Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty
PRESENT TIME
Lofoten-Norway

The sky was a clean silver, brushed with the kind of soft light only winter in Lofoten could offer. Alpha Jonas knocked on the cottage door around mid-morning, bundled in his usual wool coat, a wool cap pulled low over his ears.

“Thought you might want to come into town,” he said when I opened the door. “Get some groceries. Have lunch, maybe? The bakery just got fresh cinnamon rolls.”

I hesitated for a second, but the warmth in his voice made it impossible to say no.

“Sure. Just let me grab my coat.”

We drove down into town with the radio low and the windows slightly fogged at the edges. He asked me how I was settling in, and I told him about the way the ocean seemed to hum at night, a sound that was both haunting and oddly comforting. He nodded as though he knew exactly what I meant. The streets of the village were still quiet, softened under a layer of fresh snow. The town looked like something out of a storybook… charming, gentle, unbothered by the chaos of the world. A few shop owners were sweeping their storefronts, and the air smelled faintly of fish and wood smoke. Heads turned as we passed, subtle gestures of deference offered to Jonas with small nods and brief eye contact. They recognized him without need for words, the way a pack always recognized its Alpha. Some lowered their gazes when he returned a glance. Others straightened with the kind of stillness that spoke of instinct rather than manners.

We stopped by a small local grocery first, and Alpha Jonas carried the basket while I wandered down the narrow aisles. I picked up everything I thought I’d need for another two weeks… oats, eggs, soft cheeses, salmon, a few jars of preserved vegetables, fresh bread, and a tin of hot cocoa. I wasn’t ready to leave. Not yet.

“You planning to host a feast?” he joked lightly as he struggled to hold the growing pile in the basket.

I smiled. “Planning to survive my solitude.”

He grinned and nodded toward the counter. “I’ll check us out. You go grab a table at the café.”

The café was a small space that smelled like cardamom and roasted coffee beans. I ordered two bowls of fish soup and sat by the window. Alpha Jonas joined me a few minutes later, his face ruddy from the cold.

“Everyone in town keeps asking about you,” he said after a moment. “You’ve got people curious especially the fact that there is a werewolf scent on you and your mark.” He gestured at my ring finger.

“Oh?”

“Small towns do that. New faces, especially beautiful ones, come with stories.”

“And what’s my story?” I asked, sipping the soup.

He met my eyes, his voice quieter now. “I told them you were healing… but thing is An Alpha never separates himself from his mate so I am guessing whatever it is~must be serious.”

I swallowed hard and said nothing. It was kind of him to see it that way.

We lingered over lunch, talking about the northern lights and the upcoming fishing season, and the best baker in town who apparently made cinnamon rolls worth getting out of bed for. It felt good to talk to someone who expected nothing from me, who wasn’t measuring every silence or trying to decode my grief. I needed that kind of stillness more than I had realised. I like Alpha Jonas…He made me feel safe.

By the time we drove back, the sun had dipped lower. The glow over the water had turned golden, as if the sea itself had caught fire. Alpha Jonas parked in front of the cottage and got out to help me with the bags. He froze halfway around the car. There was someone sitting on the steps. I followed his gaze and my breath caught.

Niklath.

He was seated with his elbows on his knees, fingers laced, staring out at the horizon like he had been waiting for hours. His hair looked slightly tousled. He wore jeans, a thick charcoal coat, and his presence hit me square in the chest. He looked tired. Not in a way that sleep could fix. In the way that people looked when they had been carrying something too heavy for too long.

Alpha Jonas’s body shifted, just slightly, as if sensing something else. The moment stretched. Two Alphas, each aware of the other, each measuring without words. No one moved. The stillness was not confrontational. It was ancestral. Jonas tilted his chin in a subtle nod of acknowledgment. A gesture between equals. Niklath returned it with the same restraint.

“Is everything alright?” Alpha Jonas asked gently.

“Yes. That’s my husband,” I said quietly.

He looked at me for a second and nodded. “You sure you’ll be okay?”

I nodded again and offered him a small, grateful smile. “Thank you. For everything today.”

He handed me the last bag and walked back to his truck, his pace steady. As he passed Niklath, the space between them charged again, but it remained quiet. Mutual respect hung in the air like invisible threads. Neither bowed. Neither turned away first.

Niklath stood slowly as I approached, his eyes not leaving mine for a second. Without a word, he reached out and took the grocery bags from my hands. He didn’t smile. He didn’t speak. He just looked at me, and there was so much in his expression that it made my throat tighten. I opened the door. He followed me in. He set the bags down on the kitchen counter, then turned to face me.

I took a breath, then asked, “Why are you here?”

He crossed the space slowly. “Can I hold you?”

I didn’t answer with words. I just closed my eyes.

I felt it before it happened. The moment he reached for me. The way his arms wrapped around me, strong and certain. The press of his chest against mine. He held me like a man who had wandered too long in the cold. He kissed the top of my head and whispered, so low I almost didn’t catch it, “She was my baby too, Mia.”

My eyes burned, but I did not move.

“I lost you both that day,” he said. “And nothing has felt right since.”

I gripped the front of his coat, my fingers tightening in the wool, and let his words fall over me like rain that had been waiting too long to fall. The room was silent. Only the sound of our breath. Of everything we had not said. Because I had shut him out since that day Angelica caused me to lose my baby… I had shut everyone out and I was still trying to find my way back home.