Chapter 52 Chapter 0052

Chapter 52 Chapter 0052
•RAVEN•

I stood near the window in the guest room, thinking about Sebastian. It suddenly made sense why I bumped into him in the forest.

He was looking around Blackwood, probably trying to see how he would go about with his business proposal.

For a moment there, while he was struggling to keep his eyes off me, I thought he remembered me. But it was impossible.

But that thought was more comforting than thinking that he didn't remember the moment we shared outside the backyard porch.

He had made love to me like no one before.

My body still yearned for him, even though it sounded weird admitting the truth when we were both trapped in the past.

Someone knocked on the door, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned around and told the person to walk in.

"Laura?" I gasped when I saw her. "My goodness, it's you."

My heart leaped with joy when I saw her. After being banished before, I never thought I could see her again. I even accepted that we might never be reunited again, but there she was.

"What are you still doing here?" She asked as she closed the door behind her. "Rumi wants you gone and she won't stop at anything to remove you from the pack house."

"I won't run, Laura," I said, turning back to the window. "Rumi and I are sisters. So, I will handle this and make sure that it doesn't get into that."

Laura crossed the room and grabbed my arm. "Raven, can't you see that your life in danger?"

"I mean it." I pulled away. "I'm not going to pack my things and disappear in the middle of the night like some coward. That's not who I am."

"Rumi is not who she was either." Laura's voice dropped. "She's angrier than I've ever seen her, and she has people around her now. People who will do whatever she asks."

"Let her." I folded my arms across my chest. "She's not the luna of this pack. I am. Until that changes, until it is made official and final and witnessed, I still hold that title and I will not behave as though I don't." I looked at her. "Relax. I need you to relax."

"How am I supposed to relax when she is out there sharpening her claws against every wall in this house?"

"Because I am still standing in this house," I answered. "And I have no intention of leaving it on anyone's terms but my own."

Laura pressed her lips together. She sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at me. "I'm worried about you. You know that, don't you? Not about the title or the politics or any of it. I'm worried about you."

The plainness of it softened something in me. I sat down beside her and was quiet for a moment.

"I know," I sighed. "And thank you for looking out for me. There's no one else in the world who is there for me, but you."

"I don't trust her."

"Laura, I will be fine. I promise you that." I reached over and covered her hand with mine. "I know where I stand, and I know what I'm doing. Not every battle announces itself. Some of them, you win just by refusing to move."

She shook her head. "You always were the most stubborn person I have ever known."

"Yes," I agreed. "And it has served me well."

She stayed a little while longer. We talked about small things, and I tried as much as I could to catch up with her, trying to close the gap that opened when she and I separated for weeks.



Later after Laura had left, I went to Tristan’s home office.

Tristan's office sat at the far end of the east corridor, away from the noise of the main house.

The door was closed, but a thread of light showed underneath it. I knocked once and entered without waiting.

He was behind his desk, with papers spread across the surface in an arrangement that probably made sense only to him.

He looked up when I walked in. His face was unreadable.

"Raven."

"I won't be long," I said. I crossed the room and stood in front of his desk, keeping my hands still at my sides. "The divorce papers. Have you signed them?"

He paused. He leaned back in his chair and studied me. He scoffed and I just knew he hadn't signed them.

"No," he replied. "I didn't sign them."

"Tristan."

"My answer hasn't changed."

I kept my voice low. "You can't hold this together through sheer refusal. What we had is gone. You know that. Signing those papers is not a defeat. It's just acknowledging what is already true."

He was quiet for a beat. Then he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk.

"I'll sign them," he huffed. "When the baby is born."

The air in the room changed.

"And," he continued. "When I have been named the primary caregiver."

I stared at him. "You can't be serious."

"I've never been more serious about anything."

"That is not a condition. That is a threat."

"Call it what you like." He held my gaze without flinching. "You want your freedom, Raven. I understand that. I'm telling you the terms under which you can have it."

I stood there, the words arranging and rearranging themselves in my mouth, none of them adequate.

I turned and walked to the door before I said something I couldn't take back.