Chapter 51

Logan

I’d led men into battle, watched them bleed and fall, and I still marched forward. I’d memorized maps, endured sleepless nights at war tables, and hunted down rogue threats until my soul felt threadbare. I’d given everything I had to this fight.

And it hadn’t been enough.

Evelyn had been right to point it out. She could see what I had been too blind to as I stood in the midst of the storm. Until she had underscored it, I could admit that a part of me had been too stubborn to see it, too.

So yes, I was floored when the Alpha King—my Alpha—gave Evelyn the floor and then, astonishingly, gave her the lead. Her call for diplomacy had turned heads and started arguments among the ruling werewolves. But now she wasn’t just offering opinions. She was changing the strategy of an entire kingdom.

Gods, she was brilliant. Evelyn was clear-eyed and courageous in ways that left most council members scrambling to keep up. After so much time thinking that there was one solution, we were all stunned to hear her suggestion and see the bravery she displayed at stepping up when the opportunity presented itself.

I was ashamed to admit that I had been initially shocked when she first arrived, though. I hadn’t been expecting her and had never seen her attend a meeting before. And then there was the fact that the Alpha King had directly extended the invitation to her. It meant something, but I couldn’t put my finger on what, exactly.

But while I had initially been surprised to see her there, I hadn’t been shocked when the Alpha King invited her to the following day’s meeting. Of course, she would want to show her findings and present her outlined terms.

However, this time, the prince, Alex, was present.

My instincts bristled against him being there, remembering the way Evelyn had murmured about him drunkenly in that alley. As we waited for her to arrive, I watched him pick at his nails with contempt.

Evelyn bustled in and stood in the center of the council chamber, unshaken, a parchment in hand, and her spine straight like she’d been born for this. I observed Alex’s reaction to her carefully and did not miss when they exchanged a brief, small smile. It took everything in me to stifle the snarl that rose unbidden at the tiny gesture.

“This,” she said, lifting the document she had been hugging to her chest, “is a working treaty between the werewolf kingdom and the rogue encampment. I have outlined terms that would make it so that we don’t give an inch, but we can participate in some semblance of peace. This is all assuming Jesse will even come to the table, of course. I intend to present these propositions to him tomorrow.”

No one interrupted as she went through the items outlined in the document. Not even the council members who had doubted her last time had anything to say as she expertly fleshed out the proposed initiative.

“The treaty outlines mutual boundaries, patrol limitations, and a monitored economic agreement,” she explained, her voice steady. “With this, we will be able to establish trade, resource access, and even education support for rogue children. This is all in exchange for intel and ceasefire compliance. It’s not trust,” she added. “It’s an incentive. And it’s one of the few things we have left.”

She placed the treaty on the table. Everyone regarded it with raised brows, impressed. I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest and trying to push down the rising sense of pride I felt for her. I didn’t want it to show too outwardly in such important company, even if Alex was openly beaming at her.

“We’re not giving them power. We’re giving them structure,” she concluded.

And damn it, it was good.

Even the resistant councilwoman to the left—the one who'd once accused Evelyn of speaking too boldly—nodded in reluctant approval.

The Alpha King leaned back in his chair, hands folded. “This is thoughtful work,” he said. “And you did this all last night?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Evelyn said. “Though it’s been something I’ve admittedly been considering for a while.”

The Alpha King nodded slowly, looking pleased. But like me, it seemed he was trying to dampen the expression.

“Very well. I will review your proposal and return a revised copy to you to present to the rogue leader if and when a meeting is established. You will move forward with initiating contact. Send our invitation to Jesse for tomorrow.”

Evelyn bowed her head respectfully. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

And then she turned and left the room.

The moment the door shut behind her, the chamber turned into a hornet’s nest.

“Who is she, really?” someone whispered.

A few people pressed their lips together, exchanging strange, unreadable looks.

“She’s not just Logan’s wife,” another muttered. “Where did she learn to negotiate like that?”

Some looked to me as if I might provide an explanation, but I didn’t answer.

Because the truth was, I didn’t know. Not truly, at least. There was clearly more to Evelyn than met the eye.

I married Evelyn for curing Emma. But there was nothing relatable to the woman I used to know. And maybe there never had been.

“Alright, that’s enough,” the Alpha King declared, cutting their speculation short. “Let us go back to our conversation on trade routes now.”

I left the council late, head spinning, thoughts tangled. I didn’t plan on seeing her again that day, but fate had other ideas.

I rounded a corner on the third floor of the palace, just near the eastern stairwell, and stopped short.

Evelyn was standing with Alex.

And not just standing. She was leaning in, listening intently to something he was saying. He towered over her, talking about something in a voice too low for me to hear, even as I strained to catch an errant word. They were simply standing too closely for me to discern any of it.

Then she reached up and deftly fixed his tie.

My teeth clenched so hard it was a wonder they didn’t shatter.

It wasn’t intimate. Not really. Her fingers moved professionally, while he stood frozen with an expression somewhere between reverence and embarrassment.

But even if it wasn’t particularly affectionate, it wasn’t nothing, either. He was letting her touch him, and she was acting like she’d done it a hundred times before.

She laughed at something he said then. The sound was music. I hated that he was the one conducting it.

And I just stood there like a fool.

Not out of jealousy, but out of confusion.

How had she gotten here?

Who was she really?

I’d brought her into my life thinking she was an exceptional healer at most. But was she hiding a past just as she had accused Emma of doing?

She clearly had a history that I did not know of and had never thought or cared to interrogate. But somehow, this mysterious past overlapped with Alex enough for him to allow her closeness in that hallway. They interacted like they had years of experience together, memories that trailed back long before she had ever met me.

So who was she?

Why does she make a sting of jealousy flare up in my chest?