Forbidden Mate, Fated Sin

Chapter 16: Wolfless

Wren's POV

Nothing moved at first. One long second stretched out and I was sure the fire from my dream had come with me into the real world. I was sure the burning face that looked like mine had left my mind and was standing right there in the room.

Then the shape shifted. Moonlight landed on a face I recognized.

"Celeste?"

"You screamed," she said softly. "The sound came through the wall."

My heart kept slamming into my ribs. I dragged the blanket higher around me. Suddenly I felt bare and I could not stop shaking. "I am okay. Go back to sleep."

"You always say that." She stayed right where she was at the foot of the bed. "I do not think those words mean what you hope they mean anymore."

"What are you doing here, Celeste? It is the middle of the night."

"I have no idea." She folded her arms around herself. The weak light made her look younger than she had in a long time. All the shine and certainty from the ceremony was gone. "I could not rest either. I heard you call out and I promised myself I would stay in my room. I broke that promise."

No reply came to me so I stayed quiet. I watched her in the darkness until she spoke again.

"Did the dream involve him?"

"No," I answered. It was close enough to the truth. "There was fire. The border up north. I still do not understand all of it."

"Visions are coming to you." Her tone was flat. It barely sounded like a question. "The same kind Odette used to have. Those old stories are true."

"You have heard of Odette?"

"Everyone under this roof has heard the stories about the old healer who lives on the edge of our land. I never took them seriously until tonight." Her eyes moved over my face with care. "Is that the reason the bond picked you? Because of what you truly are?"

"I have no idea why the bond picked me, Celeste. None of this was something I wanted."

"Of course not." Bitterness slid back into her voice. The sound was familiar. "No one ever asks for the things that destroy another person's life. Those things just arrive and the rest of us have to live among the ruins."

"Celeste." I pushed myself higher against the pillows. An old habit forced the next words out before I could hold them back. "I am sorry. For whatever that is worth. Hurting you was never my plan."

She was silent for a long stretch. Her arms stayed locked around her body. "I believe you. That might be the most surprising part of everything. I keep waiting for the hate I think I am supposed to feel. It will not show up the way I expect."

"Then why does it still feel like you hate me?"

"Hate is simpler than facing the truth. The bond was never going to choose me no matter how hard I worked or how long I trained." Her voice broke slightly on the final words. It was the first real break I had heard since the ceremony. "I do not know how to live as someone who was never chosen for anything important."

She turned to the door before I could speak. "I do not even know why I came. Pretend this never happened."

She left before I could answer. The door shut with a soft click. I stayed alone in the dark for a long time. The strange unfinished talk kept running through my mind. I wondered if any small piece of my sister was still left under the layers Ronan and her own ambition had already covered.

Morning arrived far too early. Gray light dragged me out of thin restless sleep. I had only just put on clothes when Vivian's voice cut through the hall outside my door.

"Wren. Kitchen. Right now."

She was already there when I reached the lower floor. Arms crossed. Edwin stood quiet behind her with the same closed face he always wore when looking at me directly became too hard.

"People all over the territory are talking about you," Vivian said before my feet hit the last step. "My daughter has been shamed twice in one month. You stand in the middle of both messes."

"Vivian, I never asked for any of this."

"Your wishes mean nothing to me." Her voice climbed higher. The edge in it made me pull back. "What matters is that our family name is being pulled through every friendly pack from here to the coast because you could not stay away from a man who never belonged to you."

"That is not fair."

"Fair." She let out a short laugh that held no joy. "You want to discuss fairness in this house after everything you have taken from us." She pointed at the sink and the pile of morning dishes. "You will work for your place here the same way you always have. Bond or no bond. Vision or no vision. Start with the dishes. After that the floors need cleaning again. Every single one."

"Vivian, I have been"

"I did not ask for a report on your day." Her eyes were cold and flat. No kindness lived in them. "I told you to do your work. Unless you would rather I tell the council how little place a girl without a wolf truly holds here. Bond or not."

The warning landed exactly as she intended. I walked to the sink without another word. My hands fell into the old pattern of washing and rinsing while Vivian watched from the doorway. She needed to see that I obeyed.

Edwin spoke at last. His voice was low and flat. "Kade stopped by early this morning before either of you were awake. He asked to see you."

My hands went still in the water. "What did you say to him?"

"I said you were busy." Edwin's jaw tightened. That small movement was the closest thing to feeling I had seen from him in days. "Rejecting you in front of the whole pack does not give him the right to walk into this house whenever guilt starts to bother him."

"The choice was not his, Edwin. The council pushed him into it."

"People always have a choice, Wren." His eyes finally met mine. They were hard and closed off. "Some of us simply pick better ones."

The way he said it made my chest tighten. It brought back the argument I had overheard through the floor two nights earlier. Whatever secret Edwin carried about Kade's father was still sitting behind his eyes. Heavy and unspoken.

"How is your fight with Kade's father connected to any of this?"

Edwin's whole body locked up. "That is not your business."

"It becomes my business if it has anything to do with why his father died."

"Stop." Vivian's voice sliced across the room. "Edwin, do not answer her. Wren, finish the dishes and then start on the floors. This house needs to look ready before the elders return this afternoon."

Edwin left without another word. His shoulders held the same rigid guarded line I had seen the night I stood outside his study. Vivian stayed only long enough to confirm I had begun scrubbing. Then she left too, calling for Celeste somewhere down the hall.

I kept working in silence for a long while. My thoughts turned over every refusal Edwin had given. They also turned over Celeste's strange night visit and the fire that still glowed behind my eyes whenever they stayed closed too long.

Maribel found me an hour later. I was on my knees with a brush in my hand, in the exact same spot I had occupied ten years earlier, the same spot where this entire story had begun. The thin crack near the sink was still there. The same small crack I used to stare at while I worked. It looked as if the house itself had grown tired of holding everyone together.

"They are punishing you because of the rejection," she said quietly. She dropped down to help without waiting to be asked.

"They are punishing me for being alive." I kept my eyes on the floor. "Nothing is different, Maribel. Kade spoke in front of the pack and everyone pretended the bond vanished with his words. I am still only Wren. Girl without a wolf. Without worth. Whatever name they pick for me this week."

"You are not without worth." Her voice was firm and strong in a way I almost never heard. "Do not let this house teach you a lie that was never true."

Before I could reply a hard knock shook the front door. The sound was urgent and rapid. Grier's voice followed, loud and calling for Edwin, calling for anyone. Something wild and sharp sat under his usual calm.

I dropped the brush and ran into the hall. Maribel stayed close behind. Grier stood in the open doorway. Blood stained his shirt but it was not his. His eyes looked wild with something close to panic.

"The northern patrol," he said between breaths. "They found the fire. It is real, Wren. The place matches exactly what you described."

My stomach fell straight down. "Is anyone hurt?"

His face gave the answer before his mouth did.

"Kade went in after them," he said. "That was hours ago. No one has heard from him since."