We walked back to the encampment, mostly in silence. I’d half expected for Kalen to crowd me, but he hung in the back while the rogue king walked up front with me. “So, how far along are you?” The king asked after a long period of silence. I can’t help but hear eager the excited curiosity in his voice. “A couple of weeks, not very far.”“What about Caden? How old is he?”Again, I can’t help but smile as I tell the king what I can about him. With a heavy sigh, I told him, “Wish I could tell you more, but strangers are raising my son instead of me.” “I understand how difficult this must be for you,” the king said. “You are a remarkably strong woman to be as put together as you are, considering everything.”“Not really. I am barely holding on. I just make sure I hide it well,” I replied with a small smile.We continued to walk in silence and when we reached the rogue encampment, the king started giving the people with us orders. He turned to me and said, “A room has been prepared for y
Despite Kalen’s offer to bring me breakfast, I went to the cafeteria instead. I didn’t like feeling locked up. Kalen followed me and, ignoring my protests, told me to sit down and he would get my food for me.Sitting down at a table, I tried to fight off my irritation at this sudden change in Kalen. It didn’t feel real or authentic. I glanced around the room, then realized more than a few of the people here were watching me. I shifted uneasily, the weight of their attention pressing down on me like a tangible force. The looks seemed to range from suspicious to respect. “Kalen, why are people looking at me?” I asked once he had returned with our breakfast.As soon as he looked around, everyone averted their gaze. “I guess they’ve heard something about what happened these days and are curious.”They did? What exactly had they heard? I was used to gossiping. In Crimson Fang, gossip seemed like the favorite pastime, but there I always knew what to expect. Here, not so much, and that was a
I left Danielle and headed back towards the bench where I’d left Kalen with his father, but neither he nor his father were still there. So I walked towards the communal building instead, thinking about the training Danielle offered. Father had trained me how to fight when I was younger, but it had been a long time since I’d actually trained.I saw Kalen sitting on the stairs leading up to his room. “Hey,” he said as soon as he saw me with a smile. He stood as I walked over to him. “How did the talk with Mom go?”“Pretty good, I like her,” I replied with a smile, then curious to see his reaction, I added, “She said she wants to train me.”A hint of surprise washed over his face, then concern. “She did? She wants you to be a huntress? Is that safe with the baby?”“Well, I didn’t specifically ask, but since everyone now seems to know I am pregnant, I am sure she wouldn’t suggest it otherwise.”“That’s true,” he admitted. “We can always check with the doc, too. Just to be safe.”“We?” I as
It was barely before sunrise when Danielle came to call me to begin training. Dressed in a long sleeve shirt and yoga pants, we went outside in a small field. “To begin,” Danielle said. “You need to get right with yourself before you do anything else.”“Right with myself,” I repeated, not bothering to hide my skepticism.“Yes, you need to be honest with yourself. Facing the things you’ve been avoiding. The doubts, the guilt, anger, the fear, whatever it is you’ve been pushing down. You’ve got to sit with it, understand it, and then make peace with it.”I let out a breath through my nose, a mix of frustration and resignation. “Make peace with it? How exactly am I supposed to do that?”Her smile grew a little warmer, like she’d been waiting for me to ask that. “Start small. Sit here, think about everything that’s happened, let the emotions wash over you. Scream, cry, shout, or whatever you feel like doing. Just let it out and know you’re safe to do so.”“How is this teaching me how to fi
Leaving the king to talk to Chelsie, I went to the communal building to have breakfast. Hopefully, there was food left. I was feeling pretty famished. By the time I reached the cafeteria, someone had cleaned everything up. “Damn,” I said with a sigh, but headed to the kitchen. “Hey Marcel, I don’t suppose there is anything I could eat, is there? I was busy during breakfast hours.”The chef grinned at me. “Of course, but if you promise to come back and help around here, I will cook you something special.”I returned his grin. “I would never abandon you, Marcel.” When he gave me a scathing look, I added, “Again.”“Better not,” he said, then waved at me to take a seat on a stool.I was halfway through breakfast when the king came into the kitchen. “Ah, here you are,” he said, walking up to me. The rogue king nodded to Marcel, then looked back at me. “We’re having a meeting and I thought you’d like to join us.”So in other words, Danielle told him to come find me, I thought, and barely ke
I sat on the blanket cross-legged, enjoying the feel of the sun on my skin as I ate lunch with Kalen. He had gone all out and prepared, or someone prepared for him, all of my favorite foods. “You went all out, didn’t you?” I said as we ate. “Not really,” Kalen said with a shrug. He was sitting across from me. “Just wanted to ensure you enjoyed lunch.”“I’m curious. What did you bribe Marcel with to get him to make all this for you?” I asked with a grin before I took a bite of my egg salad sandwich.“What? You don’t think I did this all myself?” he asked with feigned offense.“Not a chance,” I said. “I still clearly remember the last time you tried to cook.”“First off, I didn’t bribe him,” Kalen finally admitted. “I didn’t need to. All I had to do was say I would do it myself before he practically begged me to step away from the food prep area.”I laughed, able to see the horror on Marcel’s face. “He’s a smart man,” I say with a shake of my head. “Well, thank you for this, Kalen. I a
I sat in the grass with Danielle in front of me and Adelaide to my right. Once she heard Danielle was training me, she begged to join us. However, when I peaked at her while we were supposed to be meditating, she looked as frustrated as I was feeling today. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t focus.My thoughts kept going back to yesterday to the picnic with Kalen, and later the stargazing. It had been nice, easygoing, and reminded me of what we once were before all this, but also, as much as I tried, I was finding it harder to keep him at a distance. He seemed like he was a totally different person now. I sighed and tried to focus once more on the mediating and on myself, but it was impossible.“Alright,” Danielle said, sounding annoyed. “What’s making you sigh every few seconds?”I opened my eyes and felt the heat rising from my cheeks as I admitted, “Sorry, I can’t seem to focus today.”“Something you want to talk about?” she asked, and I shook my head. The last I wanted to do wa
Once Kalen and I were alone, he handed me a folder. “This is the report we have on your father,” he said, a look of guilt on his face. “Sorry. I am so sorry, Alyssa. From the beginning I should’ve told you, but… I didn’t want to give you a mysterious tragedy. Instead, I wanted to…” he sighed and shrugged. “I wanted to play the hero. Find the one responsible, punish him, then deliver his head to you… I know how stupid that is now.”Taking the folder from him, I nodded. “I appreciate the thought, Kalen. I really do, but you made me feel like an idiot. Like someone, no one feels the need to take it seriously. Just a toy to lay claim, play with when someone felt like it, then put me on the shelf until they’re bored again. You have no idea how demanding and dehumanising that is.”Kalen winced, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of my words pressed down on him. “You’re right,” he said quietly, his voice tinged with regret. “I was wrong to treat you that way. You deserved the truth from
I sat at the large desk in the rogue king’s office with several papers in front of me. There were letters between Carl and James. I flipped through the pages, my fingers tightening around the edges as I read. Carl’s resentment against my father seeped through every carefully penned word. He spoke of betrayals, real or imagined, and of how he could do better if only given the chance.James’ responses were more measured, calculated even. He never outright encouraged Carl’s complaints, but fed Carl’s frustration with carefully placed questions and vague statements. It was manipulation at its finest, and Carl had walked right into it blindly. He ate up everything James gave him. Idiot.As much as the letters against my father angered me, the ones mentioning me were worse. He expressed his frustration at our friendship not becoming more, but there was one that was rather crude, talking about what he’d like to do to me. The casual way he wrote about me, as if I were some prize to be claimed
I moved slowly, mimicking Danielle’s movements. It had been days since we returned from the raid of the safe house. Training Kalen’s mom had gone from a couple times of a day to everyday now. Danielle claimed “if you’re going to get into the middle of everything, you should know how to defend yourself.”I wasn’t about to argue. No one was ever going to get the upper hand on me ever again, and I wasn’t going to stay out of the hunt for Caden. I knew that doing whatever Danielle told me was going to ensure that. She didn’t believe in going easy on me, despite my condition, which I loved. It seemed so many people around here wanted to treat me as if I was made of glass just because I was pregnant. Danielle pivoted on her heel and threw a sharp jab toward my side. I barely had time to react, stepping back and raising my arm to deflect, just as she taught me. But I was too slow. Her fist stopped inches from my ribs, and she arched a brow.“Dead,” she said flatly.I groaned. “I blocked!”“
“Ah, Alyssa, good, you’re here,” the doctor said as soon as he saw me. “Come sit down. I heard you shifted.”“Wow, nothing stays secret for long in his place,” I said as I sat down on the hard exam bed.“No, it doesn’t,” the doctor said with a smile. “With that said, I need to do a checkup and make sure everything is as it should be.”“Alright,” I replied, trying to sound casual, even though my stomach was doing flips. Shifting for the first time after such a long time was great, but I also felt like the rumor mill had now put a giant spotlight on me.The doctor grabbed a clipboard and started scribbling something down. “Any unusual sensations afterward? Fatigue? Nausea? Difficulty shifting back?”I shook my head. “Nope, everything felt... normal, if not great.”He nodded, adjusting his glasses. “Good. That’s a promising sign. Sometimes, after such a long period, shifting can cause issues, not to mention the fact you’re pregnant and suffering from poisoning.”I smiled faintly. He just
I sat on the floor with the baby Kalen, and I rescued. She seemed to be almost a year old, or at least old enough to almost be ready to take her first steps. Which I hoped she didn’t do until she was with her family. They shouldn’t miss such an important milestone. She giggled, clapping her tiny hands together as I handed her a wooden block to play with. Her laugh was like a fragile thread of hope amid all the terribleness of this war.The baby reached out and tugged on a strand of my hair, babbling. Her innocence was almost painful to witness in a world so full of danger. I gently pried her tiny fingers away and held her close, her warmth grounding me. Trying hard not to get attached to her, I reminded myself it wasn’t her I longed for and wanted to keep in my arms, but my child. I wanted Caden.Yet I couldn’t deny it. Around the little girl, both Maddy and I felt much more relaxed. Maddy… I couldn’t believe it. My wolf was back. She was finally back. We hadn’t talked about what happ
I shook out my fur once I finished shifting. I growled at the woman and stared towards her when Kalen stepped between us.“Remember the child,” Kalen said to me, but he kept his eyes are on the woman. When he spoke again, he was speaking to her. “You aren’t going to escape us. If you run, she’s going to chase you down, and I’ll be right behind her, but not before I yell to the others. Among those others include the rogue king. Now, why don’t you do the best thing, hand the child to me and we can all end this day unharmed.”The woman’s lips curled into a sneer, her grip tightening on the baby in her arms. “No, she’s mine,” the woman insisted again. “James said she was mine now.” I could feel my claws itching to extend, my wolf straining against the reins I barely managed to hold. The child’s scent, innocent, vulnerable, mixed with the sharp tang of fear, and it was all I could do to keep from lunging at the woman and tearing her apart.Kalen didn’t flinch, his voice calm but steel-edge
I leaned against the tree, my arms crossed over my chest, with Kalen next to me. He paced back and forth nervously. We were far enough from the building to be safe, but close enough to see whoever came out.It had taken the lycan king’s trackers and the rogue scouts two more days to finish their intel on the place. While I couldn’t go inside with them, Kalen’s father let me go with the team. That was good enough for me, or it was until I heard the fighting. The rogue king had made it very clear this morning. I was not allowed to set a single foot inside that building.The distant guttural growls echoed through the woods, sending a chill down my spine. I clenched my fists, forcing myself to stay rooted to the spot. Kalen’s pacing quickened, his boots crunching against the frost-covered ground.“They’ve got it under control,” he muttered, though the tremor in his voice betrayed his doubt.I didn’t respond. My ears strained to pick up every sound from the skirmish going on inside the bui
I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off. Danielle had finally started moving on from meditation and we began doing some exercises. I didn’t know if it was because of the baby or because I was out of shape, but I found it all exhausting.When I stepped out of the shower, I saw Kalen sitting on the bed. As soon as he saw me, he stood. “Hey, Dad says he has an update for us.”“Really?” I said, unable to hide my excitement. “Where is he?”“He’s waiting for us in the office,” Kalen replied, and I swear I heard a hint of excitement in his voice, too.I followed him out of the room and into what I had thought was Kalen’s office. His father sat behind the desk, looking over the papers. “We’re here,” Kalen said as we walked inside.The rogue king looked up and nodded at us with a small smile on the edge of his mouth. “We’ve found a building that looks like it’s one of James’ safe houses, and the scouts seem to think there is a good chance Caden is being held there.” “Really? What did
As soon as I arrived back at the rogue encampment, Kalen’s father called a meeting. We all met in what once was Kalen’s office, though it seemed it was more like his father’s now. “So how did it go?”“You can expect the lycan king’s best trackers in a few days to help look for James,” I told them, enjoying the shocked expressions on everyone’s faces.“He agrees to help?” the rogue king asked, giving me now a strange speculative look. “How did you do it?”“Honestly, I’m not sure myself. All l did was call him out and his childish grudges and power plays,” I replied with a shrug.The room fell silent for a moment, the weight of my words hanging in the air. Kalen’s father, the rogue king, leaned back in the chair that used to be his son’s, steepling his fingers as his sharp gaze pinned me in place.“You called him out?” he repeated, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “And that worked?”“That would work,” Kalen’s mom said with a small smile. “He usually respects honesty…tho
A wave of relief washed over Adelaide and Thomas’ face when I joined them in the main room again. Before they could ask, I said, “Let’s find our rooms for the night.”Thomas nodded and look over at the others waiting as well. “Let’s go. We’re in the east wing tonight. Pair up and we’ll meet here, bright and early,” he told the others, and they followed me up an enormous staircase and took the hall to the right.Once we were in a room, Adelaide took a seat in a chair. “So what happened? What did he say? Did he listen? Is he going to help?”I laughed and took a seat next to her. “Short version is, I don’t know if he’ll help. He’ll probably tell me tomorrow, hopefully,” I replied.“And the long version?”“To start with, the king tried to pull the same old tricks he did when Kalen and I met him last time. He tried to bribe me if I could get Kalen to betray his father and be loyal only to him,” I said, and Adelaide’s disgusted look matched my own.Thomas sighed and shook his head. “Then wh