need to get Alina and Noah out of there.

“Thank you, Lillian. You may go. In fact, everyone may go.”

Normally, I’d insist on sticking around to discuss this new development with my father, but I’m out the door faster than anyone else. My truck is parked in my father’s driveway, and I stalk toward it.

“Where are you going?” Cal calls out after me.

“For a run,” I grunt over my shoulder.

“In your truck?”

“Heading back to my place, then going for a run,” I lie.

Cal jogs to catch up with me. “I’ll join you.”

“No.”

My cousin frowns as I hop up into the cab. I can tell he’s hurt by the immediate and unapologetic rejection. We usually run together. We have since we were kids. It’s why I knew he’d always become my second-in-command. Cal never fails to remain dutifully at my side.

“What’s going on, man?”

I start the engine and let out a loud exhale. “Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re heading back to Whiterose territory, aren't you? At least let me watch your back.”

“Not tonight.”

I try to swing the door shut, but Cal braces a hand against it and halts the momentum. I lock eyes with him, bearing down on him with the full weight of my alpha influence until he flinches slightly and lets go. The door remains hanging open, however, as a trickle of guilt arises.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “There’s something—I don’t like the idea of keeping something from you, but it’s complicated. I ask that, as my Beta, you trust me for now.”

Cal works his jaw. He wants to argue, wants to demand that I tell him what’s going on. Not because he has a habit of chomping at the bit, but because it’s his instinct to collect information that serves his purpose as my Beta. He just wants to do his job well, and I’m making it difficult for him.

He takes a deep breath, then forces out a faux-calm, “All right, then.”

I nod once at him, then close the door. A moment later, I’m peeling off into the night.

It’s been two days since I last set foot in West Pond, and I’m going insane at the separation.

I can barely remember how I got through the past ten years.

It’s like, ever since I learned where Alina is and that my son is with her, every cell in my body is screaming for me to go to her. To reclaim her.

But I saw Kseniya in town earlier today, and it was a stark and painful reminder about why I can’t do that. I can never have Alina. Not fully.

Still, I can protect her. I can protect Noah.

It doesn’t take long for me to get to the outskirts of West Pond. The roads are mostly empty, and the route is familiar enough by now that I can test the speed limit without careening off the road from a sudden sharp turn.

Within half an hour, I’m pulling into the driveway of Alina’s house. The lights are on downstairs. It’s dinnertime, I think. Noah will be heading to bed soon.

I hop out of the truck and breathe in deeply as I head to the porch. There’s no sign of the sour Blackburn scent, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be lingering within a few miles of here. Those beasts can be stealthy, after all. It’s how they managed to kill Alina’s parents—by sneaking up on them.

My knock on the front door is loud and insistent.

Light, rapid footsteps follow. Alina yanks open the door, a scowl already on her perfect face. She’s barefoot, wearing leggings and an oversized tee. There’s a sponge in one hand and a soapy spatula in the other. Cleaning up after dinner, then.

“What are you doing here, Rowan? You can’t just show up out of the blue like this.”

“I need to talk to you. Can I come in?”

“No, you can’t—”

“Alina.”

“Go awa–”

“Dad?” a soft voice calls from within the house.

Both of us pause. Soft footsteps emerge in the silence, and then Noah appears at Alina’s elbow.

“Hi, Noah,” I say to him.

“Hi…Dad.”

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. I’m a father. A father. It’s incredible.

Alina purses her lips. She’s been caught at an impasse. She doesn’t want to hiss and snarl at me in front of Noah.

Then, all at once, she loses the fight, because Noah offers me a tentative smile and asks, “Are you coming in?”

Alina glares at me. A victorious smile tugs on my lips. With a subtle roll of her eyes, she steps aside just barely enough for me to cross the threshold and slip past her.

The door slams a little too loudly behind me. She whirls away and stomps back to the kitchen. Noah remains where he is in the entryway, craning his neck to look up at me.

“Noah, honey, please go finish your homework upstairs,” Alina tells him.

“But—”

“Listen to your mother, please,” I add gently. “We can talk later, okay?”

Noah lets out a huff of annoyance, but he does as he’s told. He’s a sweet kid. Not a pushover in his obedience, but respectful in the way he does as he’s told by his elders. He can recognize the importance of roles and hierarchies. Leadership will come naturally to him.

Neither Alina nor I says a word as Noah’s footsteps thump up the stairs. It’s not until we both hear his bedroom door close that Alina plants her hands firmly on her hips and faces off against me.

“You can’t barge in at seven on a school night like that, Rowan.”

“I’m sorry, but I had to come,” I insist. “We just got confirmation that Samson Blackburn is, in fact, scheming to claim Whiterose land for his own. You need to get out of here. You need to—”

“Come back to the Greenbriars?” She rolls her eyes. “That’s predictable. How convenient, that an old enemy is now once again stirring the pot, and it serves your purpose to get your son into your clutches permanently.”

“That’s not—I’m not lying, Alina. Henry’s Betas know it. That friend of yours, the healer, probably knows it, too, given that she’s treating the same elders who are allowing themselves to be forced inland from the western borders.”

Alina furrows her brow, confusion causing her hatred for me to cool slightly.

“Zahra wouldn’t keep something like that from me.”

“My point is that you need to get out of here before the Blackburns attack. You know how they move, Alina. One day, everything is fine. The next day, people are dead.”

She looks away, swallowing hard. “I know.”

“At least cross the border into our territory. I can set you up with a house there. It’ll be quiet. Nobody will bother you.”

Fury sparks in her dark gaze. “And what about Noah? He has to go to school, Rowan. He has friends. He has a life here. I’m not going to relocate us to the fringes of a pack that I’m destined to ruin just so that he can learn what it means to be ostracized by his own people before his tenth birthday! ”

“It wouldn’t be like that. Trust me.”

“Trust you? Are you joking?”

Poor choice of words. I’ll give her that.

“It’s a matter of his safety, Alina,” I try again, opting for a different angle.

But she’s shaking her head before I’ve finished my sentence.

“I’m not going anywhere. Neither is Noah.

I will not let you manipulate me into relinquishing custody of our son.

Because you know that’s what will happen, Rowan.

You want to hide me away like a dirty secret?

You want to keep me tucked away in a creepy little love den where I can pop out your heirs as your poor little rejected Mate? ”

“God, Alina, I would never—”

“You think I’m stupid, don’t you? Even if we did go with you to this hypothetical safe space on Greenbriar land, you know that Noah would need you, eventually.

When he starts shifting. When the others learn that your heir is ready to start formal training.

He’ll have to leave my side, and then it will just be me alone in that prison you’re trying to sell to me as a good deal. ”

I step forward, unable to handle the weight of her accusations. She’s so…incorrect. She doesn’t understand.

She has no idea how much love there is inside me, how much of it belongs to her.

“Alina,” I whisper, taking another step to close the distance between us. Her scent overwhelms me, setting my skin on fire. Lilacs in full bloom on a misty summer morning. Spiced cloves, bitter yet rich, tingling on my tongue. It’s intoxicating. It’s everything.

She starts to jerk away from me, but the touch of my hand on her bare arm halts her. Time stops and the rejected bond howls mournfully between us.

Her eyelashes flutter. She can feel it, too.

Then, against all odds, she leans into me.

I can’t hold myself back anymore. I’ve been choking down the need gnawing at me for days, and to see her swaying toward me just the slightest bit, as if she is also on the verge of losing control…it shatters any sense of propriety I might have otherwise maintained.

I reach for her, pulling her to me, and press my lips to hers in a blazing, incandescent kiss.