Chapter 100: I'm Not Going Anywhere - Riven's POV

Her father breathed out a sigh of relief, drawing my attention back to him. “Good. What about her training? I know she was going to come here on weekends and—”

The Alpha King growled low in his throat, but not out of malice. Sometimes it just escaped when he was deep in thought. “She will need to have the same schedule as Riven, which means every day after the academy and on weekends. Since they will be the next ruling pair, it’s required.”

Callista clutched onto me tightly, her arms wrapping around me and squeezing. Her entire body shook, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been a few minutes ago. She was calming, even if it was slowly. I leaned down, planting a soft kiss on the top of her head.

“It’s going to be okay.” I rubbed my hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her. “Your wolf will calm down soon.”

Her mother looked at her pointedly, then at me. “She…has been…”

“I know,” I said solemnly. “It hurt me too.”

“We didn’t know that the bond would hurt you all at this age,” she whispered. “We thought since it manifested early, it would take a slower path and not push you to be together as it would as adults.”

“No one knows how bonds work at their age since it’s so rare,” Ronan added. “You couldn’t have known that her wolf would literally begin to starve the more distance was put between them. But that is over now. In six weeks, they will be mated formally under the full moon.”

“And the ceremony will go uncontested, right? Riven has already fought once for her,” her mother said, her voice hesitant. “It should go smoothly.”

Ronan looked at me, his gaze narrowing. He didn’t want to tell them that it might go wrong. Would the Alpha heirs challenge me? If they were in their right mind, they wouldn’t dare, but some families were still irritated that I had trained under the Alpha King. If word spread that I was his second son beyond what it already had, then there could be some more challenges.

Would they actually do it and fight me? That was debatable.

With me being so much larger than some of them, they knew they couldn’t win. It didn’t mean some wouldn’t be mouthy.

The real issue would be if they banded together and did something to truly challenge the Alpha King. A rebellion would truly be the only way to properly challenge us.

“It should go smoothly. If not, I can push my authority,” Ronan added as he glanced away from me.

“Should?” Callista’s father asked, his voice firmer now. “What do you mean by that? They will contest, won’t they?”

“With them being apart for so long, some might have gotten their hopes up that someone would break the bond and…let Callista move on. But she never did and stayed bonded to my son,” Ronan said, glancing between the two of us. “It will mostly be certain packs complaining. You know your daughter is a prized mate.”

Her father’s jaw tightened at that, his gaze shifting to Callista before landing back on Ronan. “Prized or not, she’s still my daughter. I won’t have a repeat of the last fight. Riven fought them off once and they’d be stupid to again. She’s not a political tool.”

“On that we agree and she won’t be,” I said before Ronan could answer, my voice sharper than I intended. Callista stirred in my arms, but I didn’t loosen my hold on her. If anything, I tightened my grip. “No one is using her. Her power is her power. She will use it as she sees fit.”

Ronan’s gaze flicked toward me, something unreadable passing through his expression, but he didn’t interrupt.

Callista’s father studied me for a long second, as if trying to decide whether he believed me or not. “And if someone does challenge?” He pressed. “If someone decides they want to test that claim or start a rebellion?”

“They won’t win,” I said simply.

The training, the control, and the endless hours spent pushing myself past the point of exhaustion hadn’t been for nothing. If someone stepped forward to challenge me for her, they weren’t walking away with anything.

Still, that didn’t seem to fully ease his concern.

“And if it turns into something bigger than a single challenge?” He asked. “You said so yourself there are packs that aren’t happy.”

Ronan stepped in then, his presence filling the space without effort. “If it escalates beyond what is expected, I will handle it,” he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. “No one will touch her without consequences. I seriously doubt a rebellion is in our future.”

That seemed to settle it, at least enough for now. Her parents didn’t need to know that we had already thought of it.

Callista shifted again, her grip on me loosening just slightly as her breathing evened out. The tremor in her body had eased, though I could still feel the lingering ache through the bond. It wasn’t as sharp as before, but it was there.

It would be for a while.

“She needs rest,” her mother whispered, her gaze softening as she watched her daughter. “This has been…a lot.”

“She can stay here,” I said immediately, before anyone else could suggest otherwise. “In my room.”

Callista tilted her head back slightly at that, her eyes meeting mine. There was a flicker of surprise there, but something else too. Relief.

Ronan didn’t argue, which told me everything I needed to know. He had already made that decision before I said it out loud.

“That would be best,” he agreed. “It will help stabilize the bond faster and after all the time they have spent apart, it would be good.”

Her father hesitated again, but this time it wasn’t as strong. He looked between us, taking in the way she was pressed against me, the way I hadn’t let go of her once.

Finally, he exhaled. “Fine,” he said. “But I want guards posted. And nothing happens until they go through the ceremony. Do you hear me, Riven Night—”

He paused, and I knew why. It was over my last name.

“You can still call me Nightshade, but my actual name is Blackwood.” I shut my eyes, knowing that I was fully embracing the part of my past that had been hidden for so long.

“But the Blackwoods aren’t in power,” her father said, glancing at Ronan. “Their son died and power transitioned.”

The funny thing about that was, it still managed to go back into the Blackwood line. Sure, the son died, but there was a second, just like there had been with me. He just used his other last name from the family he was given to.

Ronan looked at me with a sly smile. “That is a story for another time,” he said, his lips pulling into a smirk. “Guards are posted and will be as you’ve requested.”

Silence settled over the room again, but it wasn’t as tense as before. It felt…shifted, like something had been decided that couldn’t be undone.

And it couldn’t. I would never let her go and even if I did, her wolf would let her wither away to nothing, because the bond between us was too strong.

Callista let out a slow breath against my chest, her fingers tightening slightly in my shirt. “I’m okay,” she murmured, though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than anyone else.

“I know,” I said softly, brushing my hand up her back again. “It’s just your wolf catching up.”

That was part of it. The other part was everything we hadn’t dealt with yet. The year apart. The way things ended. The things I said.

None of that had disappeared just because we were standing here again.

Ronan cleared his throat lightly, drawing attention back to him. “You can take her upstairs,” he said, his gaze settling on me. “We’ll finish this conversation later.”

I nodded once, not bothering to argue.

Callista’s parents exchanged a glance before her mother stepped forward, brushing a hand gently over Callista’s hair. “We’ll be nearby,” she breathed. “If you need anything. We have some plans to discuss with the Alpha King.”

Callista nodded faintly, but didn’t pull away from me. I didn’t give her the chance to.

Without another word, I guided her toward the door, my arm still wrapped firmly around her as we stepped back into the hallway. The moment we were out of the room, the air shifted again.

I exhaled slowly, glancing down at her. “Are you still with me?”

She huffed out a small, tired breath. “Barely.”

A faint smile pulled at my lips despite everything. “That’s an improvement from earlier.”

She let out a weak laugh, but her grip on me didn’t loosen. “Don’t let go.”

The words hit harder than they should have.

I tightened my grip on her without hesitation. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Not this time.