Chapter 16: A Calculated Risk

I stood before Garrick’s desk, my palms damp, the request feeling like a betrayal on my tongue.

Kael’s fever had spiked again. Eira’s usual remedies had failed, and a deep infection was setting into his wounds. There was only one thing I knew that could pull him back from the brink, a rare moss that grew on the north side of the ironwood trees deep in the forest, it was outside the lodge grounds. Far outside.

Garrick leaned back in his chair, the worn leather groaning under his weight. He had been reviewing maps, and the scent of parchment and ink mingled with his own dominant scent. His eyes, that stormy blue, lifted from the papers and settled on me. The intensity in them was a physical touch.

“Explain it to me again,” he said, his voice low. “Why you need to go.”

“It’s called Shadowmoss,” I said, forcing my voice to stay even. “It draws out infection better than anything else, Eira doesn’t have it, I’ve checked, and besides, it doesn’t keep for long once picked. It has to be fresh.”

“And you know where to find it.”

“I do. My pack… we used it, I know the terrain it grows in.”

He stood then, moving around the desk with that silent, predatory grace that always made my heart stutter. He stopped in front of me, too close. I had to tilt my head back to hold his gaze.

“You are asking me to let you walk out of these walls. Into the forest. Alone.” He said each word slowly, deliberately.

“I am asking you to let me save your warrior’s life.” I refused to look away, even as his proximity made my skin feel too tight. “He will die without it.”

His eyes searched mine, probing for a lie, for a hidden motive. “You could run, you could take this chance and never look back.”

My breath hitched. “I could.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” He lifted a hand, and his fingers traced the line of my jaw. The contact was electric, a spark that shot straight to my core. I swayed toward him, a traitorous, instinctual movement.

“Give me one reason to trust you with this,” he whispered, his thumb brushing over my lower lip. The pad of his thumb was rough, calloused. The sensation was exquisite.

I could have given him a dozen practical reasons. That I had given my word, that my healer’s oath meant something. But the truth, the dangerous, undeniable truth, spilled out. “Because you told me to wait for you in your chambers.”

His eyes darkened, the pupils swallowing the blue. A low growl rumbled in his chest. My answer, my admission that his command held power over me, was clearly what he had wanted to hear.

“That is the only reason?” he pressed, his hand moving from my jaw to cup the back of my neck. His fingers tangled in my hair, possessive and firm.

“No,” I breathed, the word barely audible. The air between us was superheated, charged with a lust so potent it was hard to think. “It’s not the only reason.”

He pulled me closer, until our bodies were almost touching. I could feel the heat of him through my clothes. His head dipped, his lips hovering a breath from mine. “What are the other reasons, Anika?”

I was drowning in him, in the scent of him, in the promise of his mouth. “You know them.”

“I want to hear you say them.”

A desperate sound escaped me. “I don’t want to run.”

His free hand came to rest on my hip, his grip tight, branding me. “Why?”

“Because I want to know what happens when I come back.” The confession was ripped from me, raw and honest.

A look of pure, feral triumph flashed in his eyes. That was it, that was the key he had been waiting for. He didn’t kiss me, the tension was too valuable, too exquisite to shatter yet. Instead, he leaned in, and his lips brushed the shell of my ear.

“Then you will go,” he murmured, his voice a rough caress that made my knees weak. “But you will not go alone.”

He released me so suddenly I stumbled back a step. The loss of his touch was a physical ache, he walked to the door and opened it. Calder was standing there, as if he had been waiting the entire time. His cold eyes swept over me, noting my flushed skin and rapid breathing.

“Calder,” Garrick said, his voice now all business, though a husky edge remained. “Anika needs to retrieve a healing herb from the Ironwood Grove. You will escort her.”

Calder’s jaw tightened. “Alpha, that is a considerable risk. The grove is near disputed territory. Sending me, your Beta, on a herb-gathering mission is—”

“Is an order,” Garrick finished, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You will see her safely there and back, she is to collect what she needs, and you are not to interfere. Do you understand?”

The look Calder gave me was pure venom. He understood perfectly. This was a test for both of us. For me, to see if I would return. For Calder, to see if he would obey.

“I understand,” Calder bit out.

“Good.” Garrick turned back to me. His gaze was a promise and a threat. “You have until sunset, not a moment later.”

I just nodded, my throat too tight for words.

The journey through the forest was made in suffocating silence, Calder walked a few paces behind me, a constant, hostile presence, I could feel his suspicion like a cold draft. I focused on the path, on the familiar scent of damp earth and pine, on the goal, I found the patch of Shadowmoss exactly where I knew it would be, a dark, velvety growth on the north side of a fallen ironwood. I worked quickly, harvesting what I needed into a leather pouch.

The entire time, Calder watched. He didn’t offer to help. He just stood, a sentinel of disapproval.

“It’s done,” I said, tying the pouch to my belt. “We can go back.”

He didn’t move. “He is making a mistake with you.”

I turned to face him. “That’s between him and me.”

“It involves the entire pack, so it involves me.” He took a step forward. “I see the way you look at him. You want him, that doesn’t make you unique, it does make you dangerous.”

“What I want is none of your business.”

“It becomes my business when it weakens him!” Calder snapped, his icy composure cracking. “When it makes him act against his own better judgment! He is allowing a potential enemy to walk free in his territory because she has pretty eyes and a clever tongue.”

“He is allowing a healer to save a life,” I fired back, my anger rising to meet his.

“Do not pretend this is only about Kael,” he sneered. “This is about you proving your loyalty, about you weaving yourself into the fabric of this pack so deeply that he can never rip you out, I will not let that happen.”

We stared each other down, the animosity between us a tangible force in the quiet grove. The sun was beginning to dip lower, casting long shadows.

“We should go,” I said finally. “We’re losing the light.”

The return journey felt longer, the weight of the moss in my pouch was nothing compared to the weight of Calder’s warning. He was right, of course. This wasn’t just about the herb, it was a test. A calculated risk.

When we passed through the main gates just as the sun kissed the horizon, the first person I saw was Garrick. He was waiting in the courtyard, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable. His eyes found mine immediately, then flicked to Calder.

Calder gave a curt nod. “She retrieved what she needed, she did not attempt to flee.”

Garrick’s gaze returned to me, and the intensity there was staggering. “Go to Eira, save  my warrior.”

I didn’t need to be told twice, I hurried towards the healing wards, feeling his eyes on my back the entire way, I had passed his test, I came back. And the look in his eyes told me that the waiting was finally over. The debt was paid, and the reward was now his to claim.