Chapter 26 Alaric
ALARIC
Alaric broke through the trees just as the first shot went off. Snow burst upward near Elara’s boots. She stumbled, twisting away from the second man, swinging the small branch she’d been holding like it might actually matter.
He didn’t think. He shifted mid-stride, the wolf taking over before thought could catch up. He hit the nearest hunter square in the chest, sending him into the snow hard enough to knock the wind out of him. The rifle clattered away.
The second man turned, shouting something, but it was swallowed by wind and the growl that came from Alaric’s chest. He lunged. The man went down in a tangle of limbs and fear. The third tried to run. Alaric let him, more concerned with the one who’d aimed at her.
He forced himself back to human, breath steaming. “You all right?”
Elara stood half-hidden by a tree, face pale, eyes wide. “You followed me?”
“Yes.”
“Convenient timing.” Her voice shook, not from cold. “How long have you been watching?”
“Since I saw your car in the ditch.”
She let out a humorless laugh. “Of course you did.”
He glanced at the downed men. One groaned, trying to crawl toward his weapon. Alaric kicked it farther away. “They were hunting you. They said your name.”
“Because of you,” she said sharply. “Because of this place. Because of what you wouldn’t tell me.”
He turned toward her. “You wouldn’t have believed it.”
“Try me.”
He opened his mouth, then shut it again. “It isn’t something you explain in the middle of a storm.”
“No,” she said, “you just let people walk blind into it.”
“Elara.”
“Don’t.” She backed up when he moved closer. “Don’t say my name like that.”
The wind picked up, carrying snow sideways. One of the hunters groaned again, rolling onto his back. Alaric hauled him up by the front of his jacket. “You come back here, and I’ll make sure you don’t leave again.”
The man’s eyes darted to Elara. “She knows the way now.”
Alaric slammed him back into the snow. “You won’t see her again.”
He let the man go and turned. Elara stood rigid, arms wrapped around herself. Her teeth were clenched, but her eyes were clear.
“Let’s go,” he said. “It isn’t safe here.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He blinked, the words hitting harder than the cold. “You’ll freeze out here.”
“Then I’ll freeze,” she said. “At least I’ll know the truth this time.”
He stepped toward her again. “You don’t understand what’s coming.”
She shook her head. “I understand fine. This town is real. The Veil is real. Hunters, magic, all of it. And you knew. You knew the whole time.”
“I was protecting you.”
Her laugh was sharp and tired. “That’s the line, isn’t it? Protect the fragile human who can’t handle the truth.”
“It isn’t about that.”
“Then what is it about?”
He looked at her, snow clinging to her hair. “If I told you, you would’ve run before you saw what was good here. You’d have written it up, spread it everywhere. And they would’ve come sooner. And plus it’s not my secret to tell. The council didn’t want you knowing more in case you were a risk.”
She flinched. “You think I’d sell you out?”
“I think your instincts would’ve made you.”
Her jaw tightened. “You don’t know me.”
“I know enough.”
“No,” she said quietly. “You know my name on a page. You know the version that fits your orders.”
He took another step. “I know you stayed when anyone else would’ve run.”
“And I would’ve stayed anyway,” she said. “You didn’t have to lie.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You kept it from me. That’s the same thing.”
Wind whipped between them, snow twisting up in small spirals. He wanted to close the distance, to grab her shoulders, to make her hear what words couldn’t fix.
“It wasn’t my secret to tell,” he said.
“It was when it became mine too,” she shot back. “When those men started following me because of what I wrote. When they knew your name and called me bait. When I realized I was being used to find you.”
He looked at the ground. “I needed you to be safe.”
“Safe from what?”
“From them. From us.”
She stared. “From you?”
He nodded once. “From the part of me that doesn’t stop when it should.”
Her expression softened for a heartbeat, then hardened again. “You mean the part that hides behind silence?”
He didn’t answer. The wolf pressed under his skin, restless and angry, but he held it back.
“Say something,” she demanded.
“There’s nothing I can say that changes it.”
“Then don’t bother following me.”
“Elara—”
“No.” She started walking toward the faint outline of the road. “You can deal with your secrets. I’ve got enough of my own to survive now.”
He followed a few steps. “You’re not thinking clearly.”
“Funny,” she said, not looking back. “That’s exactly how you like me.”
He stopped. The words hit deeper than the wind.
The hunters groaned again, one dragging himself upright. Alaric’s instincts screamed to finish it, but Elara’s figure disappearing into the snow pulled stronger. He forced himself to stay where he was, watching until she vanished into white.
“Let her go,” he muttered, mostly to the wolf inside him. “She needs distance.”
The wolf growled low in his chest, a sound only he could hear. Mate runs. We follow.
“Not now.”
You broke the bond before it began.
He clenched his fists. “Better me than her.”
The snow thickened, covering her tracks.
His breath left in a long cloud. Silence had always been easier. Orders, patrols, keeping the peace. He’d lived half his life behind it. But standing there listening to the wind die down, he realized what silence had cost him.
Not the town. Not his position.
Her.
He turned toward the lake, the storm finally easing, and forced himself to walk away.