Chapter 21
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Lina
I woke to an unfamiliar ceiling, my body aching in ways that suggested I’d been hit by a truck, then reversed over for good measure. The burning poison that had been killing me was gone, replaced by a weird tingling sensation under my skin that felt wrong but not painful.
Memory crashed back in waves. Noah kidnapping me. Ravenshollow. Knox.
My hand went to my shoulder automatically, searching for the wound from the woods but finding nothing. My neck, however, was tender. I explored carefully and froze. There was a new wound there, raised marks in a perfect dental pattern. Teeth marks. The bastard had bitten me.
I tried to sit up too fast, making the room do an unpleasant spin cycle. Strong hands caught my shoulders, steadying me, and I found myself staring into gray eyes I’d spent years trying to forget.
“Don’t touch me,” I snarled, jerking away from Knox with more force than I’d intended.
The twins were curled asleep on the bed beside me, and I pulled them closer protectively, needing the barrier between us. They mumbled sleepily but didn’t wake, trusting even in unconsciousness that Mama would keep them safe.
“You bit me,” I accused, my voice rising despite trying not to wake the kids. “You put your fucking teeth in my neck without permission!”
Knox sat back on his heels beside the bed, those gray eyes full of emotions I didn’t want to see or acknowledge. Regret, pain, longing, and underneath it all, a possessiveness that made my skin prickle with awareness.
“You were dying,” he said softly, as if that explained everything. “The bite saved your life-”
“So you decided to what, mark me like property? Like I belong to you?” My voice climbed higher, fury overriding the lingering weakness in my body. “You don’t get to make those choices for me! You don’t get to decide what happens to my body!”
“I had no choice,” he said, and the raw pain in his voice almost made me falter. Almost. “The poison was hours from your heart. Maybe less.”
“There’s always a choice,” I shot back. “You just picked the one that benefited you. Marked me like some kind of possession so what, you could play happy families? Pretend the last five years didn’t happen?”
“You would have died,” his voice cracked on the words, desperation leaking through. “Our children would have been orphans. I had to-”
“Our children?” I cut him off, the words like acid on my tongue. “They’re mine. You don’t get to claim them now. Not after everything.”
His face crumpled at that, but I didn’t care. He’d lost any right to claim them when he’d walked out before they were even born. When he’d reduced me to nothing and disappeared without looking back.
“I want to leave. Now.” I struggled to stand, my legs shaky but determination overriding physical weakness. “We’re going home.”
Knox moved between me and the door, not touching but definitely blocking. The audacity of this man.
“You can’t,” he said carefully, hands raised like he was dealing with a wild animal. Which, given the way I wanted to claw his eyes out, wasn’t far off. “The bite - it changed things. You need time to adjust. At least three days. Your senses will be different, your healing faster. And the twins-”
“What about my babies?” My voice went deadly quiet, the kind of quiet that preceded very bad things.
Noah appeared in the doorway, looking exhausted but alert. Great, another werewolf to deal with. Just what I needed.
“They’re half-wolves, Lina,” Noah said gently, like he was delivering news of a death. “They need to learn control. Pine Valley isn’t safe for them anymore.”
“Half...” The word stuck in my throat like broken glass.
I’d known, deep down. All those strange behaviors, the impossible things they could do, the way they’d howled at that documentary. But hearing it confirmed out loud made my legs weak all over again.
“No,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “That’s not... they can’t be...”
“Mama?” Thea stirred, blinking sleepily and reaching for me. “The nice man fixed you! His wolf is happy now.”
The innocent words shattered my denial into a million pieces. My four-year-old daughter was talking about his wolf like it was a normal Tuesday conversation topic.
“How can you... how can you know about his wolf, baby?”
Thea tilted her head, considering the question with that serious expression she got when trying to explain something obvious to confused adults. “We can feel it. It was so sad before, but now it’s doing happy circles.”
“We feel it,” Rowan said, also waking and studying me intently. “Like we feel yours now. It’s small and scared.”
I stared at my son, my brilliant, perceptive son who could apparently sense things that shouldn’t exist. Including, apparently, whatever was now inside me.
“Mine?” The word came out strangled. “I don’t have a...”
But I could feel it, couldn’t I? Some new presence in my mind, curious and frightened and very, very small. Not a separate consciousness exactly, but a new part of me that hadn’t existed before.
“What did you do to us?” I whispered, the horror of it all crashing down. “What did you do?!”
“The bite,” Knox said carefully, still maintaining his position between me and freedom, “it won’t turn you into a wolf. Humans can’t shift. But it will enhance things. Healing, senses, strength. You’ll be able to protect them better.”
“Protect them? From what?” My voice broke on the last word. “From the monsters you brought into our lives?”
The twins flinched at my tone, and guilt flashed through me hot and painful. This wasn’t their fault. None of this was their fault.
“From others like the one that attacked you,” Noah interjected from the doorway. “Rogues who can smell unclaimed wolves. Your children have been broadcasting their nature since birth. It’s a miracle nothing found them sooner.”
The words sent ice through my veins. “Broadcasting? What does that mean?”
“Wolves can sense each other,” Knox explained quietly. “Their scent, their energy. Half-wolf children without pack protection, without their father’s scent marking them as claimed...” He trailed off, but I got the picture.
“So they’ve been walking targets this whole time?” My voice rose again. “And you knew this could happen? You knew what they were and you just left us there?”
“I didn’t know!” The words exploded from him. “I didn’t know you were pregnant. If I had-”
“You would have what? Stayed? Don’t lie to me twice, Knox.”
“Stop. Just stop.” I pressed my palms to my eyes, trying to block out the reality crashing down around me. Everything I’d ignored, rationalized, explained away with increasingly ridiculous theories, it all made horrible sense now.
The town’s fear of the woods. The beast attacks. My children’s impossible abilities. It was all connected to this hidden world of monsters that had been there all along.
“I want to go home,” I said, dropping my hands. “My shop, my friends-”
“All still there,” Knox said desperately, leaning forward like he wanted to reach for me but knew better. “But please, stay a few days. Learn what this means. Let me - let us help you understand what the twins need.”
“You don’t get to make demands.” The words came out like venom. “You lost that right when you left.”
The words hung between us, years of hurt condensed into one sentence. Knox’s face crumbled further, if that was possible, but he nodded.
“You’re right,” he said quietly. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about keeping you all safe.”
“Don’t you dare,” I hissed. “Don’t you dare use their safety to manipulate me. We were fine without you. We’ve been fine for four years.”
“You were attacked by a rabid wolf,” Noah pointed out. “That’s not fine.”
“That was a fluke-”
“It wasn’t,” he interrupted gently. “Rogue attacks have been increasing. Pine Valley’s on the edge of contested territory. It was only a matter of time.”
I laughed, the sound bitter and broken. “And Ravenshollow is safe? We’re trapped in a town full of werewolves. Nothing about this is safe.”
“Mama, are we bad?” Thea’s small voice cut through the tension like a knife.
My heart shattered. I pulled both twins into my lap, kissing their heads and breathing in their familiar scent that now carried undertones I was apparently able to detect. Pine and honey from Thea. Earth and woodsmoke from Rowan. Both mixed with my own vanilla and coffee.
“No, babies. You’re perfect. You’re my perfect babies.”
“Then why are you mad?” Rowan asked, because of course he’d pick up on the emotional undercurrents.
“I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at...” I glared at Knox over their heads. “At the situation. Adult stuff that has nothing to do with how amazing you both are.”
“Is it because of the wolf stuff?” Thea asked. “Grandma Sarah’s dog doesn’t like us. Is that bad?”
Jesus. They’d known. They’d been able to shift their paws even at four, of course they knew they were different.
“No, sweetheart. There’s nothing bad about you. Some people - and dogs - just don’t understand special.”
My body felt grimy, like I’d been sick for days, which I probably had. The desperate need for normalcy, for some kind of control over the situation, made me announce, “I need a shower.”
I stood too quickly, forgetting that my body was apparently going through some kind of supernatural puberty. The room tilted violently and my legs decided they were made of Jell-O. Knox caught me before I could face-plant, his arms steady and warm and familiar in a way that made me want to scream.
“Don’t!” I shoved at him, but my strength was doing weird things, weak one second and then surging the next. I nearly sent him flying backward. “I can do it myself.”
“You can barely stand,” he said quietly, steadying himself with that inhuman grace I now recognized for what it was.
“I’ve been standing just fine for twenty-eight years without your help.”
“Your body’s adjusting to the bond. The strength fluctuations are normal.”
“Nothing about this is normal!” I snapped.
“Let me help-”
“I said no.” I took a determined step toward what I assumed was the bathroom, only to stumble again. And again, he was there, not touching but ready to catch me. “Fuck off, Knox. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“You need help. There’s a difference,” he said with infuriating calm. “I’m not leaving you to crack your skull on the bathroom floor.”
“From you? I’d rather crawl.”
“Then crawl,” he said, calling my bluff. “But I’m still following to make sure you don’t pass out.”
The worst part was that I actually considered it, just to spite him. But the twins were watching with worried faces, and I refused to let my anger at their father traumatize them more than this situation already had.
So I walked to the bathroom with as much dignity as I could muster, cursing him with every creative insult I could think of. “Arrogant wolfy bastard. Thinks he can just bite people and play hero. Probably gets off on the savior complex.”
“I can hear you,” he said mildly.
“Good. Maybe you’ll take the hint and fuck off to whatever cave you crawled out of.”
“It’s actually a very nice house,” he replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice. The audacity.
“I hope you get fleas.”
“Wolves don’t get fleas.”
“Well, you should. It would match your personality. Irritating and hard to get rid of.”
When I reached the bathroom, I slammed the door in his face with perhaps more force than necessary. The wood cracked. Fantastic. Now I was breaking doors.
“I’ll be right here if you fall,” he said through the door, and I could picture him leaning against the frame with that stupidly handsome concerned face.
“I hope you get splinters,” I muttered, turning on the shower.
I stripped with shaking hands, noting how my body looked the same but felt entirely different.
Every sensation was heightened, from the temperature of the air to the texture of my clothes.
The bathroom mirror showed the same face I’d always had, but something in my expression had changed. More aware. More alert.
Under the hot water, I could hear him breathing on the other side of the door.
Not creepy heavy breathing, just the normal inhale-exhale of someone standing guard.
I could hear Noah moving around in another room, the twins chattering to him about breakfast. I could smell coffee brewing, eggs cooking.
Worse, I could somehow sense that Knox was facing away from the door, giving me privacy even though we both knew he could probably hear everything. Perfect gentleman. I hated him.
So why did my traitorous body ache for his touch? Why did every cell scream that he was right there, just a door away, and all I had to do was call him? Whatever he’d done with that bite had tied us together in ways I didn’t understand and definitely didn’t want.
The water ran over the bite mark on my neck, and I shivered at the sensitivity. It didn’t hurt exactly, but touching it sent weird sparks through my system. Like my body recognized it as important. Special. Mine.
No. Not mine. His. His mark on my skin like I was property. Like he could just decide I belonged to him after years of nothing.
“Three days,” I whispered to myself under the spray, making it a promise, a mantra, a lifeline. “Just three days and we’re gone.”