His mother's shoulders rose as she took in a deep breath, then she looked to the fire in the grand hearth. "This should have been dealt with on day one, when Rem arrived. It was obvious something wasn't right, but… I don’t know. Ithought it was just nerves, like the rest of us."
“Again, it was calculated. Not enough, clearly… But I trusted Owen too much. He has always been so loyal… They used that to their advantage.”
“You two used to be friends when you were younglings. It is not your fault for trusting him.” His mother added, “At least we sent Suna home. She is the quickest, even with that leg of hers. Once Erik knows, it should help. But I don’t disagree that your presence is probably required for something like this.”
Ronan focused on the betrayal of the Callons, still not understanding what could motivate them to do something so irreversible.
"What of the boy—her brother?” his mother quietly asked.
"I knew there was a strange boy that arrived at the orphanage."
"Did you know it was Rem's brother?"
“No. We get orphans all the time. I didn’t think anything of it.”
The fact that the Callons stole Rem's brother and was using him as collateral absolutely bewildered Ronan. Why do it? What did Owen want? Clearly not favors with Ronan, as this was not a forgivable act. The Callons conspiring against their own Alpha was asinine, and Fiona had been involved…‘I am leaving Warden Pack to be with Scarlet Howl…’
“Do you think that Calder or Enola could know more than they let on?” he asked.
“Such as?”
“I don’t know, but why else would Fiona have come here, and then tell me she is staying here?” he asked, crossing his arms and glowering at nothing in particular as he stared at the woods through the window, wanting to leave with each passing second. “Then again, it’s not like we could ask her. She refused to tell us a word once we captured her. She owed loyalty tosomeone.”
He looked back to his mother, who was now gazing out the window, her elbow resting on the arm of the couch as her thumb mindlessly rubbed her chin, the dark circles under her eyes hinting she had hardly slept; it had been a long day for them all. "We need to go home.”
“I do not like leaving Rem here,” Ronan said quietly. “Not in the slightest.”
He tried to think of any solution that would allow him to take her with him, but it just wouldn’t work. Scarlet Howl would come for her, and he didn’t have the numbers to defend her while here. Plus, she was in a very fragile state after dealing with the curse,andshe still needed to turn.
"Are you considering her as a mate, at all? You still have to be thinking of that. You need a Luna. You need a lineage. And it needs to be a Silver. Whichever one of them that is, you need to show them some form of dedication right now. That will be the future mother of my grandchildren. I cannot leave whomever that might be here alone. None of them are ready to weather that."
Ronan took in a deep breath and looked back to the fire. He didn’t doubt Rem’s sincerity in her interest for him—scents could never be faked like that… And yet, he struggled with pushing the matter of claiming her for himself. Rem was so far from being who she would be as a shifter, and it felt premature to judge her potential as a mate and Luna.
Then again, she suffered everything for her brother. She carried that burden for weeks, dealt with injury, and weathered that fear, all alone. As a shifter, those protective instincts would only increase. That sense of loyalty would only deepen.
He couldn’t deny that her scent riled something in him, and none of the other Silvers carried whatever ensnared him so easily—just her. He respected her for weathering the weight of this curse for so long, staring at the burning Elder Witch with a vexation he’d want in someone that was the mother of his younglings, a will to protect them and her pack at all costs.
“If I could only speak to her, it would help,” he ruminated.
“She will learn our language, soon enough.”
Ronan rolled his gaze to the fire, a mischievous look flashing through his eyes for a second, imagining her wolf’s spirit taking over with a tenacity that he liked in his females.
He enjoyed that imaginary version of her…Is it so imaginary? It’s who she has shown to be…
“I will give her space to grow and become one of us. But for now, she does have my interest.”
His mother smiled. “Thank the gods you’re more like your father than my brother. Aldric would just take what he wanted. Your father would give a she-wolf room to stretch her legs.”
“Well, it’s not hard… I want aLuna, not a dishrag.”
She laughed, and it reached her eyes, which made him smile. “You always did like your she-wolves to have a challenging spirit.”
He looked into the pale eyes that he inherited, his smile fading. It was hard to remain in good spirits when everything was wrong. "I will go home and deal with the Callons. I must, or it makes me look weak. I will do it after the Silvers have turned, so I know, at the bare minimum, that power will begin to awaken within her… I don’t want to leave her completely declawed.”
His mother immediately said, “And I will stay.”
He frowned. “No. That is not safe.”
