Chapter 84
Noland POV
I opened my eyes because Tiara kicked me in the ribs.
Not hard.
Deliberate.
“Daddy,” she whispered urgently, breath warm against my neck. “Daddy. You’re squishing my hair.”
I blinked, brain slow, then realized my arm had drifted sometime in the night and trapped half her curls beneath my elbow.
“Sorry,” I murmured, shifting immediately. “Emergency resolved?”
She considered this, very serious. “Yes.”
Lucien snorted from the other side of the bed. “You say that now. Wait until she decides she needs breakfast immediately.”
Tiara gasped like he’d insulted her honor. “I do need breakfast immediately.”
Lucien cracked one eye open. “See?”
I laughed quietly and pressed a kiss to Tiara’s forehead. “Go terrorize the pack. We’ll be there in a minute.”
She grinned, triumphant, slid off the bed, and bolted for the door.
“Shoes!” Lucien called after her.
“I’ll put them on later!” she shouted back.
Lucien groaned. “That’s your fault.”
I rolled onto my side, facing him. “You love it.”
He didn’t answer right away. He was staring at the ceiling again, jaw tight in that way he got when he was thinking too much.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said automatically. Then paused. “I think so.”
I waited.
“It’s strange,” he admitted. “Not bracing for something. My head keeps expecting the next hit.”
I reached for his hand, threading our fingers together. “Give it time. You’ll remember how to rest.”
He squeezed back. “I hope so.”
Outside, Hollow Creek sounded… normal.
Hammers.
Low voices.
Someone yelling, “Who took the nails?” followed by a very defensive, “I didn’t take them!”
I dressed and stepped into the clearing, the sun warm on my face, and immediately spotted Tiara in the middle of absolute chaos.
Four other children chased her in uneven circles, feet kicking up dust, laughter sharp and bright. She darted between them, quick and fearless, hair flying loose.
“She’s cheating!” one of the boys complained.
Tiara spun around mid-run. “I am not! You’re just slow!”
Mara leaned against a half-repaired fence nearby, arms crossed, mouth tilted into a crooked smile. “She gets that from Lucien.”
Eli wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his wrist. “She gets it from you. You cheat at everything.”
“That’s strategy,” Mara shot back. “Learn the difference.”
Roland sat a short distance away with a bow across his knees, sorting arrows with careful fingers. His movements were slower than before, measured, but his eyes were sharp.
“Feet apart,” he instructed a young wolf standing in front of him. “No — wider. You want balance, not grace.”
The arrow flew.
Missed the target completely.
The kid groaned. “I hate this.”
Roland didn’t sigh. Didn’t scold. “Good,” he said calmly. “That means you care. Again.”
Lucien joined me then, posture stiff but alert, his gaze going immediately to the center of the clearing.
Bren stood there, awkward and alone, hands clenched at his sides.
He swallowed when he saw Lucien. “Alpha.”
Lucien nodded once. “Speak.”
Bren took a breath. Lost it. Tried again. “I failed this pack,” he said, voice rough. “I know words don’t fix that. But I want to say them anyway.”
No one interrupted him.
“I let fear make my choices,” Bren continued. “And it cost people their safety. Their trust.” His jaw tightened. “I’m not asking for forgiveness. Just… a chance to earn it.”
Murmurs rippled through the pack.
Rhett spoke first, voice steady. “Then earn it.”
Mara crossed her arms. “You screw up again, I break your nose.”
Bren nodded immediately. “Fair.”
Lucien studied him for a long moment. Long enough that Bren’s shoulders tensed.
“You stay,” Lucien said finally. “You work. You don’t hide.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
That was it.
No speeches.
No absolution.
Just space to do better.
Later, I found myself reinforcing a wall that probably didn’t need reinforcing, hammering nails more out of habit than necessity.
Eli leaned closer, lowering his voice. “Do you think this counts as a date?”
Mara didn’t even look at him. “If it does, you’re doing terribly.”
“I brought tools.”
“You brought the wrong ones.”
“I brought enthusiasm.”
She smirked despite herself. “That part I’ll allow.”
Roland let out a quiet chuckle from behind us.
I stepped back, wiping my hands on my pants, and just… watched.
Tiara collapsed into the grass, breathless and laughing. Luke sat with her, showing her how to braid grass into crooked little crowns.
“That one’s yours,” he told her. “Means you’re in charge.”
She placed it on her head immediately. “I already was.”
Camille passed out food like she’d never left, scolding one wolf for not eating enough, another for eating too fast.
“Slow down,” she said. “You survived. Don’t choke now.”
Lucien stood at the edge of it all, arms crossed, listening more than speaking.
Then, without realizing it, he smiled.
Not careful.
Not guarded.
Just there.
I nudged him gently. “You’re doing it.”
“Doing what?”
“Smiling.”
He blinked, then scoffed. “Am not.”
“You absolutely are.”
He glanced around, caught Tiara waving wildly at us with grass stuck in her hair, and shook his head. “Don’t tell anyone.”
I leaned closer. “This is what we fought for.”
He didn’t answer right away.
Then, quietly, “Yeah. It is.”
And for once, the quiet didn’t feel like a warning.