Chapter 14 Ghost
Silas anxiously taps his fingers against his thigh as we walk to the hospital, nearly as relentlessly as when we were in the car with Deidre, just before he came face to face with his mate.
Only this time, it’s the opposite. He walked away from her. The invisible bond between them practically vibrates in the air—a taut, screaming wire threatening to snap and yank him back toward the cabin where she’s waiting for him.
Where she’s waiting for us. Something in my chest ticks, but I ignore it.
“Get yourself under control,” I growl.
He whips toward me with a feral snarl, but I slam my arm across his chest hard enough to crack ribs if he were human, forcing him back a step.
“Is this about Lily or Mona?” I ask.
“What do you care?”
“I—” Explaining that I care would mean I’d have to explain it to myself first. I shake my head. “Forget it.”
We enter the hospital, following the voices echoing from down the hall. Low murmurs tell us the patient is awake. Silas pushes into the room without knocking. The second he steps inside, he freezes.
Sitting up in the hospital bed, Lily gapes at him. A beat passes. And then Silas rushes forward, wrapping her in a hug. She throws her arms around him and begins sobbing.
Kendrick’s power explodes through the room like a detonation, his alpha rage at seeing another wolf holding his mate slams into us with the force of a thunderclap.
My eardrums threaten to rupture, and I reach out to steady myself against the wall.
But then Lily whimpers—one small, frightened sound—and Kendrick’s fury vanishes.
“Apologies, mate,” he says gently, caressing the side of her face with his fingertips. She smiles up at him like he’s both the sun and the moon, and I watch Kendrick soften in a way I’ve never seen. He and his wolf soothe their mate as she snuggles deeper into his touch.
It’s a private moment. It makes me uncomfortable. I should look away.
A memory flashes to the front of my mind.
Mona writhing in the throes of her heat, her skin scorching beneath my fingertips as I pressed a cold, wet cloth to her forehead.
The trusting way she parted her lips as I hand-fed her pieces of meat I hunted for her, how her throat worked as she swallowed water from the cup I held steady against her mouth.
In those stolen moments when she and Silas lay delirious, still knotted together, I hovered over her, drinking in her scent, brushing her hair from her face, whispering promises I had no right to make.
In those quiet, private moments she’ll never remember, no one else witnessed how my hands shook with the effort not to claim what every cell in my body screamed was mine.
The pull toward her isn’t just a feeling—it’s a leash around my throat, choking me every time I deny her.
But she has three other mates to take care of her. She’ll be fine without me.
Silas can lie to himself all he wants about leaving her, but the bond between them is already branded into him. He’d sooner give himself back to Deidre than leave her. He’s got shit he needs to work out, but he’ll never let her go.
As long as I can avoid seeing her more than necessary, I should be able to get away without causing too much pain.
To us both.
Silas lets Lily go, taking a seat at the edge of her bed.
“Hey,” she smirks.
Silas snorts. “Hey, kid. You look better than the last time I saw you.”
Tears brim in her eyes. It takes effort to get Kendrick’s attention, but eventually, he nods and follows me out of the room, down the hallway, while we leave Silas and Lily to catch up.
“How is she?” he asks as soon as we’re alone. Grayson’s been feeding him updates since I called from the parking lot, but his attention is torn between his mate and his daughter. I met Mona as a baby, and Kendrick knows that. Her scent is the same, even if it means something different to me now.
“She’s fine. Back at the cabin.”
Kendrick nods. Then waits. That’s what he does. He strips you bare with his silence. Speaking only when necessary, and never more than that, he demands loyalty, not through words or even actions, but through the crushing weight of his alpha presence.
I became The Ghost—his silent hunter—because Kendrick has always returned my loyalty.
When my mother’s coven butchered my father, and with the potential of my unique power and heritage, my mother knew the witches would never stop hunting me.
I was too young to fight back, and we had nowhere to run until Kendrick took us in.
A grieving half-shifter boy and a broken witch.
He offered sanctuary among his collection of strays and misfits.
Though raised among his wolves, I never accepted his clan as my own. The missions he sent me on became my escape—easier than feeling the pull toward a home that didn’t feel like mine.
My mother, meanwhile, remains hidden in his territory, deep in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The other packs check in on her from time to time, bringing her food when she forgets to eat.
She still hides in her closet whenever someone knocks on the door. Someday, when we find peace with the witches—or we obliterate their forces, whichever comes first—I can go home and tell my mother that it’s safe to come out now.
Kendrick sits with her sometimes, drinking tea, sharing silence. She’s not happy, exactly, but she’s safe with Kendrick’s clan—it’s the only thing that lets me sleep at night while I’m halfway across the world.
Kendrick cocks his head to the side. A strand of brown hair falls across his face, his expression open and calm. Waiting. Calculating.
No one knows Mona is my mate except for her and Silas. I don’t know how he’ll react when he finds out. If he’ll force me to stay, or if he’ll understand—perhaps better than anyone—why I can’t.
“There’s no geas on Mona, and as long as Deidre stays away from her, she won’t be able to forge one.
But she can still track her.” I tell him about how Mona’s previous doctor collected her blood, and the likelihood that Deidre now has access to it.
“We need to find out where she is. Silas and I discussed it, and we don’t think she’s coming here.
Not now that she’s lost both Silas and Mona.
And with the new delta development—” I point toward Lily’s room in explanation.
“It’s possible she’ll use Mona’s blood and the blood of the delta-turned-omegas for whatever her original goal was. ”
I’ve spent decades tracking targets across continents, learning to set aside emotion for strategy.
I know what happens when you allow evil to grow.
I’ve seen entire villages decimated, children orphaned, bloodlines extinguished because someone didn’t act in time.
Some nights I still wake to the echo of my father’s screams as the witches’ magic flayed him alive while my mother and I hid helplessly.
Whatever the witch has planned, I’ll stop at nothing until we see it through. Which is why I hedge my next words.
“So, what would you like to do?” I ask Máni. “Hiding her here only gives Deidre time to strengthen her position…”
“Are you implying we should use Mona as bait?” he asks carefully.
But before I can answer, Silas joins us in the hall, catching our conversation. “Lily’s sleeping,” he tells Kendrick. Then his tone turns deadly as he adds, “And if you think for one fucking second I’ll let you use Mona as bait, to let Deidre get her grimy hands on my mate—”
“I’m not saying we let Deidre—”
"Well, what the fuck are you saying!"
Kendrick slams his fist against the wall, the drywall cracking under the impact. “Enough,” he barks. Every muscle in my body locks up with the instinct to bare my neck.
He is my Máni, my leader, the father figure I needed when I lost my own. The idea of putting his daughter—my mate—in harm’s way makes my skin crawl.
But this is bigger than Mona. It’s about Lily, too. What was done to her, what could be done to others. And Kendrick is the leader of all shifters in this part of the world. He has a responsibility to all of them.
“She saw the next victim,” I tell Kendrick. Silas explains Mona’s dream, as she told it to us. He describes the girl who smelled of strawberries.
Kendrick’s eyes narrow. “Anything else identifying? Location, other shifters?”
“Not sure yet. I need to spend some time thinking about Mona’s visions. We might be able to get more out of them,” I say.
Silas clenches his fist as he works through our plan.
“Deidre won’t risk coming here. Not with Silent Peak’s numbers.
She’ll regroup first. That gives us time to strategize.
We don’t need to use Mona, we can focus on the strawberry girl.
You didn’t know for certain the witches were behind the attacks before, but you do now. That gives us an advantage.”
Kendrick hums. “Alright. In the meantime, Mona doesn’t set foot outside Silent Peak until every fucking contingency has been analyzed and prepared for.
I want plans C, D, and E. And I think, for now, let Grayson and Orion assume Silent Peak is still under attack from the witches, especially since we don’t know for certain what Deidre’s plan is. She may still come here.”
He runs his hand through his hair. It makes him look more human.
More normal. He continues, “Silent Peak will protect their omega. They are all feeling responsible for her being taken, they won’t let it happen a second time.
But I’ll tell you right now, under no circumstances is she to be used and put in a position to be taken again. She is not bait.”
“Thank you for protecting her so fiercely,” Silas says honestly, surprised by Kendrick’s vehemence. And then I remember—he still doesn’t know Kendrick is her father.
Kendrick’s face remains impassive. I want to tell him what I think of that—keeping Mona and Silas in the dark about his parentage. But I’m keeping my own secrets, so I swallow the chastisement.
“I’ll leave at dawn,” I say. Kendrick and I are used to working together in this capacity.
He doesn’t have to tell me what to do or where to go.
As a falcon witch, I can travel great distances in a short amount of time.
I’m far faster than these wolves, and Kendrick knows it.
And using my witch powers, I can cast a wider net as I try to trace Deidre to find out where she’s hiding until she makes her next move.
Kendrick nods. “I’ll connect with Mona. Perhaps she can remember more of her dream, and we’ll be able to save the delta girl before she’s kidnapped. That will help us narrow down where Deidre is hiding as well.”
“I think she’s a Seeker,” I tell Kendrick.
His eyes light in surprise. Then dim as the inner workings of his mind shift through all the possibilities of what that could mean.
I am well-read in shifter lore and history.
Kendrick lived it. What hasn’t been recorded in ancient texts, all in storage on his lands where I had access to them, the rest lay dormant in his memory.
“Had I known…” his voice trails off, then he shakes his head.
“I don’t know for certain that she is, but from what I’ve read—”
Kendrick cuts me off. “No, I agree with you. But the Sages always roamed the earth together,” he adds cryptically. “Let me know what you find,” he says, then turns and heads back to his mate.
When he’s gone, Silas and I leave the hospital. Once we’re outside, he takes a deep inhale.
“Feels weird to be back.”
“In what way?” I ask. I can’t imagine what anything feels like for Silas. We all have our demons, but I’ve always been able to run from mine.
Silas shrugs. “Everything looks the same. Sounds the same, smells the same…”
“But you aren’t the same.”
He grimaces. “Nope. Sure as fuck not.”
There’s a lot I want to say. To tell him not to punish Mona for his shortcomings by keeping his distance. But who am I to judge?
I am content with my loneliness. I’ve never needed or wanted more than what I have. I’ve spent decades moving from place to place, never settling, never allowing myself to form attachments.
My mother is safe in the West. My mate is safe with her pack.
I don’t know for certain what Silas will choose, though I think he’ll stay. This place was once home to him. But after the torture he endured at Deidre’s hands, this place that once anchored him likely feels like an illusion. He’ll have to figure out if it’s real or not.
I watch him clench and unclench his fists, recognizing that internal tug-of-war. Torn between what we want and what we believe we deserve.
Silas walks off without another word. Locals watch him from afar, like they want to go to him, but the air he gives off keeps them at bay. He disappears into the trees, heading west up the mountain.
I wait a few minutes before following, using my magic to cloak not just my scent, but all of me so that even Kendrick wouldn’t be able to tell I’m there.
I trail Silas, keeping several paces behind.
His clothes drop, bones cracking and reshaping.
Fur sprouts across his skin until a massive black wolf stands in his place.
He bounds up the mountain. I follow and tell myself it’s because I’m curious, not because he’s my pack mate, or because I feel responsible for him.
Night falls, and still, he hides alone in the woods, like he’s searching for something and can’t settle until he finds it. His wolf howls in pain, splitting through the night air as he drowns himself in loneliness.
It’s a private moment that I spend far too much time observing.
Eventually, I leave him. My feet carry me in the opposite direction. To her.
This time, I tell myself I’m just checking in to make sure her mates have taken care of her. To witness their dynamic, to know that when I’m gone, she’ll be cared for.
Her bedroom door opens without resistance—she lies there, nestled between her two mates, her chest rising and falling in peaceful sleep.
The air smells of sex. Something hot and unfamiliar burns inside me, an ugly coil of jealousy, but I press it down, smothering it.
Checking on her is about her safety, nothing more.
Waning moonlight spills across the bed, illuminating her naked breasts. Her nipples are perfect, soft and supple. Rosy pink, freckles painted across her skin, her red hair fanned over the pillow, and Grayson’s chest. Orion’s hand drapes possessively over her hip.
Her lips part and I count each breath while my fingertips grip the doorframe until my knuckles turn white.
And as I watch her sleep, cradled between her two mates, naked and sated, breathing deeply, I tell myself that their family isn’t at all what I want. That I am content.
That there is no tightness in my chest as I stare down at her.
I close the door and walk away.