Chapter 14
ROWAN
The bond hums low and steady between Cade and me, like a second heartbeat that finally found where it belongs. Every shift of his weight, every subtle tightening of his shoulders, brushes against my awareness.
He’s already moving back into Alpha mode.
Not distant or closed off.
Just…expanded.
Like his world returned overnight, and now he’s stepping fully into it.
Elias moves forward from the tree line once the elders are gone, his posture straight, expression carefully neutral, and the respect in his gaze as he looks at Cade isn’t subtle.
Cade turns toward him, their shoulders nearly touching as they start speaking in low voices. Strategy, status, pack check-ins. The things an alpha and his beta do without thinking about it.
I watch them for a second longer than I mean to.
Pride flares through the bond, warm and sharp and entirely mine.
Then Cade glances back at me. Just once. But it’s enough.
Elias loses him in that second, and my mate’s arms are wrapped around my waist in the next. “I didn’t mean to ignore you.”
I smile against his chest. “You didn’t. I enjoy watching you work.”
He holds me tighter, and I soak in the connection before finally adding, “I should go see my mom.”
“Do you want me to come with you, or would you prefer some alone time with her?”
I love that he gives me the choice to keep his support close.
“You stay and work,” I tell him. “I’ll find you when I’m done.”
His shoulders ease a fraction. “Not if I find you first.”
Gods, I love him.
The thought takes me back for the briefest of seconds. I hadn’t thought my feelings were there yet, but the moment I think the words, I know they’re true. Hell, I’ve probably loved him for weeks now. We just haven’t had a moment to settle into the depth of it all.
He holds me tighter and kisses the top of my head, lingering like he’s marking me once again, but also like he knows what I’m thinking.
I’m pretty sure I’m not mind speaking every little thing to him…
“Enjoy the time with your mom.” He releases me with reluctance. “Tell her I look forward to getting to know her.”
I chuckle. “Already trying to kiss her ass? Smart man.”
He shrugs and goes back to Elias, and I leave with a full heart and a wide smile as I head back inside NightShade.
The manor doors open before I reach them, like the house recognizes intent as easily as it does blood.
Inside, the air smells faintly like herbs, antiseptic, and something older—magic settled deep into stone and wood and bone. Something I hadn’t really noticed before.
My steps slow as I move down the hallway toward the medical room.
Fear presses in quietly.
Not sharp. Not panicked.
More…fragile.
Because my mom’s alive and she’s still healing.
And I don’t have to lose her again. At least not anytime soon.
My steps quicken, and as I round the corner toward her room, I come to a full stop.
I swear my heart just might explode.
Because Archie is curled in the center of Jocelyn’s bed like he’s always belonged there, watching over her.
His tail flicks lazily when he sees me, as if he’s been expecting me to show up eventually, but hasn’t minded waiting.
My chest tightens. “Hey,” I murmur.
Archie stretches, long and dramatic, then settles back down against Mom’s hip like he’s now officially responsible for guarding her.
Typical.
Mom turns her head slowly toward me. She looks better than she did last night. Still pale and thin, but there’s life in her eyes now. Real awareness.
“Rowan,” she says softly.
The sound of my name in her voice hits like a physical thing. I cross the room in three quick steps and stop beside the bed, afraid to touch her too hard or fast, like she might still break.
“You’re awake,” I say, brilliantly.
She huffs a weak laugh. “Observant. Just like your father.”
“I told you, she takes after me.” Dad stands on the far side of the bed, one hand resting on the mattress near her shoulder, like he’s anchored himself there and has no intention of moving.
His eyes lift to mine, and something deep and relieved moves through them.
“She’s doing great,” he says quietly.
The words settle just as hard as I expect them to.
I nod once, because if I try to talk, I might cry, and I promised myself I wouldn’t walk in here and make this about my feelings.
Mom watches the exchange, but doesn’t comment on it. “As you can see, I haven’t been alone. Archie’s been supervising while Marius hovers. Clearly, not much has changed in three decades.”
Archie makes a small, offended sound. “I came on Rowan’s behalf,” he says to her. “Though I stayed because life got rather depressing without you. I needed to be sure we weren’t going back there again. Not sure I could handle more of sad Rowan.”
I snort, the sound surprising even me.
“Traitor,” I tell him with a growl. “You love me in all my versions.”
He looks at me, completely unafraid. “Maybe. Do you really want to find out, though?”
Fair.
Mom’s lips twitch, and gods, the way I missed that expression…
My dad exhales slowly, then straightens. “We should give you two some time.”
Mom looks like she might argue, then she looks at me, and she nods.
“Don’t go far,” she tells him.
“Never,” he says, like it’s a vow instead of a promise.
He steps around the bed, pausing beside me long enough to squeeze my shoulder once—solid, grounding, father and daughter without needing words.
Archie stays exactly where he is.
Watching and waiting.
Marius reaches the door, glancing back once more before stepping into the hall, like he’s waiting for my little furball to join him.
Only Archie isn’t quite ready. He looks between me and Jocelyn, then makes his way toward me, climbing up my side until he reaches my shoulder.
“I knew if you couldn’t be here,” he says, low enough only I can hear, “you’d want someone else to be.”
My throat tightens.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
I haven’t paid much attention to him as of late, and I don’t feel as though I deserve his kindness, but I appreciate it, nonetheless.
He flicks his tail and raises his voice. “Also, she tried to feed me vegetables earlier. Watch out.”
I choke on a laugh.
“Rude,” Mom says faintly from the bed.
Archie makes his way back down to the ground and joins Marius, who glances back once, eyes sharp and knowing, before finally closing the door behind them.
And for the first time in over a year…
It’s just me and my mom.
For a second, neither of us speaks, then I can’t stop myself anymore.
I lean forward carefully, wrapping my arms around her shoulders, still terrified I might hurt her if I hold too tight.
“Mom.”
Her breath stutters like the word physically lands somewhere deep inside her. Her hand lifts—slow and shaky—but it’s enough.
She smells like the herbs and magic of NightShade, and something underneath that’s still perfectly home.
Her hand presses weakly into my back.
And that’s all it takes.
Tears slip free from me, silent and hot, soaking into her shoulder.
“I’ve got you,” she murmurs, voice rough but steady. “I’ve got you, baby girl.”
I breathe her in like I might forget how if I stop.
After a moment, I force myself to pull back, hands still wrapped around hers, searching her face like I’m trying to memorize every inch all over again.
“Are you really okay?” I ask, the words coming out quieter than I mean them to. “Like really okay?”
She watches me for a long second.
“I am now,” she says softly. “But I’ll be honest, there was a long time that I didn’t think I would be.”
My stomach tightens.
“I’m so sorry, Mom.” I squeeze her fingers tighter than I mean to. “If I’d known that he had…”
She shakes her head. “This wasn’t on you.
It was on me for not preparing you for this world, but mostly, the only person we have to blame is Malrik.
He took so much more than pieces of me when he made you believe I was dead, but none of that matters now.
You found me and we know what we’re fighting against.”
Her voice is steady in that way that tells me she’s already made peace with saying it out loud.
I don’t breathe as I take in those missing pieces, though.
“But he stole parts of you that you can’t get back.”
She nods, her brow deepening. “We might as well get this all out now, but only because I need you to find a way to be okay with it.” She places a hand lightly over her stomach. “He also took a few organs.”
The words are said so simply, like she’s talking about something minor and forgettable, but they land like a blade sliding between my ribs.
For a second, I can’t breathe.
My gaze drops to where her hand rests, my mind trying—and failing—to reconcile the image of someone carving pieces out of her with the woman sitting in front of me now, steady and whole. A sick, hollow feeling spreads through my chest, followed quickly by something hotter, sharper.
Rage.
It claws up my throat, violent and immediate, demanding release.
I want to tear him apart. I want to make him feel even a fraction of what she must have endured.
I want—
No.
I clamp down on it, forcing the fury back before it can take root and consume me. Losing control won’t help her. It won’t change what’s already been done.
But it doesn’t dull the promise that settles deep in my bones.
Malrik will answer for this.
Still, I find a way to keep myself grounded as she continues.
“It wasn’t all at once,” Mom adds, “and never enough that I thought he was trying to kill me. But it was clear he was using me to get to you in more than one way.”
Rage detonates once more inside my chest, bright and violent and immediate, and I can’t stop the rumble in my chest. “What do you mean?”
“I heard him sometimes,” she admits. “He took my DNA to see if your power was inside mine since I carried you for nine months. When that failed with body parts, he went inside, going for my uterus and that area.” She swallows hard, the memory still too much, but she pushes through.
“He found what he was looking for, I think.”
I’m on my way.
Cade’s voice makes me jump again.
No, I tell him. I need to finish this conversation with my mom. I’ll fill you in when I’m done.
Okay.
I feel his presence leave my mind, but not in my chest. Whatever fury was close to consuming me, it’s no longer just mine to carry. He’s there, in my heart, not only holding some of that weight, but sending me strength.
I can handle this. For Mom and for me.
“What do you think he was looking for?” I ask her, the words calm and focused.
She grins. “Cade was just in your head, wasn’t he?
” A single tear falls down her face. “I thought I’d be taking that away from your father if I stayed.
That bond and connection. I might not be a true supernatural, but even back then, I understood what he’d lose if I didn’t leave or let him come with me. ”
“I think he lost that anyway.” My words are soft, but honest, because she needs to believe now that they’re better off together.
“Me too.” She swipes at her cheek. “Back to Malrik. If I pieced everything together correctly, he needed some of your energy to do something. I’m not sure what.
Once he seemed to have it, he put me in that shield, and I don’t remember much after, but I do know he spelled it to specifically withstand your power. ”
I’ve never hated that bastard more.
But now, I also wonder what other tricks he might have conjured by using my mother. Though, that’s not her problem to worry about right now.
“He won’t ever get that chance again,” I say, failing to keep all my anger out of my words as I add, “I’m going to make sure he never touches you—or anyone I love—again.”
Her fingers tighten around mine, surprising me with her strength.
“Hey,” she says softly. “Easy, baby girl.”
I shake my head. “I’m okay.”
“Rowan.”
The way she says my name takes me by surprise, but in the best way.
It’s my mom.
She’s here and she’s alive.
“He wants you angry,” she says firmly. “He wants you reckless. That’s how he wins.”
I swallow hard. “I know. I won’t rush into anything blindly or alone. I promise.”
“Good.” Only then does her gaze soften. “Now, how are you? You’re bonded with Cade now, I assume?”
The question hits me sideways.
Mostly because it feels wrong to also be filled with this amount of joy after what’s just been revealed.
You can be both raging and in love at the same time, Wolf points out.
I can’t help the grin. I’ve grown so used to her presence that I often forget she’s listening all the time.
“Outside of hating what you went through,” I say sheepishly.
“I’m better than I ever thought I could be.
I found all the things I didn’t think I’d ever have after I lost you.
” I laugh lightly. “And a few things I couldn’t have imagined, but coming here, finding Cade, learning what Archie really is, meeting Dad, learning about my wolf?
It was more than I thought I could process, but I wouldn’t have it any other way now. ”
Her mouth trembles, confusing the hell out of me.
“I’m sorry, Rowan,” she says suddenly. “For never telling you about this part of my life. For leaving you unprepared. Even when I believed I was sick, I thought a million times to tell you or, at the very least, to write you a letter, but I think even then Malrik was dictating my decisions. I could never follow through.”
I shake my head, hugging her once more.
“You need to know I was never angry with you,” I tell her, staring hard into her eyes. “I knew that there was a reason you would have kept this from me, and I get it. If I’d never been forced to come to NightShade, I’d never have been blown up—”
Her eyes bulge. “You were blown up?!”
I wave a hand and laugh. “It was totally fine. I don’t remember dying.” She shakes her head as I continue. “If none of that had happened, I may never have met Cade or Iris or Liz or Dad, and I can’t imagine a life without all of them in it now.”
Her eyes fill again.
“I promise,” I say sincerely, “especially now that you’re here with us, I have no lingering anger, and I certainly don’t have regrets.”
The door opens behind me.
“You better not,” Iris says, striding into the room like it owes her something.
I glance over my shoulder, rolling my eyes lightly.
She stops when she sees us, expression softening for exactly half a second before she schools it back into normal Iris.
“Regret is just guilt wearing a fake mustache,” she says firmly. “And guilt is useless unless it’s actively helping you commit a crime.”
I stare at her, as does Mom at me. Neither of us able to form a response.
Iris nods once, seemingly satisfied with herself.
“Anyway,” she adds, pointing vaguely at Jocelyn, “you look better than the last time I saw you, which is good. It took hours to stabilize you, and I’m not emotionally prepared to do that again today.”
Mom lets out a weak laugh.
And just like that, the room feels lighter.
Everything really is going to be okay.
It doesn’t matter what Malrik wants or what he has planned.
Hell, I could even thank him.
He’s given me everything I could have dreamed of and then some.