Chapter 52 Enough
Caden POV
She had come to my room at eleven.
Not because something was wrong. Not because she needed anything work related.
She stood in my doorway holding a mythology book. Just to show me a page in the book. She had set it open on my desk and asked me one question.
What does a white wolf actually mean?
I had answered as honestly as I could. She had said okay. Picked up the book and said goodnight. Then left. That was all.
I sat at my desk after she left and thought about it for a long time.
On Monday. I woke up at five. Made coffee then worked through the overnight reports.
Seattle stable. Boston quiet. The European council holding. Voss. Nine alphas. Still nine. I put the reports down. At seven, Lucas knocked. He came in and sat down.
"The warriors," he said. "They've narrowed it down to one location."
I sat forward.
"Where," I said.
"Vermont," he said. "A small town outside Burlington. They have eyes on a property. An older woman. Keeps to herself. Been there about two years."
Two years.
Around the same time Ivy started at NYU. She moved closer when Ivy came to New York and was still watching.
"How confident are they?" I said.
"High," Lucas said. "The way she moves. Small security measures on the property. Subtle, but nothing a wolf wouldn't recognize. The way the house is set up." He paused. "It's her for sure."
Miriam.
Twenty years recorded dead. Hiding in Vermont. Two hours from New York.
"Don't approach her," I said. "Don't let her know we found her. I'll tell Ivy first."
"Yes," he said.
"And Lucas," I said. "Nothing about this goes through Remus. Nothing. This stays in this room."
A short pause.
"Understood Alpha," he said.
He left.
I sat with it for a while.
Vermont.
Miriam had spent twenty six years making sure Elena's daughter survived long enough to find her. And now she had been found. Not by Voss. By us.
I needed to tell Ivy. But first I needed to think about how. Not to control her reaction but because some things need a moment before they can settle properly.
Miriam confirmed what we had been building toward. The key in the blue box had a door. When Ivy was ready, she would go there. And Miriam would tell her what Elena never finished writing.
She is not—
I came back to that line every time. I thought about Ivy in the alley, not running.
The watcher she felt across a busy street. The bond behaving the way it did.
The month before the attack. Her instincts had started to sharpen. All of it pointing in the same direction. But still nothing was confirmed. Vermont was close.
At nine, Ivy knocked. Two cups of coffee from down the street. She handed me one and stepped back into the hall.
"You found something," she said.
Not a question.
"Yes," I said.
"Miriam?" she said.
"Yes," I said.
She went still for a second.
"Where," she said.
"Vermont," I said. "Small town outside Burlington. My warriors found her last night."
She took that in.
"She's been there two years," I said. "Around the time you came to New York."
Ivy looked at her cup.
"She moved closer when I came here," she said.
"Yes," I said.
She was quiet. Working through it.
"When do we go?" she said.
"When you're ready,"
"I'm ready now," she said.
"I know," I said. "But we plan it first. Same as the house." I held her gaze. "A day or two."
She looked at me.
"You're not keeping this from me," she said. "You're telling me the moment you have something real."
"Yes," I said.
"You said you would,"
"And I did," I said.
She looked at me for a moment. Then nodded.
"Okay," she said. "A day or two."
She turned toward her apartment then stopped.
"Caden,"
"Yes," I said.
"Last night. The Japanese section." She held my gaze. "The moon does not forget what she made."
A pause.
"Do you believe that?"
I thought about it.
"Yes," I said. "I do."
She looked at me for a moment.
"Good," she said quietly.
She turned and went back to her apartment. I stood in the doorway for a moment. Miriam found. Vermont. The key had a door. I thought about everything that came after Vermont.
The truth Miriam was holding. What it would mean for Ivy. What it would mean for everything. The summit is three weeks away. Voss at nine alphas. Zara's meeting in less than three weeks.
Everything moving at once. And underneath all of it. The bond. Warm. She had come to my room at eleven just to show me a page in a book. That had been enough. For now, it was still enough.