I didn’t feel like laughing. My mate had just told pretty much everyone she didn’t relish the idea of having my children.
“To make me think that,” she carried on, scolding Diesel. “When we’re in a pack war and I wouldn’t be able to fight, why would you do that?”
“You’re not upset you could be pregnant with my child?” I asked her, and a strange sense of something unknown uncurled within me. Pride? Ego? Want?
Rowen looked back at me in surprise. “No? I want children,” she answered quickly. “Even if they are yours,” she added teasingly.
Relief. It was relief. Wewouldbe a family. Someday.
You’re welcome.
Go fuck yourself, D, I replied to my beta.Not funny.
“Right, now that Diesel’s had his morning entertainment,” I said, turning to the others, and some of them laughed. “The Pack Council has called for me. I have to be there in three days. I need to leave tonight.”
No one was laughing now.
I packed light.
Not because I didn’t plan to stay—but because I didn’t plan to waste time.
One bag. A change of clothes. Papers I might need, including Corrin’s signed confession. And a blade older than the Council’s founding charter, because I didn’t trust anyone in that tent not to try something stupid.
Diesel leaned in the doorway of my room, arms crossed. “You sure you don’t want me with you?”
“I’m sure,” I said, not looking up from where I tucked the blade into the false lining of the bag. “Galvin isn’t our only problem, and I need Killian here.” I looked up at him. “You need to take the ones who are too vulnerable to fight and get them to Stonefang.” I didn’t look away. “And take Cale. I know, it’s not reasonable, but he was talking to her yesterday…just take him away.”
He didn’t argue. Just nodded once. That’s why I trusted him. Killian had been harder to persuade, but I needed him here to protect the pack. Protect the Stonefang wolves in Blueridge.
We were stretched too thin already.
And Rowen… I exhaled and rolled my shoulders. Her name alone made the bond stir—light, heat, want. But also something heavier.Loyalty.
We hadn’t talked about the summons beyond the initial conversation. She hadn’t tried to convince me to let her come. That made it worse, that even after all this time, she knew me too well. Knew I’d hate that conversation and having to say no to her.
But as I stepped into the hallway and found her waiting by the back door, arms folded, hair tied back like she was ready for war—it nearly undid me anyway.
“Are you sure?” she asked softly.
“No.” I adjusted the strap across my chest. “But I don’t get to ignore a summons.”
Her mouth twisted. “What do I do while you’re gone?”
“Lead.”
She stared at me for a long moment. “You mean that?”
“I do.” I traced my thumb over her cheek. “Listen to Killian.” I saw her open her mouth to protest. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s very good at it, but he knows to work with you, so please, princess, work with him.”
She didn’t cry. Didn’t reach for me. Just nodded like the leader she was. “I can do that,” she said with a shaky smile. “You bring your ass back,” she said. “You’ve got better things to do than dance to the tune of a Council of old wolves who think their titles make them dangerous.”
I let a ghost of a smile pass between us.
She stepped closer. Not touching me. Not yet. Just looking. Seeing me. Then, with a sigh, she asked, “You sure you want to do this alone?”
“I’m not alone,” I said. “You’re here.”
And I felt it—her power through the bond. Steady. Hot. There if I reached for it. We stood like that, heartbeat to heartbeat, breath to breath. She leaned in, pressed her lips to mine once—nothing hungry or wild, just solid.
