Chapter 8

Claire's POV

I don't know what Daphne made up after Gideon realized I was left. But Gideon is cruel enough to want me erased. That much was clear.

Even the whole celebration was probably a trap to capture me.

I am foolish enough to believe that after all these years, even though he never love me back, he will give me a chance to explain myself in a more peaceful way.

Now I have to say the truth hurts.

As soon as I make it to the car, I hide until Peter pulls open the door and throws himself in the driver's seat.

The car skids on the dirt road, circling wide around the packhouse until the lanterns and cheers are nothing but faint echoes behind us.

We ride without speaking, without breathing. My thoughts tumble over themselves as the woods swallow us.

“Claire,” Peter says gently. “You need to rest. You’re still recovering. I'll wake you when we get there."

"I can't. If I close my eyes," My voice cracks. "If I close my eyes, I'll see my little boy. I'll see my life before all of this."

He observes me carefully in the rearview mirror and nods.

“I can’t go back there,” I told him. “Gideon wants me dead."

Peter doesn't speak for a while and then sighs. “Then you have to talk to him.”

I didn’t need to ask who. Ivan.

The Alpha Prince who saved me for some reason he won't disclose.

“I’m not sure he’ll listen,” I admit.

“You have to try,” Peter says. “For you and your children. You've survived more than most warriors could. He won't deny you."

We reach the gates of the Night Mountain estate by dawn. I haven’t slept in days and it was beginning to weigh heavily on me.

I was ready to beg.

Ivan doesn't make me wait. He met us in the hall, eyes heavy-lidded from lack of sleep or disinterest—maybe both. He's dressed in black again. Always black, like he wants to blend into the shadows of this place. A man of ritual and permanence.

He looks at me like he is trying to place a memory behind my eyes. His gaze feels sad.

“I need to stay,” I say. “Not as a guest. As one of yours.”

His brow lifts, just slightly. “And why would I allow that?”

“Because I have nothing left,” I say. “No one. Except my daughter. And she needs somewhere safe. Somewhere I can raise her and heal.

“Not my problem,” he says, but his voice doesn’t hold the same cold bite.

“When I shifted for the first time, I was prophesied to be the strongest she-wolf of this generation.” I step forward, grabbing his hand. “Even though I lost my wolf because of the wolfsbane, I’ll earn my place. I’ll fight. Patrol. Hunt. You said yourself you’re tired of dealing with invaders. Let me prove myself.”

He tilts his head. The silence that follows stretches long enough for my hands to start trembling again.

Ivan can feel my anxiety. “Strongest she-wolf, hm? That strength should still be there. Somewhere.”

“It is,” I nod. “But it’s buried. And I need time to dig it out.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Grief? Recognition? I don't know.

“You remind me of someone,” he murmurs. “She died a long time ago.”

"Who is that?" I asked.

Ivan responds with silence. I guess I will never know.

After another beat, he sighs. “Fine. You’ll train with the warriors. You’ll answer to my Beta. If you prove useful, you’ll stay.”

Relief almost makes my knees give out from under me. “Thank you.”

He squeezes my hand before dropping it. “You’ll start tomorrow. You can still run, can’t you?”

I smile, despite myself. “Watch me.”

Ivan turns and walks back into his office without another word. But I catch the faintest curl of something on his lips before he turned.

Maybe a smile.

Later, as I stand at the edge of the courtyard watching the wind rustle through the trees, Emma brings me my daughter.

She looks up at me with sleepy eyes, still getting used to the world around her.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" Emma asks.

I think for a moment. If I had known my mother's name, I might have named my child after her. But that woman was nameless to me. A ghost story on the wind. One of the thousands of stars in the sky.

Stars.

Because she is one of a kind, she is my light in the dark. She is the only thing that keeps me warm in this dark world I find myself in.

“I think I'll name her Nova.” I touch Nova's cheek gently.

No scratches. No blood. No tears.

How it is meant to be.

Emma’s brows lifted. "A strong name."

Nova is the only thing I have now that is real. I press my lips to her forehead.

And I promise her silently: We are not running anymore. I will make us a home.

Gideon's POV

Daphne kissing me in front of the pack wasn’t planned. Neither was the announcement of our so-called engagement.

However, it kept things simple and clean. At least that’s what I told myself.

I liked things to be clean.

Still, the taste of my anger sits bitter on my tongue.

But that's not whats drowning my mind. I swear just after the baby started crying I swore I saw her. A flicker at the edge of the crowd. Red hair. A shadow of a presence that tugged at something deep in my chest.

Claire.

I ordered the guards to find her immediately, but they came back empty-handed.

"No sign, Alpha," one of them said. "Are you sure it wasn't just a trick of the light?"

He's lucky I didn't rip his throat out.

Leo still won’t stop crying and my heart won't stop feeling heavy. He only settles for short moments. Then the wailing starts again. And no matter how many things we do, he continues to mourn his mother.

I’m failing. I know it. Exhaustion claws at me, the weight of fatherhood, leadership, loss. It’s breaking something inside.

Xavier comes to me with news. Finally.

"We found tracks near the southern ridge. Definitely hers. But it’s strange—they end right near Night Mountain territory."

The Alpha Prince's territory.

My stomach knots.

Ivan doesn’t interfere. He barely acknowledges the existence of other packs. The idea that Claire might’ve ended up there? It doesn’t sit right. Ivan would never have allowed that.

My feet move without my permission. I need to speak with him.