CHAPTER 79
CHAPTER 79
Before I could press him to talk a soft but insistent knock echoed through the house. My stomach twisted, I already knew that it could only be bad news and Lila.
Victoria emerged from the kitchen hallway, her expression tight with reluctant acceptance. She opened the door. Lila stood there, shoulders squared, looking much more desperate than she did when she last walked through that door.
“You shouldn’t have come back,” I said, my tone ice-cold.
“I had no choice,” Lila replied softly. She glanced at Victoria. “You told him?”
Victoria nodded once. “I didn’t want to but they do deserve to know the truth.” I turned to look at Victoria, she stared straight ahead not turning to look at us.
“What truth do we deserve to know?” I asked out loud hoping that Victoria can give me a better answer. “Let’s sit down we can talk about everything while seated.” Victoria said in a soft tone.
“If she is also going to seat down? I refuse to.” I said already turning around prepared to go. “Emerald, please seat down before I clap you back to your senses.” I turned to look at Dan with raised eyebrows, he shrugged sheepishly.
The four of us moved into the living room in tense silence. Dan handed Sigurd to me without a word.
I held our son close, breathing in his warm, milky scent as if it could anchor me against whatever storm was coming.
Dan say at my side, one strong hand resting protectively on my lower back. The two Lila and Victoria stood across from us like witnesses at an unwanted analysis.
Victoria spoke first, her voice steady but laced with old regret.
“Dan’s father was an Alpha who made a terrible deal twenty-five years ago. He traded future rights to our bloodline to Elias in exchange for power, territory, and protection for the pack. He promised the first child born carrying both Alpha wolf blood and the ancient fire lineage.”
Lila’s green eyes, so painfully like my own, locked onto mine. “I refused to hand you over when Sigurd came for you at three years old. That’s why I lost control that night. I barely got you out.” Lila said in a soft spoken voice.
“You do know that you sound like a broken record repeating the same thing, right?” I asked staring straight at her without blinking.
“The scars I carry are nothing compared to the guilt. Your father and I made an agreement: I would disappear, and we would keep you hidden from Sigurd’s reach. We thought distance and time would break the deal.” Dan’s hand tightened on my back. I felt him shake through his fingers.
“So this man Elias wants our son because of some dusty old contract?” My voice rose, sharp with fury and fear.
“And both of you have been carrying pieces of this secret while we fought for every normal day?” Victoria looked down, cowardness. Lila simply met my gaze, unflinching. Seems like something I would.
“We hoped we could spare you. But Elias never forgets a debt. Your son carries something rare wolf and fire intertwined. He sees Sigurd as the fulfillment of that old bargain.”
I could feel myself being phydically worn down because of what they just told. Before I could respond, a sharp, official knock rattled the front door.
Dan went to the door to answer it. Two uniformed police officers stood on the porch, flashlights cutting harsh beams through the darkness.
“Mr. Cross?” the older officer said. “We received a report of possible human remains on your property. A hiker discovered a disturbed grave roughly two miles east. Fresh digging, signs of recent activity. We need permission to search the area and ask some questions.”
My blood turned to ice, and immediately my body started to shake.
Dan handled them with remarkable composure, his voice calm and cooperative even as I saw shock flickering behind his eyes.
He promised full access tomorrow morning and gently steered them away from the house. The moment the door clicked shut, the fragile control snapped.
His breathing turned ragged. Veins bulged along his neck and forearms. Golden light flooded his irises.
“Dan?” I whispered, clutching Sigurd tighter.
“Get him upstairs,” he growled, the words already distorting at the edges. “Now, please.”
The transformation ripped through him with brutal force. Bones cracked and lengthened with wet, sickening sounds that echoed through the room.
Thick white fur rippled across his skin in dark waves. His shoulders broadened massively, claws erupted from his fingertips, and a towering, wolf-like beast exploded into existence far larger than any natural animal, eyes blazing with pain and intelligence.
I backed toward the stairs, fire instinctively flaring along my arms in a protective halo. Sigurd whimpered against my chest. But this was not the loss of control we had feared.
Even in that monstrous form, Dan positioned his massive body between us and the front door. A deep, resonant growl rumbled from his chest not directed at us, but at the threat outside.
When one of the officers’ flashlights swept across the windows again, the great wolf lowered his head, hiding. Those golden eyes met mine across the room, clear and full of love.
Tears stung my eyes. This was Dan fighting the monster inside and winning for us. His first full shift, born not of rage but of pure, fierce devotion.
The beast held form for several long, agonizing minutes. Muscles twitched and strained. Then, with visible, painful effort, Dan forced the change back.
He collapsed to his knees in human form, naked and drenched in sweat, chest heaving. I rushed forward, handing Sigurd to Lila without hesitation, and dropped beside him. I quickly drapped a blanket around him.
“You did it,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to his. My hands framed his face. “That was the worst time to shift but you controlled it.”
His trembling fingers brushed my cheek. “I won’t let them take him.” We were still processing what just happened when a loud violent banging erupted at the back door. The door flew open.
Luca stumbled inside, breathing hard. Fresh blood coated his hands and streaked across his shirt. His eyes were wide with urgency.
“They found the grave,” he panted. “It wasn’t just the police. People were already there remnants of your father’s old pack.” Someone from Dan’s father’s old pack must have gone back to dig her up and move her to what they considered proper pack land. Now the outside world had found the original site.
How does Luca even know about Dan’s father? Information that we don’t have.
Sigurd stirred in Lila’s arms and let out a thin, frightened cry. A small but vivid flame sparked at the tip of his index finger, brighter and steadier than any time before.
The room fell into heavy silence.
Victoria moved to check Luca’s wounds. Lila rocked our son gently, her expression haunted but resolved.
Dan rose slowly, still unsteady on his feet, and pulled me against his side. His body radiated heat from the shift, but his grip was gentle.
Outside, distant sirens wailed more police. The forest beyond our windows, once a place of hidden secrets, now felt like enemy territory.
I looked at the people gathered in our living room: the husband who had just become a wolf to shield us, the mother I had spent years hating thinking she died.
The mother-in-law who had delivered my child but never liked me for her son and Luca bloodied but loyal. Our fragile family, forged in fire and blood.
The calm we had clung to for three precious months had shattered completely.
Sigurd cooed softly, reaching a tiny hand toward Dan. Dan kissed the top of my head, voice rough with exhaustion and determination.
I couldn’t shake Lila’s earlier warning and that we were forgetting something. “Luca, seems like you have no open wounds.” Victoria said inspecting Luca’s arms. “No, I don’t.”
“So who’s blood is that on your hands?”