191

191
"Give him time. He'll come around."

I stared through the windshield at the road ahead.

"I don't know if he will, Cassius," I whispered. "I really don't know anymore."

The truck rumbled forward as he shifted gears, leaving nothing but silence and the warmth of his fingers still woven through mine. A hollow ache settled in my chest, the kind that came every time Rowan pulled away. Why did it always have to feel like a loss? Why couldn't what I already had ever feel like enough?

By the time the familiar iron gates of Moonblood came into view, the ache had dulled to something quiet and distant. But the moment I spotted the tall, brown-skinned woman standing just inside   dark hair, sharp eyes, and that unmistakable grin   every bit of it melted away.

"Shante!" I barely had the truck door open before I was already running toward her.

She caught me like she'd been waiting all her life to do it. "Surprised you, didn't I?" she laughed, squeezing me tight. "I needed to see for myself that you were still in one piece."

"Because of you," I told her, pulling back to meet her eyes. "You know that, right?"

She waved me off, but I could tell it meant something. I noticed her hair had been rebraided   a little different from before, only a few loose curls breaking free at the edges. It hit me then, just how much time had slipped past us.

"I'm just relieved you made it back inside Moonblood territory before Bloodfang could close in on you," she said.

Her grin stretched wide. "We threw them away."

"We have so much to catch up on."

Less than twenty minutes later, I was sinking into the cushions of Shante's couch with a plate of beef tips and rice balanced on my lap like it was the finest meal I'd ever been given.

"Road food getting old?" she teased.

"Don't talk to me about trail mix," I muttered between bites. "Your turn. Tell me everything. What did I miss?"

She leaned back and crossed her arms with a casual shrug. "Life kept moving." Then her eyes lit up. "Oh   wait. The alpha pair banished Orion. Send him out to the wildlands. Turns out he was the one who tipped Bloodfang off about you. Kylie and Idori declared him a traitor in front of the whole pack."

I nearly choked. "They actually did that?"

"Not a single one of his people stood up for him." Her voice dropped. "He walked out of those gates alone. And being a beta out in the wildlands…" She let the sentence trail off.

"You think he didn't make it?"

She tilted her head. "That place doesn't forgive anyone. Not even for one night."

"Trust me," I muttered. "I know."

"Ellie's doing well, by the way. She was a wreck when she heard about the wolfsbane situation. She'll want to see you."

Her eyes drifted to my neck, and I could practically feel the question burning behind her lips. I set my fork down and gave her what she was waiting for.

"Lucien claimed me. Has he shown up here yet?"

Her mouth fell open   clearly thrown by the fact that I'd arrived with Cassius and Rowan instead of the alpha who'd marked me. She shook her head slowly, still speechless.

I pulled the collar of my shirt aside, letting her see the two runes resting just below my collarbone. "Ellie and I have a lot to talk about. Because I bit Luca back. He claimed it was me too. He and Lucien are both my Bonded   same runes and everything."

"Girl " Shante pressed her hand over her mouth, cyan nails catching the light.

"And Cassius and Rowan are my mates. My wolf ran with theirs under the Harvest Moon. We just haven't completed the bond yet."

I didn't say out loud that Rowan was still holding back. Saying it would make it too real. I held onto Cassius's certainty instead   that Rowan would find his way there eventually.

Shante clapped once, slow and dramatic, her jaw dropping further with every word. "You have been busy."

"Just a little." I laughed, though something soft and exposed shifted in my chest. Her opinion mattered more than I ever said out loud. I didn't want her to look at me the way some people did, like I was greedy, like I was taking more than my share.

She shook her head, lips curling into that signature wry smile of hers. "Four fine alphas all wrapped around one woman? Honey, you are the luckiest person breathing."

I laughed for real that time. With Luca still far behind and Rowan's walls still standing, it didn't always feel like luck   but having her approval loosened something tight in my chest.

Then her eyes went wide with a sudden realization. "Wait. Does this mean you can shift now?!"

The pure joy on her face made my heart full. That was Shante. She celebrated every win like it was her own. She'd helped save my life, scrambled my scent trail so Bloodfang couldn't track me, and never once asked for anything in return.

"Yes," I said softly. "Pack Alpha Kylie was right. I just had to wait until my wolf was ready to come forward on her own. I want to tell everyone together once Lucien arrives   when all the pack alphas are in the same room."

"Then we run together." She was already reaching for her phone. "Let me find out when Ellie's free."

"You two spend a lot of time together now?"

"When life allows it." She glanced up from her screen, eyes glinting with mischief as she set the phone down. "Okay but real talk, what's it actually like? Four alphas, all of them trying to outdo each other for your attention? Do they argue over who gets to "

"They actually get along," I cut in, laughing. "Shockingly well. You wouldn't expect it, but "

"The Howling Evergreen runs differently." She nodded like it made perfect sense. "You found the right pack."

Her phone buzzed. She glanced at it and stood. "Ellie's home. You want to go now?"

"Let me just tell Cassius and Rowan first."

She was already grabbing my empty plate. "Then let's move."

Selena pov

A massive black wolf stood outside Shante's door, waiting. I walked past him without a word as we made our way back to the Howling Evergreen's den. Rowan had never made peace with the witch blood running through my veins, and since Shante and I were heading to spend time with another half-breed, I figured he had no real interest in joining us.

Shante threw a glance over her shoulder at him, then turned back to me with a smirk. "Ooh, somebody's sleeping in the doghouse."

A smile pulled at my lips before I could stop it. "That obvious?"

"Please. The tension rolling off you two could fill a room."

"Rowan is simply being a dutiful wolf," I said, my tone dripping with exaggerated authority, "waiting for his pack alpha to bless his choice of a mate." I made sure my voice carried   loud enough to land where it needed to.

A low growl answered me right on cue.

"Then again," I continued, keeping my eyes forward, "maybe what he really wants is a pure wolf shifter. Not something like me."

His growl deepened as he padded silently behind us.

"If you'd rather speak for yourself," I added without looking back, "you could always shift."

Shante peeked over her shoulder and let out a short laugh. "Didn't work."

"He likes that form," I said simply.

Her brows danced upward. "Does he now?"

I rolled my eyes and walked faster. "Don't."

As we moved through the streets, both people and wolves stopped mid-step, nostrils lifting as they caught the scent of my heat drifting through the air. Each time, a quiet warning growl from Rowan was enough to send them moving again. Others spotted Lucien's mark on my skin and kept walking without a second look of small mercy. By the time the den came into view, a warmth had settled under my skin, stubborn against the cold air biting around us.