Chapter 7: The Empty Pack
1460 Words
By midmorning, Kieran and his men had left for Silver Hollow.
Raven stayed with me while he was gone.
She sat across from me at the breakfast table, eating toast while I picked at the food on my plate.
“You know my brother seems to like you,” she said.
My eyes lifted to hers.
“He does?”
Raven nodded. “He watches you differently.”
I looked back at my plate.
“You’re prettier than the last woman.”
I nearly choked on my juice.
“The last woman?”
Raven reached for another piece of toast. “You’re the first woman he’s brought into Ironveil under his protection?”
I shook my head.
“Then no. You weren’t.”
I wasn’t sure whether that was supposed to make me feel better.
“How many were there?”
Raven shrugged. “A few. Kieran has been looking for his mate for a long time. Some believed they could become his Luna. Others thought his position would give them power.”
“What happened to them?”
“Some left before he could reject them. Others were sent away when he realized there was no bond.”
“And me?”
Raven studied me.
“You’re different.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
She leaned back in her chair. “He hasn’t sent you away.”
I didn’t know what to do with that.
Kieran hadn’t touched me without permission. He hadn’t forced me into his bed or demanded anything in exchange for protection.
That should have made me feel safe.
Instead, it left me waiting for the moment everything changed.
“He doesn’t have an heir,” Raven continued. “So everyone assumes he’ll keep searching until he finds his true mate.”
My stomach tightened.
“Your biggest concern will be if he finds her.”
I lowered my eyes.
Cal had been my true mate.
He rejected me the moment I turned eighteen.
He had barged into the basement in the middle of the night, screamed the rejection at me, and beaten me until I accepted it.
The pain had not only come from his fists.
It had felt as if my heart were being torn from my chest.
Because I had felt the bond, Rafe strengthened the binding on my wolf afterward.
That was when I stopped healing like everyone else.
“You’ve been rejected,” Raven said.
I looked up.
“I can tell by the way your eyes changed.”
“Had,” I whispered. “He rejected me.”
Raven’s expression softened. “I know what that feels like. Mine rejected me too. The moment he found out which pack I came from and who my brother was, he wanted nothing to do with me.”
She gave a small, humorless laugh.
“Anyway, my brother seems to like you more than he has liked any of the others.”
Was that supposed to make me happy?
Knowing I might last a little longer than the women before me?
Knowing Kieran might keep me simply because I held his attention?
After breakfast, Raven took me to the pack hospital.
Kieran had asked her to stay nearby while he was gone. Maybe he thought I would run like the women before me.
As if I had the strength to get past the gates.
No one came into the hospital while we were there.
Raven spent most of the morning checking supplies and counting medicine bottles. The hospital seemed almost unnecessary. Most wolves healed quickly, and serious injuries were rare.
“I’m going to be here for a while,” she said, returning with a stack of colorful magazines. “I brought you something to read.”
She placed them on the table.
I stared at the covers.
I didn’t recognize the people in the photographs, and the words beneath them meant nothing.
“Not your thing?” Raven asked.
I shook my head.
Her eyes narrowed.
“You can’t read.”
Heat rushed to my face.
I lowered my gaze and shook my head.
“I’m guessing you didn’t go to school.”
“No.”
It was humiliating to admit.
What twenty-two-year-old couldn’t read or write?
“Does Kieran know?”
“No.”
Raven’s mouth curved into a smile.
“Well, now I have something to do besides count medical supplies.”
She pulled a chair beside mine and began teaching me.
The first few letters blurred together. I kept confusing their shapes, and every mistake made my throat tighten.
Raven never laughed.
She simply wrote the letters again and asked me to try once more.
Hours passed.
I was beginning to recognize a few words when Raven suddenly gathered the papers and shoved them into a drawer.
“My brother is back.”
I looked toward the doors.
“How do you know?”
“A pack thing.”
Seconds later, the hospital doors swung open.
Kieran entered with Jenson and Eric behind him.
He looked angry.
His crimson eyes were darker than usual, and his brow was drawn tightly over them.
His attention went straight to me.
“Raven, leave us.”
She glanced between us, then nodded.
“Of course.”
She disappeared through the side door.
Kieran waited until she was out of sight before turning toward me.
“Where has Rafe gone?”
I frowned. “What?”
“The pack is empty.”
My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
Kieran’s voice remained controlled, but anger pressed beneath every word.
“The manor was empty. The packhouse was empty. There were no workers, guards, or families. Everything was still there, but no one was.”
I stared at him.
“You went to Silver Hollow?”
“Did Rafe know we were coming?”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Was this a setup? Did he send you here to learn about Ironveil? Was taking you part of his plan?”
I closed my eyes.
His voice had sharpened, and my body reacted before I could stop it.
Anger brought punishment.
Punishment brought pain.
Kieran went silent.
When I opened my eyes, his hand was inches from my face but not touching me.
He lowered it.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about,” he said.
“No.”
“The pack disappeared.”
“Abandoned?”
“No. Nothing was taken. Their homes were open. Food was still in the kitchens. Clothes were still in the rooms.” He stepped closer. “It was as if everyone vanished at the same time.”
My stomach twisted.
“I don’t know where they went.”
“You said Silver Hollow didn’t hold pack runs.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Then they were doing something else.”
“I don’t know.”
Kieran studied my face.
“I have never left the pack,” I continued. “Not until yesterday. I never went farther than the gardens.”
“What about before that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mara.”
I swallowed.
“Sometimes the manor was empty.”
His expression changed.
“How often?”
“Every few months. I think.”
“What did you do when it happened?”
I looked down at my hands.
“I stole food.”
“If the manor was empty, why didn’t you leave?”
I gave a small, humorless smile. “Where would I go?”
He didn’t answer.
“If I wasn’t locked in the basement, I would take whatever I could find. Bread. Fruit. Anything that lasted.”
“How long were they gone?”
“I don’t know. A day. Sometimes two.”
“No one ever mentioned it?”
“They might have. Just not when I was around.”
Kieran’s jaw tightened.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
His expression remained hard, but the anger no longer seemed directed at me.
He held out his hand.
“Come. We’re going home.”
I stared at it before placing my hand in his.
His fingers closed around mine, firm but careful.
“You better not be lying to me,” he said quietly. “I don’t tolerate lies.”
“I promise.”
He pulled me to my feet.
Pain tugged at the wound beneath my sweatshirt, but I ignored it.
Kieran looked down at me.
Even without my wolf, I could feel his power surrounding me.
It was overwhelming.
Almost intoxicating.
But this time, it didn’t feel like a threat.
It felt like protection.
Whatever had happened to Silver Hollow, Kieran had returned with more questions than answers.
And now, the people who had disappeared had become his problem.
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