Chapter 14 - Naia
Delmont isn’t what I expected, and it’s far from the ghost town I had last seen it as.
That’s the first thing I notice as we leave Coldreach after getting off the ferry and head further inland through the trees and hills.
I thought it would feel empty and forgotten, like it did the few times I moved through the area in the past, like one of those places people abandon when things go wrong and never come back to.
To me, it had only ever been an area full of half-demolished buildings that trees and underbrush had long overtaken.
But it’s not anymore. Now, there’s movement and life.
It isn’t chaotic like Wraith Peak, but it feels rebuilt and almost purposeful.
After Zane parks on the main street, we get out to look around, and I slow slightly as my gaze sweeps over everything.
Buildings that should’ve been leveled and left are now repaired. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a far cry from how it used to look.
There are other shifters around, and humans, of course. In places other than Wraith Peak, they tend to make up the bulk of the population, which I never really understood.
Why invite humans to live among you when they’re the ones you need to hide from? None of them live far enough north to bother us, at least.
Regardless, everyone is walking the streets, some working, some standing in small groups talking in low voices. It’s not socially structured the way back is. There’s no obvious hierarchy on display, and no immediate tension humming beneath the surface.
It feels different in general.
Zane doesn’t say anything as we walk, but I feel the way his awareness sharpens and his posture shifts just slightly. Instead of being tense or on edge, he’s grounded and confident.
This is his place, and that realization settles strangely in my chest.
I glance at him to take in the way he moves through the space. People notice him with something quieter and more trusting than immediate submission or rigid respect, which is what I’m more used to.
It makes something twist in my stomach because I didn’t think he would actually build something like this. I imagined him taking over an established place like some kind of conqueror and bossing everyone around like he’s been doing to me.
Instead, it looks more like he has taken something that once seemed useless and turned it into a functioning place…a town where his people can live their lives safely.
And then I see a familiar face, and I stop.
Without missing a beat, Zane notices, and he glances back at me. “What is it?”
I don’t even bother trying to answer yet, as I stare across the street and watch a man leaning against the side of a building, as if he belongs there. It’s someone I recognize from home.
From Wraith Peak.
The younger shifter straightens when he sees us, and his gaze locks onto Zane first, then it moves to me. Immediate recognition floods his features, followed by obvious caution.
He knows exactly who I am, too, and it makes my chest tighten with a feeling I don’t fully understand.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Zane follows my line of sight, then hums to himself. “That’s Ben.”
“I know who it is,” I mutter, facing Zane as I give him an incredulous look. “You have wolves from Wraith Peak here?”
“I do,” he says simply. “A handful, at least.”
He says it like that’s normal. Like that doesn’t shift everything I thought I knew about what he’s been doing, or the fact that enough Wraith Peak shifters have left in favor of him.
“They chose to leave,” he adds, as if he knows exactly where my thoughts are going.
I don’t respond since I don’t know what to say to that.
Chose.
The word doesn’t sit right after all I’ve been raised to believe. That wasn’t how things were supposed to work, yet they’re here, standing in his town, following his orders. I don’t know how to feel about it.
Before I can push that thought further, movement pulls my attention again. A few wolves nearby glance at me, then double-take as more recognition starts to spread quickly. With it comes tension and wary caution, and I know exactly why.
I’m a Voss, and that name alone carries enough weight here to seal my fate if I let it. It’s a good thing I don’t plan on staying long.
My jaw tightens slightly. “Your welcome committee could use some work.”
Zane doesn’t look surprised. “They’ll adjust.”
“Will they?”
“They trust me.”
I glance at him, only to find no arrogance in his features to bolster that claim. Instead, he’s just stating a fact, and that shouldn’t be as unsettling as it is.
Before I can respond, someone approaches us both fast and confidently.
“It’s about time you showed up.” That vaguely familiar voice cuts in.
I look up and pause all over again with a hard blink. “Zeke?”
He grins slightly, stopping a few feet in front of us. There’s dust and a bit of debris on his jeans, as if he just came off a worksite somewhere, which seems to track here. “I didn’t think you’d recognize me.”
“You look the same,” I say automatically, easily remembering him from back home. He had disappeared out of the blue some time ago, and I guess now I know why.
“Yeah? You don’t.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. He was always upfront and somewhat annoying, which didn’t make him the best fit for our pack. “Good.”
Faintly amused for a moment, he wipes it away as his attention shifts to Zane. “You disappeared.”
“I had a lead,” he says casually, though that serious tone of his belies how important the situation is to him.
“You always have a lead,” Zeke mutters, but there’s no real bite behind it. “Are you going to tell me about this one?”
Zane hesitates for half a second and glances at the various people walking around nearby before he murmurs, “Later.”
“I’ll take you up on that,” Zeke returns before looking at me again with a mix of lingering caution and curiosity. “Seeing as you’re here, I imagine this is getting interesting.”
“Not now,” Zane tells him without missing a beat, making the quiet warning in his words obvious.
Zeke raises his hands in defense, unwilling to push the matter further. “Alright, alright. But we’ve had some movement while you were gone.”
That immediately removes whatever amusement was on Zane’s face. “What kind of movement?”
“It’s the same pattern you flagged before you left,” Zeke says. “Some unidentified wolves have been passing through the area, and nobody’s claiming them. A few others have gone missing, and the other packs are getting antsy.”
My stomach tightens, already knowing who he’s talking about.
Zane’s expression hardens. “Have you come across them?”
“A few just the other night. I almost collided with one, but he got away before I could see who it was.”
“I saw them and followed them to Ashford.”
Zeke’s brows lift as that gets his full attention. “And?”
Zane glances at me for a second, then back at him. “They’re organized, and they’re not working alone. I’ll tell you more when I can.”
“Great,” he says with a heavy exhale as he absently scratches the back of his neck.
“Yeah. We have our hands full.”
“No kidding,” Zeke murmurs before he jerks his chin toward me. “You want to explain that part, too?”
I stiffen slightly, and Zane doesn’t hesitate again. “Not yet.”
Zeke studies him for a moment, but before he can get himself in any kind of trouble, he nods. “Fine. But we’re going to need to loop everyone in soon.”
“I know.”
“The other packs are restless,” Zeke adds. “Hayes isn’t helping.”
At the mention of my brother, something cold settles in my chest, and Zane notices immediately.
An unfamiliar but warm feeling close to reassurance moves through the new connection I’ve been trying to ignore, and it startles me from within. I freeze up and glance over to feel Zane’s eyes already on me.
“I’ll handle it,” he says.
Zeke nods again, then glances at me one last time. “I didn’t expect to see you here, but I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”
“Yeah,” I reply flatly. “Me neither.”
A flicker of something unreadable crosses his face before he steps back and focuses on Zane. “I’ll let you get settled then. Just don’t disappear again.”
“No promises.”
Zeke snorts. “Figures.”
Then, just like that, he’s gone again, and silence lingers for a moment after, when it’s just the two of us.
Then I turn to Zane, feeling the need to fill that quiet. “You’ve been busy.”
He shrugs. “Something like that.”
“That’s an understatement.”
He doesn’t respond while I glance around again, taking it all in with fresh eyes now. I don’t know why it strikes me to see how much obvious work has gone into restoring Delmont, but it makes me wonder if I’ve been wrong about him.
Not completely, and definitely not about everything, but about this, and what he’s been doing since he left. This isn’t running…this is building something tangible and stable.
The thought sits uneasily in my chest despite trying to push it aside.
“Come on,” he says after a moment. “I’ll show you where you’re staying.”
***
Zane’s place is quieter than the rest of the town.
While still within it, just far enough back to feel separate, the house is private and comfortable.
Instead of being elaborate or obnoxious, it seems lived-in, unlike his apartment.
There’s something about it that feels solid and grounded, like him.
I step further in, taking it in slowly. “You’ve made yourself at home here.”
“I had time.”
“Clearly.”
The door closes behind us, and just like that, the outside world fades into distant background noise, and the bond hits again.
Here, it feels stronger through the more intimate proximity, and it makes me squirm.
When I stiffen slightly, I turn away before he can notice. I’m not dealing with that right now, not when everything else is already unstable.
“Get settled,” Zane says like a more gentle command as he sets his keys aside. “We’ll figure out our next steps soon.”
That thought feels all too wrong, since I already know what my next moves are. Or at least, what they should be.
I move further into the space and set down the few things he got me in the city, without really thinking about it. This isn’t permanent, and I’ll make sure it isn’t, but for now, I have to bide my time.
At the very least, I’m on the island again and one step closer to returning home.
No matter what this place feels like, regardless of what he has built here or what that bond is doing to my head, I’m not his to direct.
Wraith Peak is still there, along with my brother, my pack, and the wolves who took me. Everything is still unresolved and unfinished, but I won’t leave it that way.
My fingers curl slightly at my sides as I try to keep every thought and emotion down. I don’t know what “fixing it” looks like, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to walk back into that and change anything, but I know that I can’t ignore it.
I won’t. Even if a part of me that I don’t want to acknowledge feels something else here. Something steadier that doesn’t demand I prove myself every second of my existence.
Pushing that thought away immediately, I know that’s not who I am, and this town isn’t where I belong.
Even if, for the first time, I’m not entirely sure what that means anymore.