Chapter 55

Chapter 55

"I know a place we can go," Edward said after we'd been walking for a few hours. "A cabin where my mother and I lived before... before things got bad with my father. It's quite far from here, but if we can find transportation, we could make it there by nightfall."

His mother nodded in agreement. "No one knows about it. Harry never told his pack where it was located."

The idea of a safe haven, somewhere to rest and gather my thoughts, was exactly what I needed. "How do we get there?"

"There's a small town about five miles east of here," Edward explained. "If we can make it there without being spotted, I might be able to... borrow a vehicle."

I raised an eyebrow at his choice of words but didn't argue. Our situation was desperate enough that stealing a car seemed like a minor transgression.

By midday, we'd reached the outskirts of the town Edward had mentioned—a tiny, rural community with one main street and a handful of side roads. Edward left us hidden in the trees while he went to secure transportation. Less than thirty minutes later, he returned driving an old pickup truck that had seen better days.

"It belongs to a local farmer," he explained as we climbed in. "He won't miss it until morning. We'll abandon it once we get close to the cabin and continue on foot."

As we drove along winding country roads, putting distance between ourselves and Harry's compound, I found myself studying Edward's profile. Despite being Harry's son, there was little resemblance between them. Where Harry's features had been hard and cruel, Edward's were softer, more thoughtful.

"Can I ask you something?" I said, breaking the silence that had fallen over us.

Edward glanced at me briefly before returning his eyes to the road. "Sure."

"How did your father become... what he was? Why did your family end up living as rogues?"

Edward's hands tightened on the steering wheel, and in the backseat, his mother shifted uncomfortably. For a moment, I thought he might refuse to answer, but then he sighed heavily.

"My father wasn't always a rogue," he began, his voice low. "He was once part of the Northern Ridge Pack. Not as an Alpha or even a Beta—just a regular pack member. But he had ambitions, and he was strong. Too strong to be content with his place in the hierarchy."

"He started challenging other wolves," his mother continued, leaning forward from the backseat. "Not formal challenges for rank—just fights, brutality for its own sake. He'd find reasons to hurt others, to dominate them."

"The Alpha gave him multiple warnings, but my father wouldn't stop. Finally, after he nearly killed another pack member in what was supposed to be a training exercise, the Alpha banished him."

"That must have been difficult for you both," I said quietly.

"It got worse," Edward replied grimly. "After we were forced out, my father became obsessed with revenge. He spent months training, building his strength, and then he went back—not to rejoin the pack, but to kill the Alpha."

"But he failed," I guessed.

"He was defeated soundly," Edward confirmed. "The Alpha could have killed him but showed mercy because of me and my mother. That mercy only fueled my father's hatred. After that, we were truly rogues. He stopped trying to live by any pack's rules and started gathering other outcasts and misfits around him."

"And that's when he began taking his anger out on you and your mother?" I asked gently.

Edward's mother reached forward and placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, Edward. None of it was."

The rest of the journey passed largely in silence. I found myself lost in thought, my mind alternating between memories of Kieran's betrayal and anxiety about my newly manifested powers.

Late in the afternoon, Edward turned onto a narrow dirt road that wound deep into the forest. Eventually, he pulled the truck behind a stand of thick pines, concealing it from view.

"We walk from here," he said. "It's about two miles to the cabin."

The forest was peaceful as we hiked along a barely visible trail. Birds called to one another in the trees, and occasionally we spotted deer watching us warily from a distance. Under different circumstances, I might have enjoyed the walk.

The cabin, when we finally reached it, was small but sturdy—a simple structure built of logs with a stone chimney rising from one end. It looked as though it hadn't been occupied in years, yet it had weathered the seasons remarkably well.

"It's not much," Edward said apologetically as he pushed open the door. "But it's secure, and no one knows we're here."

The interior was dusty but otherwise intact. Basic furniture remained—a table with chairs, a sagging couch, and two small bedrooms off the main living area. Edward quickly got to work starting a fire in the woodstove while his mother began clearing away the dust and cobwebs.

"There are some old clothes in the bedroom closet," Edward told me. "They were my mother's, but they might fit you."

I found the closet he'd mentioned and was relieved to discover several items that would work—simple jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters that would be far more comfortable than my current bloodstained clothing.

After changing, I helped Edward and his mother make the cabin livable again. We worked in companionable silence, each lost in our own thoughts. By nightfall, we had cleared away the worst of the dust, made up beds with the musty but serviceable bedding, and prepared a simple meal from the non-perishable food items Edward had thought to purchase in town.

As we ate, Edward asked the question I'd been dreading. "So, are you going to tell me the real reason you ran away from your pack? I mean, getting lost while running doesn't explain why you refuse to go back."

I looked down at my plate, pushing the food around with my fork. "It's complicated."

"We've got time," he replied with a gentle smile.

"I told you, I just... I can't go back there," I said, aware of how evasive I sounded.

Edward didn't press further, but I could see the curiosity and concern in his eyes.

Later that night, unable to sleep, I wandered into the main room of the cabin to find Edward still awake, staring into the dying embers of the fire.

"Can't sleep either?" he asked, looking up as I entered.

I shook my head and joined him on the couch. For several minutes, we sat in silence, watching the occasional spark fly up from the glowing coals.

"Kieran cheated on me," I said suddenly, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "My mate... I found him in our bed with another wolf."

Edward's head turned sharply toward me, his expression shocked. "What? But that's... a mated Alpha doesn't..."

"Doesn't betray his Luna?" I finished bitterly. "Apparently, he does."

"That's why you ran?" Edward asked.

I nodded, tears threatening again despite my determination not to cry anymore over Kieran's betrayal. "I couldn't stay there, couldn't face him or her or the rest of the pack. I just ran without thinking."

"And ended up captured by my father," Edward concluded grimly. "Talk about going from bad to worse."

"Your father shot me, drugged me, and tried to use my blood for his twisted experiments," I said. "And somehow, that still didn't hurt as much as seeing Kieran with her."

Edward reached out hesitantly, then placed his hand over mine. "For what it's worth, I think Alpha Kieran is a bastard for what he did to you. You deserve better than that—better than someone who would throw away what you had for... for what?"