Chapter 24
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Knox
I returned to Noah’s house feeling like death warmed over. The past twenty-four hours had been a special kind of hell that started with Mary Thorne and ended with blood on my hands from a rogue attack. My wolf had been snarling since yesterday, hating every second away from our mate and pups.
The forced date at the pack restaurant had been torture.
Two hours of Mary talking about her family’s achievements, her education, her plans for “our” future while I counted ceiling tiles and thought about Lina.
Every word out of Mary’s mouth had grated against my nerves until I’d wanted to flip the table and run.
She’d ordered for me, touched my hand repeatedly despite my pulling away, and acted as if we were already mated.
The other pack members in the restaurant had watched with interest, some approving, others skeptical.
Mary had played to her audience perfectly, the devoted future Luna making her claim public.
Then the emergency message had come through.
Rogues on the eastern border, multiple casualties already.
I’d never been so grateful for an attack in my life.
I’d left Mary mid-sentence about wedding venues and spent the rest of the night and most of today hunting down feral rogues with Noah and our patrol teams.
The rogues had been organized, too organized for typical ferals.
They’d hit three patrol points simultaneously, testing our defenses.
We’d lost two pack members before we could mount a proper defense.
Good wolves with families who’d never see them come home.
The guilt of that sat on my shoulders along with everything else.
Noah had fought beside me, neither of us speaking beyond tactical necessities.
The distance between us hurt almost as much as the rejection from Lina.
My brother, who’d always had my back, could barely look at me anymore.
Not that I blamed him. I’d thrown away everything he’d ever wanted while he watched the only family he had left self-destruct.
Now, approaching his house with blood still under my fingernails and exhaustion weighing down my bones, all I wanted was to see Lina. To make sure she and the twins were safe. To maybe catch a glimpse of my family even if they still hated me.
The moment we got close, Mary’s scent hit us both.
“Fuck,” Noah muttered, stopping mid-stride. “She was here.”
My wolf surged forward, ready to tear apart anyone who’d threatened our mate. I forced him back, but barely. Mary had been in the same house as Lina and our cubs. The implications made my vision blur red at the edges.
Inside, the damage was minimal but telling.
One of Noah’s coffee tables lay in pieces, wood scattered across the living room floor.
Otherwise, the house seemed intact. The twins were watching cartoons, seemingly unbothered by whatever had happened.
Lina sat rigid on the couch, her posture screaming tension.
The second we entered, the twins abandoned their show.
“Uncle Noah!” Thea launched herself at my brother’s legs with the enthusiasm only a four-year-old could muster. “Mama said you were working!”
Noah caught her easily, swinging her up. “I was, little wolf. Did you have fun today?”
The ease with which my brother handled the twins shouldn’t have surprised me.
Noah had always been good with pups, even as kids ourselves.
He’d been the one who helped with the younger pack members, teaching them games and telling them stories.
The pack mothers used to joke he’d make a better parent than most of them.
Now he was lavishing all that natural affinity on my children, being the uncle I’d robbed them of having from birth.
Rowan hung back, studying me with those gray eyes that were so much like looking in a mirror. He didn’t rush forward for hugs, just watched me with an intensity that belonged on someone much older.
“Hi,” I said quietly, not sure what else to offer.
“Hi,” he replied, then went back to his show.
Lina’s eyes found mine across the room, and the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. The warmth she’d shown our children vanished the moment she looked at me, replaced by arctic fury that made my chest tight.
“Kids, want to see my comic collection upstairs?” Noah asked with forced brightness, already recognizing the brewing storm. “I’ve got some new ones about wolves.”
“Real wolves or cartoon wolves?” Thea asked suspiciously.
“Both,” Noah promised, already herding them toward the stairs. “Come on, I’ll let you pick which one to read first.”
They went willingly, though Rowan glanced back once, his expression unreadable. Smart kid. He knew tension when he felt it.
The second their footsteps faded upstairs, Lina stood and walked to the kitchen without a word. I followed, dread pooling in my stomach with each step. The broken table, Mary’s scent, Lina’s rigid spine, it all painted a picture I didn’t want to see.
She stopped at the sink, gripping the edge with white knuckles, her back to me. The silence stretched between us until I thought I might go insane from it. I could hear her heartbeat, too fast, smell the lingering traces of adrenaline and fear and rage on her skin.
Finally, she spoke, her voice conversational in a way that made every instinct scream danger.
“How was your date? Mary said you two had quite the evening.”
The words landed like physical blows. Mary had come here. She’d confronted my mate. She’d spun her web of lies exactly as I should have expected.
“Whatever she told you-” I started.
“Was very detailed,” Lina cut me off, voice cold enough to freeze blood. About your dinner preferences. About what came after. I’m glad you’re having fun while we’re prisoners here.”
“It was a lie.” The words tumbled out desperately. “The date was political theater, nothing more. The council arranged it. I spent two hours listening to her talk, then we had a rogue attack that kept us out all night-”
“I don’t care.” She turned to face me, and my breath caught.
There was a bruise on her jaw, already fading thanks to the bite’s healing properties, but unmistakably there. A cut on her lip. Scratches on her arms. Mary hadn’t just come here to talk. She’d attacked my mate. In front of our children.
My vision went red. The wolf surged forward, ready to hunt Mary down and show her exactly what happened to anyone who touched what was mine. Only Lina’s voice pulled me back.
“I told you this place wasn’t safe,” she continued, apparently oblivious to my internal battle. “Your psycho girlfriend proved that when she forced her way in here and attacked me in front of my children. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” I forced the words through gritted teeth, fighting for control. “She’s nothing to me. You can’t go-”
“Watch me.” Her laugh was bitter. “And when your parents arrive next week to ‘eat humans for breakfast’ as she so colorfully put it, we’ll be long gone.”
I froze. Mary had told her everything. The manipulative bitch knew exactly which buttons to push, which fears to exploit. My parents’ reputation preceded them, and Mary had wielded it like a weapon.
“Lina, please. I won’t let my parents hurt any of you. And Mary…”
“Wants me to leave you alone so you can go back to fucking her,” Lina interrupted, and for the first time, her voice cracked slightly. “Don’t worry, I plan to-”
She swayed suddenly, one hand going to her temple. Blood dripped from her nose, bright red against her pale skin.
I caught her before she could hit the floor, scooping her into my arms despite her weak protests. Her body felt too light, too fragile, and my wolf whined at the evidence of our mate’s distress.
“The bond’s still settling,” I explained, carrying her back to the couch. “You’re pushing too hard.”
“Don’t,” she tried to pull away, but her strength was gone.
“Shut up and let me help.” I settled her on the couch, then grabbed tissues from the side table.
The medical knowledge every Alpha was required to learn kicked in as I assessed her condition.
“You’re hemorrhaging because the bite’s still integrating with your system.
Fighting while your body’s still adjusting? That’s what causes this.”
I tilted her head back gently, pressing the tissue to her nose despite her attempts to bat my hands away.
She was too weak to put up much resistance, which worried me more than I’d admit.
The bond should have made her stronger by now, but the stress and physical altercation had set back her progress.
“Mary’s a trained wolf,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm while rage still simmered under my skin. “You could have been seriously hurt. She knows exactly how to fight, where to hit to cause maximum damage.”
“I held my own,” she said with a hint of pride that made me want to smile despite everything.
“I’m sure you did.” I maintained pressure on the tissue, monitoring the bleeding. “But you need more time to heal before you can travel. Your body’s still learning how to handle the enhancements. The strength, the healing, the sensory changes, it all takes time to integrate properly.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” I sat beside her on the couch, close enough to help but far enough that she wouldn’t feel trapped. “You can’t travel like this. You could hemorrhage again, worse next time. The bond needs at least another week to fully integrate. Maybe more given the stress you’re under.”
“So your parents can arrive and actually evaluate if we’re worth keeping around or better off as dinner?”
The fear in her voice, buried under sarcasm but there nonetheless, made my chest ache. My parents’ reputation wasn’t exaggerated. They were old school wolves who believed in pack purity and strength above all else. The thought of them near Lina and the twins made my protective instincts roar.
“They won’t touch any of you. I’ll make sure of it.”
I watched the bleeding slow, grateful for the bond’s healing properties even as I cursed the complications it brought. “Whatever Mary told you happened last night, we didn’t sleep together. We’ve never slept together. I can barely stand to be in the same room as her.”
Lina looked away. “I don’t care what you do with her.”
“Then why did you fight her?”
She was quiet for so long I thought she wouldn’t answer. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft but fierce. “Because she called my children mongrels.”
Rage filled my body so fast I had to close my eyes to keep from shifting. Mary had called my cubs mongrels. Had insulted them to their mother’s face. Had made them cry, based on the scent of tears I could detect on Lina’s shirt.
“She’s dead,” I growled, my voice dropping to a register that wasn’t quite human. “I’ll fucking kill her for this.”
“No.” Lina’s hand touched mine briefly before pulling back. “No more violence. I just... I want to leave.”
I forced my wolf back, made myself focus on what mattered. Lina. The twins. Keeping them safe even if they hated me.
“We’ll stay until I’m healed enough to travel,” she said finally, exhaustion clear in every word. “But I don’t want to see you. Don’t sleep in the house. Don’t talk to me. Just... stay away.”
Each word cut deeper than any claw could. She was setting boundaries, building walls between us that felt insurmountable.
“If that’s what you need,” I said quietly, standing up. The tissue was soaked through but the bleeding had stopped. “I’ll sleep elsewhere. But I can’t guarantee I’ll stay away from you, Lina. I’m not giving up on us.”
She closed her eyes, leaning back against the couch. “There is no us, Knox. There never was.”
I wanted to argue, to remind her of that night when there had definitely been an us. When she’d called me mate and meant it. When we’d created two perfect children who carried both our scents. When she’d trusted me with everything and I’d thrown it away like a coward.
Instead, I headed for the door, pausing at the threshold. “I’ll have Noah check on you later. Make sure the bleeding’s fully stopped.”
“I don’t need-”
“Please.” I turned back, letting her see everything I couldn’t say. The desperation, the love, the self-hatred for hurting her. “Just let him help. For the twins’ sake if not yours.”
She nodded once, barely perceptible.
I left before I could do something stupid like drop to my knees and beg.
I would definitely do that, but not right now.
She would certainly kick my ass if I tried to do so now.
My wolf howled at leaving our injured mate, at walking away when every instinct demanded I stay and protect.
But she’d asked me to go. And today, I’d respect her wishes.