Chapter 5 #2
“You wolves are all the same,” she went on. “So dramatic. So convinced you’re the tragic heroes of your own stories.” She glanced sideways at me. “I always did like you. You’re not as boring as everyone else in this pitiful town.”
I clenched my jaw, refusing to rise to her bait.
We walked in silence for a few paces. The street stretched ahead of us, quiet and deceptively calm. Evangeline hummed under her breath, a careless little tune, like this was a stroll and not an ambush.
After a few minutes, I sighed. “What do you want, Evangeline?”
“Nothing really. I’m just curious.” She gave another of her feral grins. “Are you back for good or is this just some drive-by heartbreak?”
I frowned. Was Evangeline fishing for information? And if so, why? Last I’d heard, she and Thorne were hardly friends. And I highly doubted that’d changed in the time I’d been gone. The St. Germains didn’t like anyone, let alone the Wolfes.
“That’s none of your business,” I grumbled.
She smiled. “True. But everything becomes my business eventually. Family perk.”
I stopped walking.
She took one more step before realizing I wasn’t following, then turned, brows lifting in mock innocence. “What?”
“You didn’t pull up beside me for small talk,” I said. “Say what you came to say, then piss off.”
Evangeline studied me for a long moment, head tilted, eyes sharp and amused. Then she shrugged, like she’d decided I wasn’t worth the effort of theatrics.
“Fair enough,” she said. “You want honesty? I wanted to see what kind of man came back.”
“Why do you care?” I demanded.
“Who says I do?”
“You wouldn’t be here harassing me if you didn’t.”
She hummed a response. “True. Or maybe I just want to see the kind of wolf Thorne thought was good enough for her. So far, I’ve gotta say, I’m not impressed.”
“For crying out loud,” I muttered. This was what I hated about small towns. Everyone stuck their noses in where they didn’t belong. Well, I wasn’t having it. Whatever games Evangeline was playing, I was done. I continued walking without giving her so much as a backward glance.
“Don’t you want to know what happened to your precious little Theodora?” Evangeline called out.
I jerked to a stop.
Slowly, I turned back and faced her. When she didn’t immediately continue, when she just stood there watching me with that annoyingly knowing smile, something dark stirred in my chest.
I stalked toward her, every instinct screaming for release as my wolf surged hot beneath my skin. “I’m about done with your games, vampire.”
She laughed. “Oh, that’s funny.”
“What is?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “You wouldn’t get the joke, so don’t worry about it.”
I wanted to wring her neck, but I restrained myself. “If you know what happened to Thorne,” I said, each word bitten off, “then tell me.”
“Oh, we all know,” she said. Then she waved a hand toward the street. “Every single person.”
My pulse thudded hard in my ears.
“Haven’t you wondered why everyone’s glaring at you? Judging you?” Another low laugh slipped past her lips. “I could tell you… for a price.”
“Start talking, Evangeline,” I snapped. Heat surged under my flesh, my bones aching as my wolf strained for the surface. I was a single breath away from losing control right here in the middle of Main Street.
Evangeline studied my face, really studied it, like she was deciding how much damage she felt like inflicting today.
Then she smiled, soft and wicked all at once.
“A vampire,” she said, “named Trystan.”
The name meant nothing to me, but the way she said it made my stomach drop.
“He didn’t just hurt her,” Evangeline continued, her tone maddeningly casual. “He—”
“Evangeline?” came a deep voice.
I whirled around with a snarl, only to find Lucien St. Germain walking toward us. For a split second, my brain barely registered him. I’d been this close to finally getting answers, only for another fucking St. Germain to stick his nose in.
I struggled for breath, my chest heaving and hands practically numb from clenching them so tightly. Whatever had happened to Thorne, the entire town knew. Evangeline had said so herself. Not just Thorne’s brothers. Everyone. And Evangeline was reveling in my ignorance, eager to use it as a weapon.
“Evangeline. What are you doing?” Lucien questioned.
His gaze darted to me. I wasn’t sure what he saw, but his expression hardened an instant before he spun on his sister.
“Relax, big brother. We were just talking and catching up. Weren’t we, Calder?”
Lucien’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie to me. Were you provoking him?”
“Who the fuck is Trystan?” I demanded, staring daggers at Lucien.
If possible, the vampire paled. Then he grabbed his sister by her jacket collar and hauled her away.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Lucien demanded.
I closed my eyes as he berated his little sister and focused on slowing my heart rate.
“You had no right…” Their voices faded away as Lucien dragged Evangeline back to her motorcycle.
Lucien’s words weren’t kind as he reprimanded her, not that Evangeline cared. She simply rolled her eyes, climbed onto her bike, and tore down the street with the engine roaring. Lucien quickly made his way back to me, his expression softer, but no less fierce.
He stopped a few feet in front of me and waited until I’d regained control before speaking.
“I’m sorry,” Lucien said at last. “My sister had no right to say that.”
The apology startled me enough that I actually looked at him.
“Evangeline enjoys cruelty,” Lucien said, unmoved by my reaction. “It is one of her less charming qualities.” He inclined his head a fraction. “My apologies.”
Then he turned, clearly intending to leave.
“Lucien, wait.” My voice came out rougher than I intended. “Wait. Thorne—”
He stopped without looking back.
“Allow me to spare you the embarrassment of finishing that sentence,” he said coolly.
Then he glanced at me over his shoulder, his expression unreadable.
“I will not tell you what happened to Thorne. It’s not my place, nor anyone else’s.
If she wants you to know, she will tell you herself.
Until then, you will get nothing from me. ”
My jaw tightened.
Lucien broke eye contact with me for a brief moment to adjust his cufflinks, then met my gaze again. “Now, I need you to hear this next part, because it’s the only one that matters.”
I waited, my jaw aching from clenching it so hard.
“You are not to confront her,” he said. “You will not demand answers from her. And you will not make this about your need for closure—”
“I need to know,” I snapped, stepping forward before I could stop myself. “What happened to her—”
Anger flashed in Lucien’s eyes. “You don’t need a damn thing,” he hissed.
He took a moment and composed himself. “What you need is irrelevant. This is about what she needs. When Thorne is ready—if she is ever ready—she will come to you. Forcing her to relive her trauma before she is ready helps no one, and doing so would just further prove your selfishness.”
He paused, just long enough for the weight of it to settle. “The last thing she needs is her ex-husband—”
“Just husband,” I corrected automatically.
Lucien’s gaze narrowed, and he lifted his voice above mine.
“—pressuring her into talking about something before she’s ready,” Lucien continued. “So, I don’t care how badly you want to know. You will wait.”
I stared at him, stunned beyond words. Lucien St. Germain… cared about Thorne? Since when? Five years ago, that would’ve been unthinkable. The St. Germains and the Wolfes had been feuding for so long no one remembered how it started. And yet here he was, drawing a line in the sand to protect her.
What the hell had happened in this town while I’d been gone?
Lucien held my gaze, utterly unmoved, as he waited for my reply.
“I won’t hurt her,” I forced out through gritted teeth.
“Good,” he replied without hesitation. “Then I won’t have to hurt you.” He studied me for another long moment, then exhaled quietly. “If you intend to stay in Eternity Falls, tread carefully. Not just for her sake. For yours.”
With that, he walked away. I stood there long after he was gone, my wolf restless and my heart heavy.
Clearly, Thorne had survived something monstrous. Something the entire town knew about. I hated not knowing. Hated that Lucien had stepped into a role that didn’t belong to him. Hated that there was now one more dominant presence orbiting her life.
But… he wasn’t wrong.
My needs didn’t matter.
I’d returned to Eternity Falls for two specific reasons.
One, to complete a job, and two, to reconcile with my wife.
I knew it’d be hard. But I’d underestimated exactly how hard.
I’d intended to focus on the task first, complete the job and cut ties with Evander.
But the second I’d crossed back into town, my wolf had stirred in a way I hadn’t felt in half a decade.
And once I’d caught her scent—wild and familiar, and painfully hers—I knew I had to see her.
I hadn’t been sure what to expect. Hurt, definitely.
Angry, of course. But not vulnerable. Not broken.
And those scars… I couldn’t scrub the image from my mind.
Everything that had happened to her had happened while I was gone.
I’d been half a world away telling myself I’d made the right choice to leave, that I was protecting her.
My wolf bristled deep in my chest, not with rage this time, but with something colder.
If I’d been here, would it still have happened? Or would I have been able to stop it?
As much as I hated to admit it, Lucien was right. This was about her and what she needed.
I needed to give her space, even if it gutted me to do it.