Chapter 7
Fires dotted the clearing, each pack gathered close to their own.
The camps were set, laughter and low voices carried on the night air, and every wolf seemed at ease.
Evelyne, too, felt herself settle into the warmth of it.
This—this was the life she had always craved.
Freedom to run wild without reprimand. Freedom to drink ale without hearing it wasn’t “ladylike.” Freedom to love whom she chose, not who was chosen for her.
It was not that Alaric would have been a poor match; she had no doubt they might have fared well enough, content in the life laid out before them.
Yet, in hindsight, she saw she would never have known true passion.
Certainly nothing approaching what she felt for Kaldrek.
She prayed Alaric would one day meet someone who inspired such devotion in him. He deserved that kind of happiness.
Heidara leaned against her on a smooth rock, the steady warmth of her weight resting at Evelyne’s side.
Across the clearing, Holden and Kaldrek sat with Coren, trading stories.
Coren spoke of the time Moonshade had spent hidden along Centaro’s western cliffs, where sea winds battered the stone and they waited out the spread of the Noskari.
They had even considered crossing the sea into the western territories, but when word reached them of Vaelora’s fall, they emerged at last in search of survivors.
Glaciermaw and Ironwolf had been the first packs they met on the road home.
That, at least, was what Evelyne gathered through Kaldrek’s translation, with her sharpened hearing filling in the rest. Frustration coiled in her chest. While the others had suffered under Vaelora, Moonshade had hidden in the west.
Why did they not fight? Why appear now, when the worst is already over?
Kaldrek’s reply eased the sharp edge of her anger.
Moonshade had always intended to seek out the remaining packs and join the hunt against the Noskari.
Ravena was not shirking responsibility. She was…
lost. Broken enough to need time to recover, to gather her strength and shape some kind of plan before returning.
He hesitated, then added, And she will not lose another child to the darkness.
Evelyne froze. “Another child?” she whispered, mostly to herself.
“They have three,” Heidara said softly. “Or… they had three. Drae is the youngest, barely fifteen. Beau is the eldest.” She hesitated, as though memory weighed heavily on her tongue.
“A fierce fighter, that one. Both he and Drae favor their sister, Kira, all bronze skin and midnight hair, with faces one does not easily forget.” Her voice dimmed. “All of them… beautiful.”
“You know them well?” Evelyne asked.
“I knew one very well,” Heidara said, her eyes shifting aside. “At least, I was under the impression I did.” A slight frown curved her mouth.
Evelyne recognized that look. The shadow of a long-lost love, perhaps even a first love, the kind that ended in tragedy. She had never pressed Heidara before, though part of her wanted to now.
Movement across the clearing caught Evelyne’s eye. Alaric lowered himself into the grass near Kaldrek, his face set in blank, unreadable stillness. He looked as though he sat there only because courtesy required it. The warmth and easy charm that once clung to him were nowhere to be found.
Kaldrek gave him only a passing glance before returning his attention to Holden and Coren, seemingly untroubled by the silence at his back. Evelyne, however, could not look away, especially not from the emptiness in Alaric’s eyes.
“Shit,” Heidara muttered beside her, pulling Evelyne from her thoughts.
She followed Heidara’s gaze to the tall, bare-chested male crossing the clearing toward Coren, black hair falling loose and a dangerously disarming smile on his lips.
Heidara’s hand closed tightly around hers.
When Evelyne glanced at her, she caught the nervous press of teeth to lip before Heidara looked back at him.
Bronze-skinned, broad-shouldered, and strikingly handsome, he carried a presence that seemed to claim the space around him.
Coren rose to meet him and drew him into an embrace. His eldest son.
“Beau.” Heidara breathed the name as if she scarcely trusted it to belong to the man before her.
Evelyne felt the tension coiling off her friend and slid a steadying hand over hers. “Walk with me?” she murmured.
Heidara gave a small nod, but before they could step away, Beau’s voice cut across the space.
“Heidara!”
He broke away from his father and came straight toward her, nearly running. Heidara went still, and Evelyne tightened her hold on her arm to keep her steady.
“Yes, Beau?” Heidara said at last, her voice sharp.
He blinked. “Really? Just ‘Yes, Beau’? Not even a ‘Hello, Beau,’ or an ‘It’s nice to see you, Beau’?” His smile slipped as he reached for some warmth in her.
Her jaw set. “You knew I’d be here. Why pretend to be surprised?”
Beau stopped only a breath away, his voice softening. “Of course I knew. I was looking for you. I just didn’t realize you were standing here beside my father. So yes, Heid, I was surprised.”
He started to pull her into a hug, but Heidara recoiled at once, wrenching her arm free of Evelyne’s grasp and folding both arms across her chest like a shield. Evelyne let go immediately. One look at Heidara was enough to know her temper was hanging by a thread.
“Why, exactly, would you be looking for me, Beau?” she hissed.
His answer came too smoothly. “Because I would never pass up the chance to see your beautiful face.”
Heidara released a sharp, humorless laugh. “Where’s your mate?”
The question wiped the smile clean off Beau’s face. His lips pressed together, his gaze dropping to the ground. “Heidara…” He scratched the back of his head, visibly unsettled. “Could we speak somewhere private?”
“I doubt your mate would appreciate you sneaking off with a former lover,” she said coolly. “So where is she?”
Beau cleared his throat. “She wasn’t my mate,” he murmured.
“What!” The word tore from Heidara like a battle cry.
Evelyne flinched, feeling like an intruder in a storm she couldn’t calm.
A little help would be nice, she sent toward Kaldrek.
Not a chance. This is too entertaining, came his dry reply.
Beau gave a weak laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s actually a funny story. Luanna wasn’t really my mate after all.”
Amusement dripped from Kaldrek’s tone. I cannot wait to watch Heidara—
CRACK! Heidara’s fist collided with Beau’s jaw, snapping his head to the side.
Alaric looked up at that, but didn’t move from his sitting position.
“Damn it, Heidara!” Holden’s shout rang out as a group of wolves drifted toward them.
Heidara jabbed a finger at her brother, fury blazing in her eyes.
“You knew. You knew he wasn’t mated—and you let me believe he was.
” Her hand dragged down her face as her voice fractured.
“You listened to me cry myself to sleep after he left. How did I miss it? How did I not see?” She stared at the ground, her breath hitching.
“Gods. I was so wrapped up in foolish, childish heartbreak that I didn’t even—”
A brittle laugh slipped out, one Evelyne recognized at once. The kind born of humiliation, not humor.
Holden’s voice was low, almost pleading. “You were sixteen, Heidara. Caught up in what you thought was love. I did what I believed was best for you.”
But the damage was done. Evelyne watched the betrayal carve itself across Heidara’s face. She stepped back from her brother, shaking her head as if she no longer knew him, then turned away from them all.
“Oh, come on. You cannot truly believe it would have ended in some fairy-tale happily ever after,” Holden pressed.
That was enough. Evelyne stepped in at once, sliding a steadying hand along Heidara’s back. “Holden, stop. Step away.” Her eyes flicked to Kaldrek with silent urgency. Get him out of here. Now.
Beau lowered a hand from his bruised jaw, hesitation creeping into his voice. “Heidara, please. Can we talk?”
Heidara met his stare with a coldness so absolute it sent a sharp pulse of alarm through Evelyne. Fury, at least, burned hot and reckless. This was something far more dangerous. She knew, with sudden certainty, that Heidara was about to put every man present firmly in his place.
“There was a time,” Heidara said evenly, “when I thought seeing your face was the best part of any day. I dreamed of your smile, your touch, even the feel of your body beside mine.” Her gaze traveled over him with slow, merciless care.
“I thought it meant something. But I was young enough then to mistake beauty for substance.” A bitter smile touched her mouth.
“You looked like a dream, Beau, but beneath all that charm was nothing solid enough to hold.”
She straightened.
“I am not that foolish girl anymore. I have grown. I know who I am. And you…” Her expression hardened.
“You have not changed at all. You are still exactly what you were. Lovely to look at, and empty beneath it.” Her voice turned colder still.
“Once, you gave me butterflies. Now that feels like a child’s affliction.
I want more than sweetness. More than pretty words and an easy smile.
I want a man who can stir fire in me.” Her eyes shifted briefly toward Alaric.
“And that man was never you. So no. We have nothing to say to each other.”
Heidara’s attention snapped to Holden.
“A lie from a brother cuts deeper than the betrayal of a first love. Do not speak to me again until you’re worthy of my time.” With that, she looped her arm through Evelyne’s and whispered, “I’m ready for our walk.”
Evelyne looked to Kaldrek, who gave a small nod of understanding, then winked before returning to Coren.
Still seated, horn full of ale in hand, Coren wore an expression of pure amusement, as if he had expected this quarrel and relished seeing his son bested by a female.
Evelyne found herself liking him instantly.
***
Evelyne walked at Heidara’s side, weaving quietly through the rows of tents now sheltering three wolf packs.
Warriors chatted easily among themselves, scouts posted on the perimeter, their protection more than secure.
Even so, Evelyne couldn’t quite shake the shiver that came whenever she thought of straying too far and falling prey to the walkers of the night.
The silence broke when Heidara snapped, “What an utter dog. Though, considering we are wolves, perhaps that is not the insult I mean it to be.” She began to pace, anger pouring off her in waves.
“I cannot believe Beau lied to me for all this time. And my brother…” She groaned.
“Which means Kaldrek knew as well. I should have realized. One can smell a mating bond, for heaven’s sake.
But I was so furious over the things he said that it never occurred to me to test the scent.
Not that I truly understood any of it back then… ”
Evelyne stayed quiet, watching her friend spill every thought as though arguing aloud with herself.
Heidara dragged a hand through her hair. “As much as I want to hate him for saying it, Holden was right. I was only sixteen when I fell for Beau, and he was never good for me.”
“He does not strike me as a man worthy of you, but keeping the truth from you was no kindness,” Evelyne said softly.
A faint, wry smile touched Heidara’s mouth. “I was stubborn then. Holden likely knew I would have fought him every step of the way to stay with Beau. But you are right. That still does not excuse what he did.”
“Might I ask what transpired between you and Beau?”
Heidara’s smile faltered, turning wistful. “Beau was sweet. He made me feel… pretty. And that’s all a girl really wants at sixteen, isn’t it?” She let out a dry laugh. “Pathetic, I know. But I was young, and—well, you saw him.”
Evelyne had seen him. And she understood. Any girl basking in Beau’s attention might have melted.
Heidara’s voice went cold. “I gave myself to him. I was foolish enough to believe he loved me. By the next day, he was telling me he’d found his mate and that whatever was between us was done. Then he left with his pack.” Her brows pinched, fury bright in her eyes.
Evelyne felt sick. What a wretch. “He deserved that punch,” she hissed.
“He did,” Heidara said, hatred flashing. “And my brother deserves one too.”
Indeed, Evelyne knew too well the sting of secrecy and betrayal, and how the truths kept hidden often cut the deepest. When they finally came to light, the shame and hurt could be crushing. In that, she understood Heidara’s pain completely.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
Heidara shrugged. “Consider it my lesson in how rotten men can be, and how easily they prey on a girl’s heart.”
“Would you like me to give Holden a well-placed blow?” Evelyne said with a smile, though she half meant it. “Not that you couldn’t do it yourself. Beau will be sore for days, even with shifter healing.”
Heidara barked a laugh. “I did get him good, didn’t I?”
“I think Coren enjoyed the show.” Evelyne grinned.
“Oh, gods.” Heidara clapped a hand over her mouth, snorting, and the two dissolved into laughter as they made their way back to retire for the evening.