Chapter 28 Alaric
ALARIC
Alaric followed her scent through the storm. Not close enough to be seen, just close enough to know she was safe. It led him toward town, steady and determined despite the conditions. She'd doubled back twice, checking for followers. Smart. Careful.
By the time she reached the inn, his wolf had settled slightly. She was inside. Warm. Protected.
He stood in the shadows across the street, she'd gone to the sitting room. He could smell the wood smoke from the fire Diana had built.
Safe.
The hunters were another matter. He'd left them with clear instructions and missing equipment. They'd limp back to wherever they'd come from, tell whoever sent them that Hollow Oak wasn't worth the trouble.
Or they'd come back with reinforcements.
Alaric turned away from the inn and headed home. His cabin sat dark against the trees, exactly as he'd left it. Except for the figure leaning against the porch railing.
Callum straightened as Alaric approached. "Took you long enough."
"Didn't know I was expected."
"You weren't. But Rowan called. Said Diana and the journalist were having a conversation worth noting." Callum's eyes tracked him as he climbed the steps. "You tracked her all the way to the inn."
"Making sure she was safe."
"Right. Safe." Callum followed him inside.
Alaric shrugged out of his coat. "Say what you came to say."
"You're protecting the wrong thing."
"I'm protecting everyone."
"No." Callum moved to the window, looking out at the dark woods. "You're protecting your orders. Your position. Your idea of what duty means. But you're not protecting her."
"She's safe at the inn."
"For now. What about tomorrow? Next week? When Bram decides she's still too much of a risk?" Callum turned back. "You think following her through the snow counts as protection?"
"I kept her alive tonight."
"You kept her breathing. That's different." Callum crossed his arms. "You know what she needs? She needs the truth. All of it. Not the sanitized version. Not the parts you think she can handle. Everything."
Alaric moved to the stove, adding wood he didn't need. "The Council hasn't authorized that."
"The Council doesn't get to authorize your mate bond."
"She's not my mate," Alaric said automatically.
"You're still lying about that?" Callum's laugh was sharp. "To me or to yourself?"
Alaric said nothing.
"I've been where you are." Callum's voice softened slightly. "Standing between duty and something that matters more. Trying to convince yourself you can have both if you just follow the rules hard enough."
"You chose Cora."
"I chose honesty. Cora chose me after that." Callum moved closer. "But I had to give her the choice first. I had to trust that she could handle the truth and decide for herself."
"Elara's different. She's human. She doesn't have magic or abilities or any reason to believe in this."
"She drove through a blizzard to find you. She stood up to hunters. She's asking questions even when everyone tells her to stop." Callum tilted his head. "She's stronger than you're giving her credit for."
"Or she's reckless."
"Or she cares about you." Callum's expression turned serious. "Which terrifies you more than any hunter ever could."
Alaric's jaw tightened. "I'm doing what's best for her."
"By deciding what she can know? What she can handle? What choices she gets to make?" Callum shook his head. "That's not protection. That's control. And she's already called you on it once."
She had. In this cabin. Right before she'd left.
"If I tell her everything, she'll run."
"Maybe. Or maybe she'll stay. But that's her choice to make, not yours.
" Callum moved toward the door. "You want to protect Hollow Oak?
Fine. You want to follow orders? Great. But if you love her, if she's your mate like your wolf knows she is, then you owe her the truth.
Not pieces. Not half-answers. Everything. "
"And if she can't handle it?"
"Then at least she'll know what she's walking away from." Callum opened the door. Cold air rushed in. "Right now she thinks you're pushing her away because you don't want her. That's the cruelest lie you've told yet."
He left. The door closed. Alaric stood alone in his cabin, surrounded by her scent and his failures.
His wolf pushed forward. Tell her. Show her. Let her choose.
"I know the odds."
You know fear, his wolf corrected. That's different.
Alaric sank onto the couch where they'd been together. Where he'd touched her and tasted her and stopped himself before he could claim her. Because claiming her without her knowing what it meant felt wrong.
But not telling her anything felt worse.
He'd spent five years following orders. Five years proving he wouldn't fail Hollow Oak the way he'd failed his pack. Five years putting duty above everything else.
And what had it gotten him? A mate who thought he didn't want her. A Council that didn't trust him. Hunters circling closer because he hadn't dealt with the threat when he should have.
Maybe Callum was right. Maybe he'd been protecting the wrong thing.
He pulled out his phone. Stared at it. Put it away.
Tomorrow. He'd tell her tomorrow. Everything. What he was. What the town was. What she meant to him. What the mate bond meant. All of it.
And then he'd let her choose.
Even if she chose to leave.
His wolf snarled at the thought, but Alaric pushed it down. "It's her life. Her choice."
Ours, the wolf insisted. She's ours.
"Only if she wants to be."
The fire crackled. Outside, the storm had passed, leaving the world quiet and cold. Alaric sat in the dark and made a decision that went against every order he'd been given.
He was done protecting Hollow Oak from Elara.
It was time to protect Elara from the choices he'd been making for her.
Even if it meant disobeying Bram. Even if it meant losing his position. Even if it meant standing in front of the Council and telling them his mate's safety mattered more than their rules.
For years, his duty had been to Hollow Oak.
Now his duty was to her.
To give her the truth she'd been asking for since the moment she arrived. To trust that she could handle it. To stop treating her like something fragile that needed managing.
She'd walked through a blizzard tonight. Faced down hunters. Stood near the Veil and didn't run.
She was strong enough for the truth.
He just had to be brave enough to give it to her.
Alaric stood and grabbed his coat. Not to follow her. Not to watch from the shadows. Just to stand outside and look at the inn where she slept, knowing that tomorrow everything would change.
One way or another, he'd tell her.
And whatever she decided after that, he'd respect it.
Even if it broke him.
Tomorrow he'd prove it.
Tonight, he'd just stand here and accept that for once, his duty wasn't to orders or councils or protecting secrets.
His duty was to her.
And that meant giving her the choice he should have given her from the start.