Chapter 7
1727 Words
Renner's POV
The border cottage sat silent against the treeline, its warm amber window glowing through the evening mist. From the balcony of my study, I watched it—watched her.
Romona was standing by the window for a fleeting second, pulling the heavy curtains shut. Even in the dim light, even after three long years of bitter separation, she took my breath away. She had always been striking, but time had sharpened her beauty into something lethal. Her silver hair practically gleamed in the twilight, a living testament to the rare hybrid blood running through her veins.
My chest tightened with a heavy, hollow ache—a sensation I had become all too familiar with ever since the day she walked out of my life. Or rather, the day I forced her out.
I leaned against the stone railing, closing my eyes as a sudden wave of confusion washed over me.
Why?
I racked my brain, grasping at the shattered fragments of my own past, but the memories were muffled, like trying to listen to a conversation underwater. I couldn't recall the exact argument. I couldn't remember the catalyst, the fight, or the exact reason why I had banished my fated mate from Ash River. All I knew was that every time I tried to reach into those memories, a cold, dull numbness blocked my path.
All I felt right now was an overwhelming, undeniable truth: I missed her.
Having her back in my territory, even bound by a dark curse and separated by half a mile of forest, brought a strange, long-lost sense of peace to my chest. The suffocating weight I had carried for three years lifted slightly just knowing she was breathing the same air.
"Renner?"
A quiet, frail voice broke through the stillness. I turned around to see Cassandra leaning against the doorframe, wrapped in a thick wool blanket. She looked so delicate, her skin pale and drawn from the dark magic that had nearly claimed her life and our baby's.
My protective instincts surged immediately. I stepped away from the balcony, walking over to wrap an arm around her shoulders, gently guiding her back toward the hearth.
"You shouldn't be out of bed, Cass," I said softly, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.
"I couldn't sleep," she murmured, leaning her head against my chest. "I keep thinking about how close we were to losing the baby. If Romona hadn't come..."
"She came," I reassured her, kissing her forehead, though my mind was still spinning. "The blood lock worked. You and the baby are safe now. That's all that matters."
I cared for Cassandra—deeply. When dark magic threatened her life, the fear of losing her and our unborn child had nearly driven me out of my mind. She was my Luna, the woman carrying my future heir, and I was sworn to protect her with my life. But as I held her, my eyes flicked back toward the dark forest window. The affection I felt for Cassandra was real, but it lacked the raw, agonizing spark that flared every time I looked at Romona.
And then there was Gideon.
My jaw tightened as my thoughts shifted to my brother. Gideon’s sudden reappearance in Ash River wasn't a coincidence. We weren't enemies—in fact, despite our bitter fallouts and his exile, I knew down to my bones that if a war broke out tomorrow, Gideon would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me. We were brothers; blood ran deeper than pack politics.
But the way he had arrived at the exact same time as Romona? The way he stood between us in the infirmary, shielding her, speaking for her about her adopted war orphan?
Something wasn't adding up. Gideon had never cared for pack affairs since he left, yet here he was, playing guardian angel to my ex-mate.
What are you two hiding from me? I thought, narrowing my eyes at the dark treeline.
Romona's pov
Gideon strapped a second silver dagger into his belt sheath, the leather clicking tightly in the quiet cottage. Rain lashed against the windowpanes, blurring the dark forest outside into jagged streaks of gray and black.
"I'm slipping out through the western gully," Gideon murmured, checking the tension on his bowstring. "It avoids Renner’s perimeter guards entirely. But Mona—think about this for a second." He paused, looking up at me through heavy brows. "If I bring Noah here to the border cottage, Renner and his scouts are going to pass by eventually. Even if they swallow the war orphan lie... what happens if Renner catches a look at his face? He’s three, but he has Renner’s jaw. He has his posture."
I gripped the edge of the heavy wooden table, staring down at the flickering candlelight.
"I know," I said quietly, forcing my voice not to tremble. "I just have to pray their arrogance blinds them."
Gideon arched an eyebrow. "Meaning?"
"They kicked me out, Gideon," I said, a cold, bitter laugh slipping past my lips. "To Renner and the Ash River council, I am the rejected, disgraced ex-mate. They think I'm bitter. They think if I had an Alpha's biological heir in my arms, I would have paraded him back here years ago to force my way back into their lives."
I looked Gideon dead in the eye.
"Because they are shallow, they will never suspect that I would voluntarily raise Renner’s son in secret without demanding a crown or a title for him. Claiming he's an adopted orphan plays directly into their pride. They'll assume I'm just playing the merciful commander."
Gideon stared at me for a long beat before a low, approving smirk touched his lips. "Smart. Cruel, but damn smart. These people really are completely blinded by their own self-importance." He adjusted his cloak, pulling the hood over his dark hair. "And when he’s here... are you ever going to tell him who Renner is?"
"No," I answered instantly, the response cold and unyielding. "I don't want Noah to have a single bond with Renner while we're stuck here. I am going to save Cassandra's baby, fulfill this cursed blood lock, and leave. I don't need Renner back in my life. Ever."
"Then let's go get your boy," Gideon said softly.
We moved through the storm like ghosts.
The eastern caves were two miles outside the pack perimeter, hidden beneath a jagged shelf of wet granite. The metallic stench of fresh blood hit us before we even reached the mouth of the cavern.
Gideon drew his sword with a slick shing, stepping in front of me as we rounded the stone pillar.
My breath caught in my chest.
Two of my royal guards lay motionlessly in the mud, their silver armor dark with rain and blood. The campsite was completely torn apart—shredded blankets, overturned supply crates, and dark footmarks tracking everywhere.
"No..." A choked, ragged sound tore from my throat as the world tilted on its axis. Hyperventilation seized my lungs, pulling in cold rain and terror. "No, no, no—Noah! Noah!"
Tears spilled down my cheeks, blinding me as I stumbled toward the wreckage.
"Mona, shh! Calm down!" Gideon grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back hard into the shadow of the rock face, his eyes frantically scanning the surrounding trees. "Calm down, it could be a trap! We don't know if they're still here—"
I didn't hear him.
A sudden, sharp ringing pierced through the back of my skull. It wasn't a sound from the forest—it was echoing inside my head.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
It was a rhythm. A fast, erratic, terrified pulse.
Mama...
I gasped, my hands flying to my temples as the voice echoed in my mind—faint, tiny, but unmistakable.
"Someone is talking to me," I breathed, my eyes widening in shock.
Gideon frowned, holding his sword tight. "What? What are you talking about?"
"I can hear it..." I muttered, turning my head toward the dense thicket behind the cave entrance. "Not with my ears. I can hear his heartbeat. It's so fast... he's terrified."
"Mona, what do you mean you hear a heartbeat?" Gideon asked, his voice laced with utter confusion, looking around the empty clearing. "Is it mine? Are you sensing an enemy?"
"No. Follow me!"
I broke away from his grip, driven by a violent, magnetic pull in my blood. The pulse in my head grew louder with every step—thump-thump, thump-thump—guiding me past the bloody campsite, deep into a hollow grove of ancient, hollowed-out oaks.
"Romona, please be careful!" Gideon hissed, trailing right at my heel, his blades bared. "Where the hell are we going?"
I stopped in front of a massive, split-bark willow whose roots carved deep into the earth.
Inside the narrow, dark cavity of the trunk, a tiny figure was curled into a ball, clutching a small wooden wolf toy to his chest, his eyes wide and wet with tears.
"Noah," I sobbed.
The little boy gasped, dropping the toy. "Mama!"
He threw himself out of the hollow trunk and straight into my arms. I collapsed to my knees in the wet dirt, burying my face in his neck, breathing in his warm, sweet scent as I held him so tightly my arms shook. He wrapped his small arms around my neck, trembling violently against my chest.
Gideon came up behind us, lowering his sword slowly, staring at the tree and then down at me in absolute bewilderment.
"How... how did you find him down here?" Gideon asked, his voice barely a whisper against the falling rain. "You said you heard his heartbeat?"
I cradled the back of Noah’s head, my fingers tangled in his dark hair, feeling a strange, hum of ancient, golden energy thrumming beneath my skin.
"I don't know what's happening to me," I whispered, looking up at the dark sky as my hybrid magic burned softly in my eyes. "But something is changing about me."
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