Chapter Eleven: The look in her eyes

Chapter Eleven: The look in her eyes


Trent’s POV

The night air was sharp, soaked with pine and silence. Most of the pack had long retired. I wasn’t supposed to be out either, but sleep never came easy these days.

Not with everything shifting beneath my feet.

My wolf stirred as I passed the training grounds, hackles rising. I halted. The breeze carried her scent.

Eva.

I turned toward the garden path behind the infirmary—the one I thought only I used when I needed to think. There she was, seated on the low stone bench, pale in the moonlight, her eyes lost somewhere beyond the stars.

She didn’t hear me approach.

“Couldn’t sleep?” I asked gently.

She flinched. Her shoulders tensed before turning slightly to glance my way.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here,” she said softly.

“I could say the same,” I murmured. “This spot’s kind of... mine.”

Her lips curled in a faint smile. “Guess we’re trespassing on each other, then.”

I stepped closer but kept a respectful distance. She was barefoot, her hair pulled up into a messy bun. There was something fragile about her tonight—less guarded, less angry. Just... tired.

“You come here to clear your head?” I asked.

She gave a small nod. “Sometimes the silence helps me remember who I was. Before everything became... loud.”

I understood that better than she knew.

“You don’t talk much about your past,” I said, watching her closely.

“There’s not much worth repeating,” she replied. Then after a pause, “Or maybe there’s too much, and saying it aloud makes it real again.”

I walked to the edge of the bench and sat, leaving enough space between us for the wind to pass.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, Eva. But I want you to know—I don’t see you the way the others do.”

She stiffened. “What way is that?”

“As fragile. As broken. As someone to pity.” I turned to her, meeting her startled gaze. “I see someone who survived hell and still has the nerve to stare down the future.”

A long silence stretched between us.

“No one’s ever said that to me,” she whispered.

“They should’ve.”

She swallowed hard. “When Liam rejected me... it wasn’t just rejection. It was humiliation. Betrayal. And my sister—Ava—she was supposed to protect me.”

Her voice cracked on the last word.

“I know about Ava,” I said. “Kyle’s told me bits. We’re doing everything we can to undo what Rachel did to her.”

“I don’t even know if she’ll want me back,” Eva said, voice shaking. “What if she sees me and still doesn’t remember?”

“She will,” I said, voice low. “And if she doesn’t, then we’ll remind her. Together.”

Eva blinked at me, startled by my certainty.

A soft breeze stirred her hair. Her scent hit me again—lavender and something sharper, unique. It made my wolf pace inside me. Wanting. Needing.

She turned her face toward me fully now, moonlight catching on the tiny scar beneath her eye. I’d never asked about it, but I wanted to.

“What?” she asked, noticing I was staring.

I hesitated. Then: “You ever think the Moon Goddess gave you a second mate for a reason?”

She froze.

I felt her heartbeat hitch.

“Don’t,” she said, barely a whisper.

“I’m not saying it to push you,” I told her gently. “But maybe... maybe I was always meant to find you. And maybe you were meant to find your way to me. Even after everything.”

Her eyes welled. “You think I deserve a second chance?”

“I know you do,” I said, my voice husky. “Because you’re still standing. And because when I look at you, Eva, I don’t see a victim. I see someone fierce enough to survive and still be soft.”

For a long moment, she didn’t respond. Her fingers gripped the hem of her sweater.

“I’m scared,” she admitted. “What if I trust again and it shatters me?”

“I won’t let it,” I said.

She turned away, blinking hard. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I won’t make promises I don’t intend to keep.”

Silence again.

Then she whispered, “I think I’m more afraid of feeling safe. Because once you feel safe, you have something to lose again.”

Her words cut deeper than she knew.

I reached out, gently brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. She didn’t flinch this time.

“You’re safe here, Eva. With me. I swear that.”

She looked at me for a long time.

Then—unexpectedly—she leaned slightly into my hand.

My heart stopped.

It was the tiniest gesture, but it held the weight of a hundred walls collapsing.

Just then, a shout rang out from the distance.

We both shot up.

Kyle’s voice.

“Trent! You need to come. Now. Something’s happened—at the northern border!”

Eva and I exchanged one charged look before I turned toward the sound.

Trouble had come to the Blood Moon Pack.

And I had a sick feeling it had everything to do with her.