Chapter 21 Rowan #2
“I could just leave. You could stay. None of you need to throw your life away for me. You’ll all be criminals.”
Ryker snorted. “Kitten, I was already walking the line. You’re just giving me the final push.”
I glared. It only made him grin harder.
“Do you know what happens to mates who separate?” Talon asked quietly.
“No… I guess they miss each other?”
“It’s worse. It feels like torture, Rowan. The bond keeps pulling, demanding closeness, punishing distance. It's beyond painful, and even without the packmate-bond, you’re part of this unit. We don’t abandon each other,” Talon explained.
My chest tightened.
“What about the shifter colony?” I asked, turning to Cade. “I’m a shifter and Talon is too, but what about Killian, Ryker, and you? What if they don’t take you? What if—”
“We’ll deal with it if it happens,” Cade said. “They may accept us as your mates. Pack structure is sacred to shifters. For now, we prepare. We'll move through the old base on foot. Pack light. Ammo and essentials only.”
Ryker mumbled, “Nothing like a scenic hike with a backpack full of bullets through terrain infested with direworgs, wraiths, and rabid shifters!”
I ignored him. Mostly.
Cade continued, “But you can bring one or two personal items. Choose wisely. Maybe you'd like to bring this, Rowan…”
He stood, walked to the kitchen, and returned holding something tiny in his hand.
A cactus.
For me!
A stupid little potted plant, like the ones I used to nurture. Like the ones they had left to wither and die when they kidnapped me. I had mourned them!
Except… this one was alive. Small, bright green, and thriving.
“A present, for putting up with… us,” Cade said awkwardly, offering it carefully, as if it were fragile or sacred.
The breath left my body.
I wrapped my hands around the pot, feeling the cool ceramic against my palms. My emotions surged so fast they nearly drowned me.
He must have gone through hell to find it. A cactus wasn’t something you stumbled upon at the Border Front Base. He had to have searched, bargained, or traded to get it for me.
Cade, who was always stern, stoic, and disciplined to the bone.
Cade, who carried the weight of command as if it were stitched into his spine.
Cade, who did not do sentimental.
He was allowing me to make room for something that had no tactical value, no purpose, nothing to help our survival.
Except it meant everything to me.
And he knew it.
A lump swelled in my throat. “Cade…” My voice broke. “Thank you.”
He nodded only once, but the warmth in his amber eyes hit harder than any touch.
In that moment, surrounded by danger and uncertainty, about to abandon Arca, the only world I’d ever known, that tiny cactus felt like an anchor.
Proof that these men weren’t just dragging me into their lives.
They were choosing me.
Choosing to follow me.
To burn their lives to the ground, in the same way my old life had, to keep me safe.
“When do we leave?” I asked, my voice small but steady.
“That depends.”
“On what exactly?”
“Your heat,” Talon finished Cade’s thought.
“Dr. Zolkos mentioned he needed another slick sample when your heat got close. Also, Melker’s journal stated that heat-phase slick was the key to stabilizing the serum,” Cade said. “We have to assume that because Zolkos was on the project, he knows this too. He may…” His voice trailed off.
“Come for me.”
“That’s what I was going to discuss with Talon,” Cade said.
“I’m worried about you going into heat here.
There are a few safe houses in the Northern Borderlands we've used on missions. Nothing flashy, but we stocked them with basic amenities and they are relatively safe for the short term. We could ride out your heat in one before heading to the shifter colony. But it’s up to you, Rowan.
It’s your first heat, and we want you to decide.
We’ll do whatever you are most comfortable with. ”
Cade was letting me decide. It was my choice.
“I want to leave before my heat. There’s no way I’m risking that creep Zolkos trying to take more samples. I never want to see him again,” I said, my voice firm.
“Then we leave tonight,” Cade said.
“What? Tonight!?”
Talon answered calmly. “If you want to make it to the safe house, we have to. Your scent, your emotions. It’s close. Too close.”
My stomach dropped.
Talon continued, “Do you think you can make it there? Do you feel any different? Any contractions?”
“I can make it,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”
Cade nodded grimly. “I'll change our schedules. No one on duty for the next two days. But when Ryker and Talon don’t show up for their patrol shift, someone will come looking. It gives us a head start, but not a long one. We need to reach the safe house before they realize we’re gone, and before you go into heat. ”
My pulse pounded in my ears. Tonight.
Everything in my life was changing tonight.
Again.
Ryker started laughing to himself. “General Green is going to lose his goddamn mind. His golden boys vanish, the prodigal omega disappears with them… I swear, he’s gonna rupture a blood vessel.”
We all looked at Cade and Killian, waiting for their response.
Cade finally lifted his eyes from the floor and looked at his brother. A slow, rare smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Wish we could take a picture,” he said.
Killian smirked back, sharp and satisfied. “Frame it.”
Ryker burst out laughing. “Oh my God, you two are fucking menaces.”
Cade shrugged, calm as ever. “If we’re going to be criminal deserters, we might as well enjoy the perks. My father having an aneurysm would be wonderful.”
"He'll come for us. For her," Killian said, looking at his brother, something unspoken passing between them.
"We'll be ready." Cade said with certainty. "And we'll be together."