“Rowan was right,” she says.
My first reaction to those words is positive, mostly because that seems to be my automatic reaction to Rowan now that the Mating bond is healed.
But then I realize what, exactly, Rowan would be right about.
Zahra brushes her hair out of her face, clutching the blanket around her with one hand as she quickly tries to catch her breath.
“It’s Jay,” Zahra continues. “Jay Randall.”
It takes me a second to connect the dots. “Tim’s brother?”
She nods, her throat bobbing with a swallow. “Jay challenged Henry this morning.”
I balk. “Challenged him?”
“For Alpha. Or rather, he challenged Henry’s nephew. He thinks their bloodline is weak, and was clearly inspired by the Blackburns to fight to the death for the chance to lead the Whiteroses.”
“But that’s not how things are done here.”
“I know that. We all know that.” Zahra shakes her head, cringing. “Well, most of us know that. It turns out that Jay and Tim have been hard at work gaining a loyal following among the pack. It’s not many. Maybe a dozen. But, Lina, there’s a bigger problem.”
Bigger than mutiny among the most historically pacifistic and diplomatic wolf pack in the Appalachians?
I stare at her. “What is it?”
“Henry’s Betas-the ones he can still trust, that is-are rounding up the traitors right now…but they’ve already told Samson Blackburn everything.”
“Everything? Z, what are you saying?”
“They told him about Noah. They know that the Greenbriar Alpha heir has a son.”
For several long, painful seconds, there’s nothing but a strange ringing noise in my ears. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to believe what she’s saying.
I don’t want to realize the truth that is sinking in little by little.
Zahra steps toward me. “Where’s Noah? At school?”
It takes me a minute to find my voice. “He had a half-day, but he-fuck-Zahra, he didn’t get off the bus. It just went by-I didn’t-oh, God…”
My best friend looks so horrified by the words coming out of my mouth that it turns my stomach.
Only, before she can say anything, there’s the sound of a rumbling engine and the crunch of tires on gravel. Both of us turn and rush back to the open door to see Rowan’s truck pulling back into the driveway.
But I can’t feel relief. Not right now. Not when I know, without a doubt, with a mother’s instincts, that something is deeply, terribly wrong.
Rowan hops out of the truck, and there’s a lightness in his step and a soft smile on his lips that breaks my heart.
He takes exactly two steps toward the house before he notices me and Zahra standing there. In half a second, his entire demeanor changes as he assesses the mood, smells Zahra’s fear, and notices the change in my own scent.
Rowan makes a beeline for me, halting just shy of sweeping me into his arms once he realizes that Zahra is standing close, mostly naked.
He stares at me, waiting for an explanation.
“It’s Noah,” I choke out.
That’s all I have to say for Rowan to launch into action.
Rowan
“It’s time to go back, Alina.”
She swallows hard, staring at our entwined fingers. There’s no time to waste, and yet here we are, stalled on the front porch because my Mate can’t seem to put one foot in front of the other.
There’s fear and fury running in equal measure through her bloodstream, turning her scent bitter and smoky. I breathe it in, allowing it to strengthen me.
“I can’t,” she breathes. “I can’t go back.”
Zahra has already left the scene, having shifted back into a wolf to run off and meet up with the half of the Whiterose pack that’s still loyal to Henry. They have their own infighting to deal with now, and it’s none of my business. It’s none of Alina’s business, either. I can see the realization in her eyes.
She needs to return to Greenbriar territory.
I squeeze her hand. “You have to.”
“Rowan-“
“Not for me,” I continue. “And not even for yourself. You need to do this for Noah.”
At the sound of our son’s name, Alina’s spine straightens. She exhales shakily, steeling herself before my eyes. In a matter of seconds, she becomes a queen on the warpath.
I pull her along beside me. We jump into my truck. My blood rushes loudly in my ears as I perform a vicious U-turn in Alina’s front yard, tearing up her grass in the process-and then we’re on the road headed back to Greenbriar territory.
Keeping one hand resting firmly on her leg, I try to keep the wolf within me tamed enough that I don’t lose control and shift suddenly behind the wheel. Alina is a live wire, tense and coiled with synapses firing.
She hasn’t been home in ten years. Now, she has no choice but to return.
“I wish this could have happened differently,” I tell her as I swing the truck onto the main route connecting the domains of the Whiterose and Greenbriar packs. “I wish I could have brought you back there with me on your own terms, Alina, with Noah by our side. I wanted that for you.”
She’s quiet for a moment, so stiff that I have to glance over at her a few times just to confirm that she hasn’t turned to stone.
“It doesn’t matter,” she says through gritted teeth. “It is what it is. I’ll do whatever it takes. But, Rowan…”
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.