She smiles back, looping her arm in mine as she whips her long golden hair over her shoulder. “I’ll walk with you back to Ambrose’s place; then you can tell me what the plan is to save Kael.”
I nod, still feeling the stares of the entire Moonlight wolves on me. The looks I get from them are varied—from admiration to fear to anger. I haven’t won them all over as much as Ambrose tried to convince me that I did.
Emeric joins Ambrose, and then wordlessly, they take off through the village. I have no doubt they won’t rest until they’ve ensured every pack member is accounted for and on their way tohealing. Ambrose doesn’t look back, but Emeric keeps glancing over his shoulder at me with concern in his eyes as I lean against Rowena’s shoulder until they finally disappear from view.
“Thank you for helping me. Kael has been my only friend for so long. It’s nice to have another friend.”
She squeezes me harder against her. “We are going to get Kael back.”
My lips curl up as she says the word ‘we’ like we are a team, like she’s invested in this too.
“How are you feeling about Ambrose being your mate?”
She says it like it’s a fact, like it’s already been determined.
“I haven’t fully accepted that I have a mate, let alone that it’s Ambrose.”
She opens her mouth like she wants to say more but then thinks better of it. Finally, she says, “Ask him. Ask him all the questions you have. Ask him everything.”
She stops walking, and I realize we’ve made it to the door of Ambrose’s house.
“I will,” I say, even though I have no idea if Ambrose will answer any of my questions.
Rowena hugs me and then slides a phone into my pocket. “My number is already programmed in. Call me if you need anything. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. I can handle Ambrose.”
She smirks. “I know—we all saw that tonight. If anyone still doubts that you are his mate, his equal, they won’t after tonight.”
I shake my head. “I still can’t shift. How can I be his equal when I can’t even shift?”
“You will, you’re so close. You just have to tap into that last little bit of yourself that you have yet to fully discover.”
“How?”
“It’s different for everyone. For me, it was about accepting my beauty instead of fighting it. I used to hate that people onlysaw the beautiful golden-haired woman when they looked at me. They didn’t see more—that I was intelligent and brave and strong. Once I accepted my beauty as a positive thing and not a negative, once I fully accepted myself, I was able to shift.”
I frown, unsure what parts of myself I have and haven’t accepted yet.
She squeezes my hand. “They’re inside.”
I raise my eyebrow, not expecting them to have beat us to the house. I thought I would have a few minutes on my own to collect myself.
Rowena studies me for a minute as if she’s able to read my guilt. “It’s not your fault that we were attacked. The Moonlight wolves are stronger than Nyx or the vampires. No pack member died. Ambrose being our alpha makes us all stronger than the other packs.”
I don’t respond because there is nothing I can say that would stop the guilt I feel for distracting Ambrose. If it wasn’t for me, Nyx and the vampires wouldn’t have attacked. Ambrose would have stopped the attack before anyone was hurt.
Rowena doesn’t say anything else as she starts walking down the path from the front door down to the street, while I open the front door to face Ambrose.
Emeric spots me first.
“He send you to lock me up again?” I fold my arms across my chest, while staring him down with a look that dares him to try it and see what happens.
Emeric’s face drops. “No. I was going to stand guard outside and give you two some privacy, unless you don’t feel safe with him.”
I scoff. “I feel perfectly safe with him. But I’m not sure how safe he is with me.”
Emeric rubs the back of his neck as if unsure how to respond to my comment.
