Alliance of Shadows, Book 5: LEIF

Bloodlines and Backbone

The air didn’t shift. It stopped. The kind of stillness that settles before a storm you thought had passed.

I recognized Drake Cage – arrogant and entitled – as he strolled in like he’d been personally invited. He was wearing a smug look only someone who’s never had to earn respect can get away with. Behind him, a much older version of Rowan moved with slow, deliberate steps. His eyes were sharp, posture rigid and regal, like he’d walked straight out of a royal painting and into our front hall.

I felt Dreson tense beside me, a subtle draw of breath like a blade being unsheathed.

“Grandfather. Drake. You’re both a long way from home,” he said coolly. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s some welcome, boy,” the older man, Dreson’s grandfather sneered.

Drake grinned, spreading his arms. Yet, it unsettled me to see that the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Not even a spark. “Family visit. Shouldn’t we be welcome?”

“No,” Dreson replied flatly. “You weren’t invited. And you sure as hell weren’t expected.”

My gut twisted at the familiar touch of dark brooding that said my husband-to-be was more angry than he let on. My dominant hand twitched, not from fear, but from an old, familiar ache to jump in the middle. To block their path to the man who pulled me from the darkness and into the light. People like this didn’t come around unless they wanted something, and when power ran in your blood, what they wanted was never small.

I stepped forward, keeping one hand brushing against Dreson’s. “Say what you came t’ say,” I murmured, “Then leave. Ye don’t belong here.”

Dre’s Grandfather shifted his gaze between us, eyes narrowing when they landed on our clasped hands. "I had to hear from a scout that my son's heir is"—he actually shuddered, like the word made his skin crawl—"gay. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to show up here after that hybrid bastard dropped off a wedding invite at the mansion? I’m sure his mother put him up to it. Conniving bitch."

Wedding invitation? Bless his heart. My poor brother-in-law had been juggling pack business and our wedding planning without a break, and I hadn’t known a damn thing? Oh, he was definitely getting something special for that.

Beside me, Dre went rigid. "Mom didn’t put Kaden up to anything. And your prejudice? Not welcome here. I warned you when I was four I’d strip you of power—and I did. Father’s the High King now, and he doesn’t give a s**t that I love Leif. In fact, the truth is he’s my Mate and nothing in this world will stop us from being together."

"Didn’t know your father finally grew a backbone," Drake muttered with a smirk. Then he turned his attention to Lana. "Well, hello, sexy."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I wouldn't go anywhere with you even if you were the last man on earth."

"Don't be like that, baby." He smirked.

"Sorry, I'm a married woman," Lana replied hotly. "Besides, I don't date desperados with vulgar vocabularies."

Drake tilted his head, scowling like her words didn’t make sense. "I don't get turned down. I do the turning down."

"I guess you're not all that after all, huh?" Lana shot back. Then, turning to Dreson, she asked, "Councillor, is there anything else you would like me to do?"

Catching onto her game, Dreson smiled warmly and shook his head. "Not right now, thank you. Just finish placing the calls to the people on the list, and then you can go for the day. I'm sure your husband’s going to want your input on the party tonight."

His grandfather gave him a strange look. "I haven't heard of any party going on. This house is not yours, either. It was supposed to go to Drake."

"Would you shut the hell up already?" Kaden grumbled as he wandered out of the spare room, mid-yawn. "If I'd known inviting you to my brother's wedding was going to be a problem, I wouldn't have done it."

The older man sneered, eyes full of venom. "Don't talk to me like that, you little n—"

"Don't you dare call him that!" Rowan’s voice didn’t just slice through the space. It split the air wide open. A pulse of raw energy surged outward, thickening the atmosphere until every breath felt like dragging steam through your lungs.

I turned toward Mam and Da, standing just inside the archway. Their faces didn’t move, but their presence was loud. Cece—Celestia—held Conner against her chest with one hand gently pressed over his back. Rowan stood beside her, shoulders tight, his gaze locked on the scene unfolding.

Rowan stepped forward, slow and controlled. The sound of his boots on the floor rang sharp, like punctuation. When he reached us, he handed Heather to Dreson, placing her carefully in his arms before turning his full focus on the older man.

"You’ve got no right," he said, voice steady but sharp. "Walking into this house to spit slurs like anyone here owes you silence. Meanwhile, the brat standing next to you couldn’t even pass the Initiate’s Tower entrance exam."

I laughed then. Dry, hard, and just loud enough to sting. "Oh, wow. If I didn’t know any better, Rowan, I’d be wonderin’ who actually raised you."

Everyone turned to stare at me like I’d flipped a table without lifting a finger.

"Sorry, but maybe if you lot pulled your heads outta your own arses for five seconds, you'd actually see what’s right in front of you." I didn’t move, didn’t raise my voice, but they leaned in all the same. "Dreson’s the youngest Druid ever to finish all seven of the Sages’ trials. Every last one. Kaden? He’s as steady as they come. Man’s got loyalty etched into his bones.”

“Oh, be silent!” Rowan’s father snarled.

“Nay,” I snapped. “Ye walked into our home and expect us to, what? Stand aside so you can play happy, delusional family with a failure? I won’t be havin’ it, ‘specially in front ‘o me tykes.”

He turned a glare to Celestia, “Filthy beast. Is this how you raised my grandson?”

“You don’t e’er speak t’ her like that! That she’s been standin’ in this madness for years, and still not gone for your throat? That right there is what we proper adults call grace under pressure. Not that ye’d know anythin’ about it. And believe me when I say you should be grateful she hasn’t gone wolf on you and torn ye open like a deer. You’d have earned it in me eyes."

The visitors didn’t argue. They didn’t speak. Just turned around and walked out, dragging silence behind them like a stench.

Rowan’s whole frame seemed to exhale. Then he stepped in, grabbed the front of my shirt, and pulled me into a hug without hesitation. "Thank you, Leif. He needed to hear that from someone. I hate that it had to come from you, though."

I pressed my forehead against his shoulder and let my arms rest around his back. "No one touches my family now. Not anymore, Da."

Hearing a soft sob, I glanced over at Cece. Her brown eyes, wet with emotion, were locked on me, trembling slightly beneath the weight of everything she never asked for but carried anyway. A single tear clung to her lash before slipping free.

"You alright, Mam?" I asked, my voice gentler now.

"I'm fine," she breathed, though her voice caught halfway through. She blinked fast, wiping under her eyes with the edge of her thumb. Another sob rose in her chest, but she swallowed it down before it could fully escape.

Conner, tucked safe in her arms, reached up with a little hand, his fingers pale and chubby as he brushed away the tear she’d missed. "Don’t cry, Nana Cece. See? My Papa made the bad men go away so we can be happy again."

Her lips parted as if to respond, but the words never came. Instead, she pulled him closer and pressed a kiss to the top of his head, eyes falling shut like she was memorizing the warmth of that tiny body, the peace of the moment. It was as if every fiber of her being was feeling at peace for the first time in a long time. The image of her, painstakingly clinging to the hope of acceptance, was enough to make my anger flare.

Rowan stepped beside her and rested a hand gently on her back, glancing toward me. I didn’t need words from him, but the look he gave me? It wasn’t just thanks. It was a quiet, undiluted pride that said more than enough.

We stood like that for a while. No raised voices. No magic flaring in the air. Just the steady, quiet hum of appliances and a family standing together in their own version of peace.