Chapter 24
1274 Words
Gwen
I didn’t sleep.
The sun had barely risen, but I’d already been awake for hours. Every shadow felt like him. Every silence, a scream I kept buried deep in my chest. My feet moved before I could second-guess myself, taking me down the hall, heart pounding like a trapped bird in my ribcage.
Terrance—my father—was in his office, same as always, pretending paperwork was more important than his own blood.
I didn’t knock. I stepped inside and shut the door behind me.
“I need to leave,” I said, my voice low but steady.
His eyes flicked up in surprise. “Gwen?”
“Please,” I whispered. “I can’t be here. Not after…” I swallowed, bile rising. “Not after last night.”
His expression shifted. Not understanding exactly—but suspecting enough.
“What happened?” he asked, but his voice had already changed. Like he knew. Like some part of him finally saw.
I looked down and tugged at my sleeve, revealing the dark fingerprint-shaped bruise forming on my wrist. His face went pale.
“You always said you’d protect me,” I whispered.
The silence stretched between us. Then, with slow precision, he nodded.
“Go to Jordan’s. Now. Don’t take anything. Don’t speak to anyone. I’ll handle it.”
Relief made my knees weak. My lips trembled. “Thank you.”
He stepped toward me, awkwardly pulling me into a hug that felt like it should’ve happened years ago. I leaned in anyway, just for a second.
Then I turned and ran.
Terrance
I should’ve known it wouldn’t last.
By nightfall, Karl stormed into my office, every inch the tyrant I’d helped put on the throne. Justin was right behind him, looking smug and scorned in equal measure.
“Where the f**k is your daughter?” Karl growled, slamming the door behind him.
I didn’t flinch. “She’s staying with a friend.”
“You let her leave the packhouse?” Justin snapped.
“She needed time,” I said. “She’s overwhelmed. Everything moved too fast.”
Karl sneered. “We’ve all been very generous to your girl. Now she’s going to repay us by being a proper Luna.”
“She will,” I said smoothly. “But if we want the courtships to seem pure—if we want the other packs to believe in this union—then letting her stay away for a few days might actually help us.”
Justin blinked. “Help how?”
“She’s now the image of restraint. Chaste. Respectable. Waiting for the wedding night. The virginal Luna.” I kept my voice calm even though my stomach twisted. “It creates the perfect public narrative. A fairytale.”
Karl’s lip curled, but then he grunted. “Not bad.”
“She’ll be back before the end of the week,” I said. “This way, no one questions their bond.”
Karl turned to Justin. “You can keep it in your pants that long?”
Justin smirked. “I’ve already had her. I can wait.”
My jaw locked, but I said nothing.
Because I couldn’t afford to lose Gwen. Not when I’d already lost her mother.
I couldn’t save one, but maybe… maybe I could still save the other.
Gwen
By the time I reached Jordan’s place, my limbs barely worked. My wolf—Akira—was a fragile hum in the distance, too weak to guide me anymore. Every step was a miracle.
The door opened before I could knock.
“Gwen?” Jordan’s voice was a mix of confusion and concern. “What happened?”
I couldn’t answer.
I just collapsed.
Jordan
She looked like hell.
There was blood on her wrist. Her eyes were dull. Her wolf’s presence—normally bright, fierce—was practically nonexistent.
I laid her gently on the couch, brushing her damp hair from her forehead.
“Gwen, what happened? Talk to me.”
Nothing. Just a soft, broken breath.
I didn’t know what to do. But there was one person I trusted who might.
I called Derrick.
Cain
I felt it before the call came.
A hollow weight in my chest, something cold and panicked. Achilles stirred, restless, growling low and constant.
Then Derrick’s voice cracked into my mind. She’s at Jordan’s. She’s not responding.
Everything else dropped away.
I didn’t ask why or how—I just moved.
Trees blurred around me as I ran. Snow whipped past my face. My heart hammered to the rhythm of her name. Gwen. Gwen. Gwen.
She needed me.
And this time, I wouldn’t be too late.
The door was already open when I arrived. Jordan stood just inside, pale and rigid, arms crossed over her chest like she was holding herself together with willpower alone.
“She’s on the couch,” she said. “She won’t talk.”
I didn’t wait for more. I crossed the threshold and—
Gods.
There she was.
Curled up like a child, her limbs folded tight to her chest, shoulders trembling even in sleep. Her skin, usually warm and flushed with life, looked gray in the low light. A thin sheen of sweat clung to her forehead. She didn’t stir when I dropped to my knees beside her.
“Gwen,” I whispered, brushing my fingers against her wrist. It was ice cold.
She’s freezing, Achilles growled in my head, wild and panicked. Where’s Akira? I can’t feel her, Cain. She’s not there—she’s not answering me—
His voice cracked, the way mine never would aloud.
I pushed Gwen’s sleeve up gently and found the bruises. Fingerprints, too large to be her own. Purple and raw against her porcelain skin.
My throat closed.
“What did they do to you?” I breathed.
She didn’t respond. Not even a flicker of her lashes.
She’s slipping, Achilles whispered. She needs us. Now. We have to get her closer. She’s fading, Cain. She needs me—she needs us.
I nodded.
I didn’t care if Jordan saw. I didn’t care what it looked like. I reached down and lifted Gwen into my arms.
She weighed next to nothing.
She didn’t even flinch at the movement. That terrified me more than anything else.
“Where’s the guest room?” I asked Jordan, my voice low, deadly calm.
She pointed silently down the hall, and I carried Gwen there, step after step feeling like I was walking a line I should’ve crossed a long time ago.
When I reached the bed, I laid her down carefully, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. Her breathing was shallow. Her pulse fluttered like a dying thing.
“I’m here,” I whispered, more to her wolf than her ears. “You’re not alone.”
Then I climbed in beside her.
The bed was too small for distance. I wrapped myself around her, careful not to touch the bruises. I tugged the blankets over both of us, cocooning us in warmth. The scent of her skin surrounded me— honey and heartbreak.
Her back pressed lightly against my chest. My arm settled across her middle, holding her as gently as I could. Her body was stiff, but she didn’t pull away.
I let my eyes close.
Achilles settled too, curled just as close inside my mind.
Don’t let go, he whispered.
“I won’t,” I promised. I waited until I heard Gwen's breathing even out as she fell asleep.
And finally—exhausted, broken, desperate—I followed soon after, wrapped around the girl I should’ve protected all along.
- Writer
