Chapter 7 The Road Back
Silverpine Pack.
Her hand went completely still.
The room seemed to quiet around her, no sound, no movement, just that name staring back at her.
Five years.
Five years since she walked away. Five years since she swore she would never go back.
Her pulse began to rise, slow and heavy.
She stared at the screen, at the words pulling everything she had buried back to the surface.
Five years… and they found her anyway.
Her fingers trembled as she stared at the screen. Silverpine. Lucian. The bond. Everything she had built was about to collide with the past.
She didn’t move. She couldn’t. the cursor blinking like a heartbeat she didn't want to feel. She closed it. Slowly. Deliberately. Not yet. Not like this. Not for anyone else's memory of her.
Instead, she booked the drive to neutral territory. A full day stretched ahead, winding through gray hills and endless stretches of forest.
Liam slept most of the way, curled against the window, stuffed wolf tucked under one arm. His small chest rose and fell steadily, unaware of the weight inside him.
Freda kept her eyes on the road, hands tight on the wheel, letting thoughts drift just enough to keep calm, but never far enough to panic.
The tires crunched over gravel as she turned off the main road, pine trees growing dense and silent.
Tobias's cottage came into view, old, unassuming, solid, tucked into the forest like it had always belonged there. Smoke curled from a stone chimney.
She could feel the space around it, no dominant energy pressing the edges, no pack marking the territory. Neutral. Safe. For now.
Tobias met them at the edge of the clearing. Wide shoulders, calm voice, steady hands, a man who knew fear without letting it root. He knelt to Liam's level, offering a nod, a small smile, and a quiet, "Hello, little one."
Liam's eyes, still sleepy gold at the edges, widened for a second, then softened. He smiled shyly, pressing the stuffed wolf tighter against his chest. Freda exhaled without realizing it. That smile, simple, trusting, was a good sign. She had not seen it in days.
The first session began the next morning. Tobias led Liam to a cleared field behind the cottage. Freda watched from the porch, the wood warm beneath her palms, the air crisp and pine-scented.
Tobias moved slowly, methodical, demonstrating breathing exercises before he asked anything of the boy. "In… hold… out…" His voice neither rushed nor overbearing. Liam's shoulders relaxed, fists unclenching, following the rhythm like it was instinct.
Freda leaned forward, careful not to interrupt. Gold flickered faintly in Liam's eyes, whispering at the edges but never flaring. She noted the subtle movement of his chest, the tiny mirroring of Tobias's instructions. Hours passed quietly. No surges. No flashes. Only learning.
By evening, they sat around the old wooden table inside the cottage. Tobias's presence was calm but pointed, the kind of energy that made you answer even the questions you didn't want to.
He poured tea, setting a cup before Freda, then met her gaze. "Tell me about his father," he said.
The words landed heavy, unyielding. Freda's hand froze over her fork. "That's not relevant," she said carefully.
Tobias's eyes held hers. "It's the most relevant thing there is."
She didn't answer. Her fingers twisted in her lap. The silence between them stretched long and uncomfortable before she finally looked away.
Tobias didn’t press further. He simply observed her, the knowing eyes of a man who understood the weight of the situation. He could see she didn’t want to talk about her past.
The next three days blurred in a rhythm of sessions, rest, and careful observation. Morning exercises with Tobias. Afternoons of drawing, quiet play, work at the table. Evenings of tea and cautious conversation. Each session built fragile hope. Liam's control improved, he could sense the stirrings before they became a force.
Until the third day.
They were on the field, Liam kneeling in the grass, practicing containment, directing a small surge into the earth.
The wind stirred the pines, sunlight dappled through the branches, a quiet, ordinary morning. Then a sharp crack sounded from the base of the nearest pine. Bark splintered, a tremor shivering up the trunk.
Freda's stomach dropped. Tobias was already moving, guiding Liam back, kneeling beside him with firm hands. "Breathe, Liam. Slow. In… hold… out…"
The boy's hands shook, fingers digging into the grass. Gold flickered at the edges of his eyes, then dimmed. Fear washed over him, a sudden, sharp realization of what he was capable of, and he went pale, trembling.
Minutes stretched, taut and unbearable. Tobias spoke softly, patiently, until Liam slumped in relief. "I'm sorry," he whispered, voice breaking, heavy with self-loathing. "I… I didn't mean to."
"You didn't do anything wrong," Tobias said quietly, brushing Liam's hair back. "You're learning."
Inside, Freda felt the weight of every unspoken danger she had tried to manage alone. She rose, arms crossed, pacing the porch edge. The forest felt too quiet, the sun suddenly cold.
After a while, Tobias brought Liam back inside, wrapping him in warm blankets and settling him gently onto the old sofa with the stuffed wolf tucked beside him. He handed the boy a cup of tea, making sure he was calm and comfortable before finally stepping
He returned to the porch. He sat beside her wordlessly, the silence heavy but not uncomfortable.
Then he slid a notepad across the table.
Freda froze, fingers hovering. She didn't need to read the handwriting to know the tone, plain, deliberate, the language of someone who dealt with dangerous realities every day.
Alpha genetics. Dominant from birth. Early shifting. This isn't a training problem, Freda. This is a bloodline problem. He needs his father's pack.
The words hit like ice. Freda pressed her palms to the wood of the porch, steadying herself. Her mind spun, circling back to Silverpine, to the father Liam had never known, and to the impossible road ahead. Her pulse raced.
Every choice she had made, every moment she had controlled, seemed suddenly fragile, precarious.
She swallowed hard. "He needs his father's pack…" she whispered. "…and I have no idea how to get there without losing everything."
Tobias leaned back slightly, his gaze steady, unflinching. "I can teach him technique," he said plainly. "But technique without the right foundation is like teaching someone to drive without a road.
The foundation he needs is Alpha pack structure, his father's bloodline energy specifically. Without that, this will get worse. Not slowly."
Freda stared at the tree line, silent, the wind stirring the pine needles around them. Breaking the silence, she asked, her voice tight, "How long?"