Chapter 26 #2
“You’re sure?”
“She didn’t deny it, didn’t even bother.”
Derek nods slowly. “Did she tell you why now, after four years of not asking after him?”
“She said it’s because she’s his mother. Then she insulted Miranda and pretended the whole thing’s about a custody case.” I rub a hand over my face. “I don’t buy any of it. There’s no way her husband actually wants Ethan in his house. So why is she pushing this?”
Derek is quiet a beat. Then his thumb pauses on the cigarette, and he tilts his head. “You want my thoughts on it?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Crimson Rock’s been pushing since their old alpha stepped down eight months back. The new one’s younger, hungrier.” He turns the cigarette over once. “He wants a win on the board before his first year’s out.”
I already know the rest, the two years of bad blood that never reaches the alpha table, the stretch of western ridge Coach has been quietly negotiating since winter. None of it explains a custody petition.
“Ethan.” Derek is picking his words carefully now.
“He’s not Coach’s grandson by blood, but Coach raised you and Gabriel from the time you were teenagers.
Everyone in our world knows it. The boy’s the closest thing Coach has to a grandchild.
Crimson Rock gets their hands on him through a ruling no one can contest under human law, and they’ve got leverage on Silverpeak they haven’t had in a generation. ”
“Brent won’t have him in the house.” The words come out flat. “A male pup from another bloodline under his roof? He’d kill Ethan inside a month and call it instinct.”
“He would if Ethan were his to tolerate.” Derek turns the cigarette over. “But Vanessa’s the wife. The pup’s hers on paper. Brent doesn’t have to keep him. He just has to let her win the ruling, hand the boy to the alpha, and let Crimson Rock decide what a Wolfe pup is worth as a bargaining chip.”
“So Ethan never sets foot in Brent’s territory at all.”
“He sets foot wherever the alpha wants him.” Derek’s eyes stay on me. “That’s the part that should worry you. This was never about a mother getting her son back.”
The wolf coils tight.
“You think it’s the alpha.” I already suspected this had nothing to do with Brent and everything to do with the pack.
“I think it’s the alpha pulling Vanessa’s strings. She gets to feel like she’s running her own play. He gets the leverage. Brent gets to look like the good husband. Everybody wins except the kid.”
I stare out across the gravel drive at the dark line of trees beyond the fence. “It tracks.” My voice stays low. “And it explains the timing, why now and not four years ago when she remarried.”
“Lines up with when the leaked photos started showing up in the press, too.” Derek’s eyes haven’t left mine. “Have you considered that the photographer who tipped Vanessa off wasn’t a tabloid scout? That someone gave the photos to her on purpose, knowing she was the only one who could use them?”
“I haven’t.”
“Maybe you should.”
“Miranda.” The name comes out of me carefully.
“Vanessa hated every woman who looked at me during our marriage. She was insanely jealous, Derek. You remember the cocktail event, when she threw a chair at the actress for talking to me too long. Whatever her alpha wants out of this, the reason she agreed to run point has nothing to do with packs or leverage. She signed on because she saw a photograph of me holding another woman’s hand and couldn’t stand it. ”
Derek tilts his head, considering. “That fits. She always hated competition more than she loved you.”
“So I’ve got a Crimson Rock alpha who possibly wants a strategic asset and an ex-wife who wants to set fire to my life. Either one alone I could manage. Together they’re a problem.”
“Together they’re a problem we handle.” Derek’s hand lands on my shoulder. “You’re not alone in this anymore.”
I let out a slow breath. The wolf eases by a degree, the gold draining back from the edges of my sight.
“If she crosses the line again,” I say evenly, “I’ll kill her, Derek. I told her as much tonight.”
“I figured you did.”
“You going to talk me out of it?”
“No.” His voice stays calm. “I’m going to have your back. We’ve done worse together for less.”
I look at him. The porch lamp catches him in profile, the old crooked smile tugging at one corner of his mouth, the same face I’ve known since we were sixteen. For a beat, the ground steadies under my feet. He’s standing here with me, and he has my back, the same as ever.
“There’s a game next week,” I say. “Crimson Rock at home. The press scrum after the final whistle’s going to be a circus. The publicist already told me they’re going to ambush me about Miranda the second I’m off the ice.”
Derek studies me.
“I want her there for it. She hasn’t set foot in a home game since Vanessa attacked her in the corridor, and she’s kept quiet about it, but I can feel her flinch whenever the arena comes up. It’s time she walked back into that building on her own legs.”
“I agree with you.”