It’s not a question. Still, I nod in confirmation.
“And?”
I stare at him. “And…I have repaired the bond I rejected.”
My mother gasps again, one hand pressed to her lips in surprise.
My father, on the other hand, betrays a rare flash of anger.
“You can’t be serious, Rowan,” he grumbles, stepping closer.
I stand my ground. “I am serious. I love her. I never stopped loving her. That is why I’ve come to Kseniya today. I hoped to gain some clarity on the prophecy.”
My father throws a look at Kseniya, but turns his attention back to me. “And did you? Gain clarity?”
“I don’t-“
“Because you risk everything by bonding with your Mate,” he interrupts. “You risk your future as Alpha, and therefore risk the entire pack. Wherever your runaway Mate has been all these years, she has not been here in Greenbriar territory serving the community. She has abandoned you, abandoned all of us.”
“Enough,” snaps my mother.
Both me and my father startle at the vehemence in her tone. It is the Luna speaking, the wolf queen who has only ever been gentle and sweet even at the worst of times.
She narrows her eyes at my father, her mate. “With all due respect to Kseniya, we have allowed her prophecy to rule our son for his entire life. He has lived in fear because of it. He has lived unhappily, unfulfilled. He will make a perfect Alpha, I am certain of it, but I have also worried that there is a darkness inside him that grows stronger without the love of his Mate. Each passing year, I have been so afraid for him, my love.”
Something clicks in the back of my mind, but my father grunts in frustration before I can latch on to it for long.
“Rowan knows what his primary responsibility is-to lead this pack. The Alpha gene is patrilineal, and that has been the tradition of our bloodline for centuries. Since before we even occupied this land. I will not allow anything to stand in the way of my son ruling his people!”
“And what about my son?” I blurt.
Dead silence falls on the wise woman’s garden.
Kseniya hums under her breath, almost thoughtfully.
My father is staring at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“What are you talking about, Rowan?”
I clear my throat and meet his ferocious gaze. “I have a son with my Mate. He is almost ten years of age. His name is Noah. He and Alina have been living in the Whiterose pack for the past decade, practically right under my nose. The boy is just like me, Father. And he is destined to rule this pack someday, too. But, more importantly than that, my Mate is destined to rule this pack at my side. I don’t care what the prophecy says. I know that to be true.”
Kseniya speaks up before my father can continue arguing.
“Alpha, perhaps I might invite you inside, and we can consult the scrying bones together? I must humbly admit that my prophecy was, indeed, vague.”
“The idea of being ruined is not vague to me,” huffs my father.
But, when it comes down to it, he’s a reasonable man and a just ruler. So, when Kseniya beckons to him, he nods once and marches past me, heading for her cabin so that he can consult the spirits of our ancient bloodline with the wise woman.
My mother and I are left standing out in the garden. Beside me, the rhododendrons are already buzzing with bees. Soon, the lilacs will bloom, too-the flowers that dominate Alina’s beautiful aroma.
My mother approaches me, placing a gentle hand on my arm. She smiles.
“Go to her, Rowan,” she whispers to me. “Bring her home. Tell her that she has always been one of us.”
Alina
It’s barely been three hours since Rowan left this morning. Or maybe almost four hours. I haven’t really been able to keep track.
Before he left, which had been fairly early, he’d left a note for me on the kitchen counter, along with a fresh pot of coffee.
I’ll be back soon. Be safe, my beloved Mate.
My heart had thrummed like a hummingbird’s wings, and I ended up rereading the note at least a dozen times before I could actually remember how to function like a normal person again.
Left with little else to do, and with the wolf within begging to take form, I shift and take a quick jog around my property. I don’t go far into the woods, and I keep my nose tuned to the sourness of the Blackburn scent just in case. I run for about an hour, enjoying the newfound mightiness and dominance in my limbs from the healed Mating bond, knowing that if things were different, I could have felt this way all along. Unstoppable. Gorgeously terrifying. Wonderfully deadly.
I run through the trees, knowing that Noah is safe and sound at school, and allow myself to replay the most precious scenes from the day before.
The moment when, after merely ten minutes of catching his breath once our first round was over, Rowan pulled me to him again, and I rode him until we both unraveled a second time.
Then, later, when he tangled his hands in my hair and kissed me breathless.
And, after that, when he traced his name onto my bare spine with an idle finger, murmuring to me about old childhood memories and whispering the truth that, even when we were kids, he knew there was something special about me.
It had all been so sweet. So perfect.
So easily destroyed, too.
Don’t think about that yet, I remind myself.
I finish my run, shift back into human form, and head into the house. In the shower, I get distracted for several minutes when I remember the taste of Rowan on my tongue, and end up slipping a hand between my thighs to pleasure myself just to take the edge off.
Once I’m dried off and dressed, I dare to check my phone.
Weirdly, there’s no text from Tim asking me why I haven’t shown up for my shift today. If he was really involved with the treacherous Whiteroses that have allied with Samson Blackburn, does he already know that Rowan rescued me? Does he know I’m still alive?
Even Caitlyn hasn’t texted me, but then I remember the young waitress has today off anyway.
If anyone is worried that I’m not at The Diner, taking up my usual spot behind the bar, nobody has come banging down my door to investigate.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.