Chapter 16 - Mason
It’d been a sleepless night, too wired to sit down and settle.
After I’d broken down, I’d scraped myself off the ground and gone to the old stack of pictures I kept upstairs in my former room.
As per custom, I had moved into my father’s old room following his death when I was eighteen, but my childhood bedroom was the storage space I’d still never properly tidied up.
I felt too awake, too alert, wanting to fix everything.
Brushing my thumb over a picture of Bryce from our senior year of high school, her grin wide, teeth visible, a smile not yet burdened by my rejection of her only days later, I knew I had to make everything right. Words wouldn’t be enough—not anymore.
I shouldn’t have abandoned her in the cave, in the woods—Hell, anything could have happened, but I’d gone by Jackson’s house through the night, noting her scent there, strong.
She was physically okay, at least. More guilt gnawed through me at the thought of being her protector yet leaving her to defend herself in the woods.
Shame threatened to pull me back down, paralyze me all over again, but no, I couldn’t let it. Not now, not when I had everything to lose.
Since the sun had risen over Honeycreek’s vast woodland, I’d tidied up my house, cleaned everywhere, and made it a space fit for Bryce and our daughter.
I wanted them to be at my side, where they belonged.
The fact that I had a daughter—that she had already lived seven years without knowing who I was—gutted me, but I had to keep going, keep making it right.
There was a brand-new pair of ballet shoes called in from a store in the bigger city beyond Honeycreek.
The box was gift-wrapped, ready for Cassie.
It wouldn’t fix everything, but it was a start.
I had prepared a breakfast of everything Bryce had once loved.
It was a tentative gesture, but I wanted her to know I still loved her, still remembered everything about her, from the fact that she hated when her eggs scrambled to a certain point of inedible for her, and that she preferred to eat pasta with a spoon to “get the sauce ratio correct”.
I smiled at the table, the food still packaged and ready to be cooked once I brought her back.
I’d cleared out my mom’s old room—my parents had been cold towards one another, simply the faces of an alpha and his omega, nothing more than doing their pack duty of making an heir, an arranged union by their own parents—and left another gift for Bryce in there.
Stepping back, I snapped a picture of the table and sent it to June.
It's not enough, I know, but it's a start, right? I want to make things right.
June’s response came back quickly: I hope you like sore knees, Mason, because the amount of begging and groveling you’ll need to do is insane. She’s heartbroken.
I sighed, pocketing my phone. I knew that I could smile and prepare, but I knew it was all just a mask over the fact that I couldn’t properly apologize immediately.
But I knew the truth now about my love for Bryce, about Cassie.
And now that I knew I had a cub, my little girl, the only thing I wanted to do was grow the bond I already felt, a burning ember in both of us.
We were already connected by blood and shifter genes—now I just needed to win Bryce’s and Cassie’s trust to prove myself of being both the father and alpha they wanted me to be.
Another text came through, this one from Theo: Heard about what happened at Harveys. Are you sweet on Bryce, still?
Anger flared in me. I typed back quickly. And what if I am? Don’t challenge me again, Theo.
I’m not trying to, he responded. I’m just trying to ask. I don’t want to be like Freddie.
My response came back, curt and clear: Then learn to have more respect.
Theo didn’t answer after that, and I was grateful. Right now, I need the pack from my mind. I would deal with their thoughts and reactions later, but Bryce was my main priority. She always should have been.
I went to leave my place, only to be hit with a sudden feeling, punching through my gut.
It was worse than the lingering bruises from my fight with Jackson.
I pressed a hand to my stomach, frowning.
It crawled through me, something like dread, like waking up from a nightmare my mind couldn’t remember, but my body could.
Cassie.
I didn’t know how I knew, but the feeling set me off-kilter, and I was moving, running out of the door in an instant.
I realized what that anchor was that had settled into me, a comforting weight of completion.
It was my daughter. Ever since I’d rescued her and Bryce in White Bay, the anchor had dropped, an instant connection snapping into place between us.
And now, that connection was pulled taut. She was in danger.
I tore across the pack compound, calling for them.
As soon as I skidded to the front door, I pounded on it, only to find that it opened beneath my fist. I stormed in.
“Bryce?” I shouted, already moving into every room. But the place was empty, still. Not even Jackson creaked about. “Cassie?”
I went upstairs, hunting through the two bedrooms, finding the guest room in a state of sheer chaos. Clothes were everywhere, and the wardrobes hung open. The bed was neatly made, and I saw that Cassie’s shoes had gone from by the door. I looked inside the wardrobe.
The pink duffel bag I’d packed for Bryce that day in the cottage to move her back out here was gone. Cassie’s green backpack was, too. Even the comics I knew she’d set up in here were gone, leaving only one behind.
There was a childish scrawl on a piece of paper, tucked into the rack where the comics had been stored. I’ll miss you, wolf man.
My stomach dropped.
Bryce was gone.
No.
No, that couldn’t be.
She couldn’t have left. Not without telling me, not without letting me see my daughter properly now that I know.
Yet that feeling in my gut grew. It felt worse than just the distress of leaving. It felt… it felt like fear.
Racing out of the house, I let myself tune into their scents, catching how strong it was on the drive.
Bryce must have taken her brother’s car.
But where? Her cottage in White Bay was totaled.
Did she not realize that, alone, it wasn’t salvageable to the point where she could just move back in?
Her furniture had been destroyed, even if the foundations were only mildly damaged.
I’d once thought about getting the pack out there to rebuild, maybe use it as a getaway for her—only if she decided to stay in Honeycreek.
She’d left anyway.
Just as she had seven years ago.
My heart felt punctured, and I tried not to get distracted by it as I let myself find their scents. They disappeared into the woods, but I could see that she had driven out, towards town, likely cutting through the woodland road to the highway.
And what then?
When I found her back at White Bay, would she turn me away again?
She’d left to get away from me, but there was no way I could just let her go. Growling, I shifted and tore off into the woods, tracking my daughter and the omega I always should have been there for.
Deeper and deeper, I went. Bryce’s scent was strongest to me, but it was Cassie’s that I kept myself focused on, lunging over the forest floor and swallowing it up easily.
In winter, the woods could be unforgiving, blanketed by thick snow, but the sun slanted through the tree canopy in the summer.
No leaves crunched beneath my feet, allowing me a quieter approach.
I wouldn’t scare Bryce, no, but that niggling dread only got stronger, and I couldn’t help but think that I had ignored the town’s problem of demon attacks.
Surging forward, I thundered through the trees, taking every shortcut I knew to the woodland road. When I hit it, I found tire marks, the black streaks on the asphalt veering off into the mossy floor.
And that was when I saw it.
Jackson’s car—smashed right into the trunk of a thick pine tree, with smoke coming from the hood.
I saw two bodies inside, and my stomach dropped, but the closer to Cassie I was, the more I felt her heartbeat, an echo of mine.
Her scent was strong enough that I knew she was okay.
Maybe hurt, but okay. But the shadows surrounding the car…
Fear and fury burst through me, my need to protect my daughter and Bryce overtaking everything else.
A gathering of ifrits—more than I had ever seen in any moment—were clawing at the car, sharp-tipped fingers swiping at the windows, the body of the car.
Terrible, wet snarls came from them, and I stalked closer, noting the band of them.
Curled horns extended from their heads, and terror settled in me at how near to Cassie’s side of the car they were as well.
One pierce from those horns in the wrong place…
A twig snapped underfoot, and, as one, the ifrit turned.
My muzzle pulled back, my canines bared.
Slowly, they pulled back from the car, prowling towards me instead.
Good, I think, come to me. If I were a human, I’d be grinning them down.
There were too many of them—too many for one wolf alone.
But I was the alpha of Honeycreek, the strongest wolf of the pack, and my need to protect what was mine only gave me that extra drive.
Out of the corner of my peripheral, I saw Bryce and Cassie huddling in the backseat of the car, watching me with wide eyes. I met Bryce’s gaze, and then my daughter’s, and then everything snapped. I tossed my head back and roared my rage into the trees.
Then I pounced.
Soaring through the air, I landed heavily onto one ifrit, sending it into another, both of them sprawling, but as soon as I lunged for another ifrit, jaws snapping, the ifrit was already back on its feet.
A ball of flame ignited in its palm—no. If it sent that flame into the trees, then it would be all over.
Without hesitation, I reared forward to snap the hand off the ifrit, extinguishing the flame.
The ifrit shrieked, shuddering into nothing as it dissolved.
Not dead but scared away.
The rest of the ifrit closed their ranks further, coming at me.
I dug my claws into the ground, giving myself a wide berth, drawing them further away from Bryce and Cassie.
One of them tried to taunt me, but I was already anticipating the others’ attacks.
Turning away from the taunting one, I snapped my canines into the shoulder of another ifrit, only to be grasped around the neck by another.
I jerked my head back and caught one of those rounded horns slicing over my flank.
A roar tore from me, and I spun wildly, only feeling more burning hot hands on me, trying to drag me further into their group.
For a second, I floundered. My head spun as flame scorched my side, as a fist punched into my muzzle.
Sparks flew with the impact from the ifrit, and I snarled, buckling when I tried to get up.
The ifrits’ laughter was grating, a screech of a noise that had me shuddering and falling back down again.
But a cry from inside the car came through the din of the laughter.
Cassie’s face was close to the rearview window, her wide, terror-filled eyes fixed on me. She had a hand pressed to the glass.
She knows.
The truth hit me, surging another wave of strength through me.
I growled as I stood up, strengthened by the need to protect my daughter.
With a roar, I bucked the ifrits off me and jerked wildly, claws swiping through torsos, catching legs, felling their ranks.
One by one, ifrit either vanished through teleports back to where they came from or disintegrated with a burst of embers.
One rammed me with its horns as a last, desperate attempt to attack, and I howled in pain as I felt blood dripping down my fur.
I choked out as I found myself on my back, overcome with an ifrit that held aloft a ball of flame.
Balling its fist, it rammed for my face, but I moved quickly, letting the ball of fire sizzle into the ground instead.
I flinched as the wave of heat scorched the side of my face.
Kicking up with my back paws, I managed to hook my claws deep in the ifrit’s stomach.
It was for driving Bryce out of her home, for all the danger the demons posed to my town, and for the attack on my daughter.
I met the eyes of the ifrit, my teeth bared, as I dove into it once more.
My canines sank into its shoulder, tearing hard enough that the ifrit screeched as it disappeared.
With no more demons in sight, I finally got up, my eyes searching for Bryce and Cassie.
They were already out of the car, Bryce following Cassie with a cry.
But my daughter… she flung herself at me.
“You fought them off!” she mumbled, her face pressed to my fur. “I knew you’d come to save us.”
Unable to speak in this form, I lifted my eyes to Bryce, and I could only hope she saw the absence of my anger.
Bryce’s anger flared brightly, though. Her face was pale, and I moved towards her.
Cassie still clung to my neck, and I held back my wince at the injuries I was slowly realizing laced over my body.
Standing before Bryce, I lowered my head to her. An alpha bowed to no one—but to her, to show her silently I meant that I wanted to change everything, I would.
Bryce’s mouth parted in a silent gasp. I turned my head to indicate that I wanted to take her and Cassie back.
After a moment’s pause, Bryce nodded. Tugging Cassie from me, Bryce held her daughter’s hand tightly, and, slowly but carefully, I led them back through the woods.
I couldn’t help but wonder what Bryce was so afraid of with shifting.
Why wouldn’t she let her wolf out? Why wouldn’t she give in to her instincts and be with me like this, alpha and omega, as we were meant to be?
I shoved my thoughts aside, focusing on every step that hurt like hell, but it meant I’d fought for them.
I could only hope it was enough.