He finally looked at her, and her eyes gently widened with bliss at being acknowledged.
Slowly, he repeated, “Again, you make a lot of assumptions.”
She tutted. “As if one of them caught your interest already. It took me an entire year just to get you to keep me at the side of your bed after fucking me. The first time you held me was like climbing a mountain to victory. There’s no way another has caught your eye so easily.”
He didn’t release his gaze. “I was younger then, and I didn’t want commitment. I do now, but you spoiled your chance at being my mate—”
They both paused as two scents approached his room.
“Who is that?” Jemma asked.
“The Arch Elder,” Ronan mumbled with worry, standing up swiftly and leaving Jemma in his room, although she trailed him like a shadow.Why is Tania here?
The moonlight bled through the carved-out windows, the light running over Suna’s and Tania’s face in waves as the two of them approached the Alpha.
“What happened?” Ronan growled, his articulation slow.
Tania’s clothes were ripped, injuries littering her aged body. “Fuck the queen,” Tania spat. “She tried to kill me. They think I am dead—it’s a long story, but we do not have the time for it,” she urged, her voice ragged.
The closer he looked, the more he realized how bruised and bloody she was. She smelled a feral mess.
“That’s…” he began, his thoughts immediately to his mother, then to Rem. “I don’t—”
“There is no time, Ronan. We have to go. We have to take everyone we can, maybe even see if we can gather shifters from Novak pack on the way. Enola is about to betrayallof us.”
“How?” he asked, his blood running cold, his eyes glowing amber.
“The Silvers. They are ingravedanger.”
“How did you even get here with no one following?”
Tania snarled, as if exercising patience was physically paining her, and quickly spat, “Your Beta, Lothar. He used something to hide his scent—” Ronan’s eyes widened, thinking back to the small vials they found on the hunters and stored for later use “—and he killed those that came after me. He was injured, but he is as hardy as a bear, and I think he made it back to Rem. They may think that I didn’t survive, but I am not sure, which is why we have to go.”
Ronan’s veins burned with such a fury that even Jemma lowered her head and pressed herself against the wall.
He faced Suna, stating, “Spread the word that Scarlet Howl has betrayed us, stolen the Silvers, and plans to bring them harm. We leave at dawn, stop at Novak Pack, and gather anyone there that wants to rally and support Enzo. Then we run until our paws are bloody and inside Scarlet.”
Suna nodded, and Ronan said, “You are in charge until I return. Keep the boy safe.”
“I’ll have him moved in here right away. Be safe, brother, and if they’ve harmed mother, eat their hearts out,” she spat with vehemence, emotion quivering her voice.
He placed a hand on Suna’s shoulder, his eyes softening, not even considering his own potential death.
Being an Alpha always meant he had to be willing to die if it came to it. “And if I don’t return, plant a tree for me next to father.”
Her nostrils flared, the same blue eyes of his looking back at him. “Don’t say that.”
Ronan was affectionate with those he loved, especially in private, but he and Suna rarely showed physical affection with the other. It simply wasn’t their way.
Even then, he leaned in and kissed her forehead where her skin met her dark hairline, taking in the scent of his twin. With more tease in his voice, he pulled away and said, “Don’t worry. I can’t let you outlive me for that long. I’ll return, even if it’s to haunt you.”
A smile faltered on her face, tears swelling in her eyes, until she looked up and away, blinking rapidly before wiping her eyes. With affection in her voice that contrasted her message, she said, “Come back, you idiot.”
He gripped her shoulder tighter and then dropped his hand, smiling gently at her. She sniffed, nodded, and turned around, beginning a run that morphed into her pale wolf as it took off.
A part of him wondered if it was the last time he’d see her, but he pushed that down. Those thoughts would only get in the way of what he had to do.
Jemma, facing the ground, quietly said, “This is dangerous, Ronan.”
