Chapter 219

Chapter 219
WREN

It was almost midnight when I heard the door open. I had been trying to get some rest after a long day of waiting for Cassian to arrive.

The sound was soft at first, just the click of the latch, but my heart still jumped. I sat up quickly, brushing my hair out of my face. Cassian stepped in, his shoulders tense and his jacket dusted with rain. He looked exhausted, but the moment his eyes found me, something in his face softened.

“Hey,” I whispered, relief washing over me. “You’re finally home.”

He closed the door behind him, then crossed the room in a few long strides. “Yeah,” he murmured, sinking down beside me. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I wasn’t sleeping,” I said, studying his face. “I've been waiting for you all day. I thought you would arrive sooner. How did the meeting go?"

Cassian sighed, leaning back against the headboard. “It was… tense.” He rubbed his hands over his face before lowering them to his lap. “They’ve opened investigations into the deaths of the two alphas. Apparently, both deaths were ruled suspicious.”

My stomach tightened. “Suspicious? What does that mean?”

He looked at me, his eyes serious. “It means they think they've been murdered. They're determined to find out who killed them.”

I swallowed hard. “Cassian…” I whispered. “Do you think they’ll find out?”

He reached for my hand and held it tightly. “No. Reed and I made sure our tracks were covered. Every step, every message, every contact. Nothing can lead back to us.”

“But what if they dig deeper?” I pressed. “What if someone...."

He squeezed my hand gently, cutting me off. “Wren. Look at me.”

I did.

His voice dropped to a steady, calming tone. “We did what we had to do. And we did it clean. They won't trace it back to us. Don't worry.”

I searched his face, looking for even the smallest crack in his calm, but there wasn’t one. Still, my heart wouldn’t stop racing.

“I just don’t want this to end up blowing up on our face,” I said quietly.

“It won't,” he said. Then his expression softened. “Don't worry about it."

He leaned forward, brushing his lips across my forehead. “It’s almost over. Once Derek is found, this all ends. And we can live a normal happy life.”

I nodded slowly, letting out a shaky breath. “I want to believe that.”

“You can,” he said simply.

For a while, we sat in silence. The rain outside had turned into a steady drizzle, soft against the windows. Cassian leaned back, his arm still wrapped around me, his thumb tracing slow circles on my skin.

I fell asleep.

........................

The next morning, Cassian was still in bed while I tiptoed around the room to go to the bathroom. I was coming out of the bathroom when a loud knock echoed from the hallway, followed by hurried footsteps. Cassian groaned softly and stood up. “What now?”

He opened the door just as a pack member and a guard came rushing in, their faces pale. “Alpha, we're so sorry to disturb you," she gasped. “It’s Aida.”

Cassian’s posture stiffened instantly. “What about her?”

“She’s gone,” the pack member said. “The doctor told me to call her in for her tests this morning, when we called her in, she didn’t show up. We thought she was resting, but when we checked her quarters, she wasn’t there. Her things are gone too.”

I froze. “Gone?” I repeated. “What do you mean gone?”

The woman's voice shook. “She left. I met this guard to check the security cameras, and… you need to see this.”

Cassian’s jaw clenched. “Show me.”

We followed the them down the hall and all
the way to the top floor to the security room. The small space was dimly lit, filled with monitors showing every corner of the estate. One of the guards rewound a clip on the main screen until the image froze on Aida walking briskly down the corridor.

Cassian stepped closer. “Play it.”

The footage rolled.

Aida appeared again, her hair tied back, her jacket thrown over her shoulders. She moved quickly, her head down, her phone pressed to her ear. She didn’t stop or look back. The camera caught her passing through the main gate, talking briefly to the guards before slipping out into the night.

The timestamp read: 8:41am

“Just before she was called in for the test,” the nurse whispered.

Cassian’s expression darkened. “So she ran away.”

The guard hesitated. “We tried calling her cell, Alpha, but it’s been turned off. Should we go after her?"

I wrapped my arms around myself, a cold shiver running through me. “She must have been scared about the dna test,” I whispered.

Cassian didn’t answer right away. His gaze stayed locked on the frozen image of Aida on the screen.

“She knew she was going to be caught,” he said finally, his voice low. “And she didn’t want to take the test."

I looked up at him, my chest tightening. “So what now? I don't want her coming back here to cause any more trouble. What do we do?"

His eyes flicked toward me, sharp and protective. “She won’t. If she’s running, it’s because she’s scared of the truth.”

I swallowed hard. “You mean the test results.”

He nodded once. “Exactly.”

The room went quiet except for the soft hum of the monitors. I could feel the tension rolling off him, like he was fighting to keep his thoughts in check.

Finally, I reached for his hand. “What do we do now?”

“Nothing,” he said after a pause. “Let her go.”

I nodded slowly, though worry still gnawed at my stomach. “Do you think she’ll come back?”

He gave a small, humorless laugh. “Of course she will. She'd hope we'd have forgotten about the test and slither back here like nothing happened."

Something in his voice made me look at him closer. “You sound so sure."

“I am,” he admitted quietly. “When she wants to escape responsibility, she runs or deflects. It's who she is."

I frowned. “So you're sure she'll come back?"

“Maybe,” he said. “But she won't find it easy to.”

We left the security room in silence. When we returned to our chambers, Cassian sat at the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his knees.

I stood behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “What if the baby is yours?”

His voice was flat. “I don't think it is."