THE BLACK ROSE

THE PACK FIND'S OUT OF THE BLACK ROSE

CHAPTER 6: THE PACK FINDS OUT

Three days.

That’s how long we had.

Three days of pancakes and donuts and soccer in the park.

Three days of Ryder teaching Jackson how to breathe through the wolf.

Three days of pretending we were normal.

Then the pack found out.

---

Pack House. 7:00 AM.

The elders were already waiting when Ryder walked in.

Elder Marcus. Elder June. Elder Thomas.

Old wolves. Old rules.

"Where is the pup?" Marcus asked. No greeting.

Ryder stopped in the doorway. "What pup?"

"Don’t lie to us, boy," June snapped. "We heard. A shifter pup. In our territory. With a human."

Ryder’s jaw ticked. "His name is Jackson. And he’s fine."

"Fine?" Thomas stood up. "He’s four years old and untrained. He could shift in public. He could expose us. He could get himself killed."

"He’s safe with me," Ryder said.

"With you?" Marcus laughed. "The Alpha who abandoned his own mate? You don’t get to decide what’s safe."

Ryder took one step forward. The temperature in the room dropped.

"Don’t talk about her."

"We will talk about her," June said. "Because she has our Alpha’s son. And that means the pup belongs to the pack."

Ryder went very still.

"Jackson doesn’t belong to anyone," he said quietly. "Except his mother. And me."

"The pack has a claim," Marcus said. "By law. All shifter pups must be raised in the pack. For training. For protection."

"Then I’ll train him," Ryder said. "Here. With me."

"Alone?" Thomas shook his head. "No. He comes to the pack house. Today."

Ryder’s wolf surged. His eyes flashed gold.

"Touch him and I’ll rip your throat out."

The elders froze.

"You would threaten the council?" Marcus asked.

"I would protect my son," Ryder said. "There’s a difference."

He turned and walked out.

Behind him, Marcus said one last thing:

"If the pup isn’t in the pack house by sundown, we will come get him."

---

Motel. 9:30 AM.

I was packing again.

Again.

Jackson was drawing at the table. Dinosaurs.

Ryder was pacing.

Callen was at the window, watching the parking lot.

"They’re coming," Ryder said. "Sundown."

"Then we leave now," I said.

"No," Ryder said. "Running isn’t going to work anymore. They’ll find us."

"So what do we do?" I asked.

Ryder stopped pacing. Looked at me. Then at Jackson.

"We fight," he said. "But not with claws. With the law."

"What law?" Callen asked.

"Pack law," Ryder said. "A father has rights. A mother has rights. They can’t just take him."

"Unless they say he’s in danger," Callen said quietly.

We all went quiet.

Jackson looked up. "Are the bad wolves coming again?"

"No, buddy," I said, forcing a smile. "Just... grown up stuff."

Ryder knelt in front of him. "Hey. Can you do something for me?"

"What?"

"Can you be really brave today?"

Jackson nodded. "Like a dinosaur?"

"Exactly like a dinosaur," Ryder said, and his voice cracked.

---

3:00 PM. Pack House.

They made us come to them.

Big mistake.

The council room was cold. Stone walls. One long table.

The elders on one side.

Me, Ryder, Jackson, and Callen on the other.

Jackson was holding my hand and Ryder’s hand.

Like a bridge.

"State your case," Marcus said.

Ryder stood up. Alpha mode.

"This is my son," he said. "Jackson Wade. He is under my protection. Under his mother’s protection. He will not be taken from them."

"He’s a minor," June said. "And a shifter. The pack must oversee his upbringing."

"Then oversee it," Ryder said. "But he stays with us. In our home."

"And the human?" Thomas looked at me like I was dirt.

"She’s his mother," Ryder said. "Which makes her pack. By association."

The room murmured.

Marcus leaned forward. "Alpha, you know the rules. Human mothers are not pack."

"Then change the rules," Ryder said. "Or I will."

The tension snapped.

Jackson squeezed my hand.

I squeezed back.

"Let me ask the pup something," June said suddenly.

Ryder tensed. "No."

"Let her," I said quietly.

June crouched down in front of Jackson.

"Hi, sweetie. What’s your name?"

"Jackson," he said, brave.

"And who do you live with?"

"Mommy," Jackson said.

"And who else?"

Ryder held his breath.

Jackson looked up at Ryder. Then back at June.

"Dad," he said.

The room went silent.

Ryder closed his eyes.

Marcus sighed. "Well."

"Well," Ryder repeated. "So. He stays with us."

"Under supervision," Marcus said finally. "Weekly check-ins. Training sessions. With the pack."

Ryder nodded once. "Deal."

"And the human," June added, "must sign pack confidentiality agreements. One word to outsiders, and we take the pup."

I stood up. "I’m not signing anything that says I can’t protect my son."

Ryder put a hand on my shoulder.

"Then we don’t sign," he said. "We find another way."

Marcus looked between us.

"24 hours," he said. "Get a lawyer. Get paperwork. Or we take him."

---

6:00 PM. Back at the motel.

We were all quiet.

Jackson was asleep.

Exhausted from being brave.

Ryder was on the phone.

"No," he said. "I don’t care what it costs. I need the best. Family law. Tonight."

He hung up.

"Lawyer’s coming," he said. "She specializes in shifter-human custody."

"Will it work?" I asked.

"I don’t know," Ryder said honestly. "But we’re going to try."

Callen sat down next to me. "You okay?"

"No," I said. "I’m terrified."

"Me too," Callen said. "But look."

He nodded at Ryder.

Ryder was sitting on the floor next to the bed.

Watching Jackson sleep.

Like he’d never seen anything more important in his life.

"He’s not going to let them take him," Callen said. "Not this time."

---

Midnight.

The lawyer came.

A woman in her 50s with sharp eyes and sharper suit.

"Alpha Wade," she said. "Let’s talk."

For two hours we talked.

Laws. Precedents. Rights.

Shifter law and human law.

"Here’s the truth," the lawyer said. "The pack has power. But you have something stronger."

"What?" I asked.

"The boy," she said. "And the fact that you’re willing to fight for him. Together."

Ryder looked at me.

"Together," he repeated.

---

Sundown. Next day.

We walked into the pack house.

Together.

Me. Ryder. Jackson in the middle.

Marcus was waiting.

"Well?"

"Well," Ryder said, and handed him the papers.

"Joint custody agreement. Between myself and Jackson’s mother. Filed in human court and pack court. The pack has visitation rights. Training rights. But the boy stays with us."

Marcus read the papers. His face got red.

"You think a human court matters here?"

"It matters if you want to keep this quiet," Ryder said. "You want a scandal? A custody battle in the news? No? Then sign."

It was a gamble.

A huge one.

Marcus stared at Ryder.

Then at me.

Then at Jackson.

He signed.

"Weekly check-ins," he said. "And training starts Monday."

"Deal," Ryder said.

We walked out.

In the parking lot, I broke down.

Crying.

Hard.

Ryder pulled me into his arms.

"I’ve got you," he said. "I’ve got you. It’s over."

Jackson hugged both of us.

"We won, right Dad?"

"We won, buddy," Ryder said.

Callen stood a little ways away.

Smiling.

Crying a little too.

---

That night.

For the first time in four years, I didn’t pack a bag.

We stayed.

In Ryder’s house.

The big one.

With the yard and the fence and the rooms for all of us.

Jackson had his own room.

Dinosaur sheets.

Ryder read him a bedtime story.

"Can Dad stay too?" Jackson asked when the story was over.

Ryder looked at me.

I nodded.

So Ryder stayed.

On the floor.

Next to Jackson’s bed.

At 3 AM I woke up to check on them.

And found them both asleep.

Jackson’s hand in Ryder’s.

I took a picture.

Not to remember.

To believe.

---

END OF CHAPTER 6