Chapter 73

Logan

The Alpha King’s study was filled with worn old books and held the lingering smell of wood smoke from his dying hearth. The air always felt a little heavier here, as though the weight of the kingdom had seeped into the furniture. It weighed on me acutely as I stood waiting for his verdict

He didn’t look up right away when I entered, just nodded toward the empty chair in front of his desk and steepled his fingers.

“You summoned me, Your Majesty,” I said, keeping my voice neutral. I was good at putting on an appearance of calm. I often had to, as the pack’s leader.

He finally raised his head. His expression was unreadable as always, but there was something new behind his eyes. It took me a moment to identify that it was something soft and worn.

“I did,” he said. His voice, as always, was a thunderous boom in the quiet.

A beat passed. Then he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “I called you here to say thank you… for bringing Evelyn home.”

The silence that followed stretched. There was no mention of the fact that he’d threatened to banish me the last time I had failed to immediately meet his expectations. No recognition of the line I crossed to get her back. No apology. No acknowledgment of the fact that I had to face the traumas of my past and face off with my half-brother to do so.

But coming from him, those sparse words were more than I ever expected. The Alpha King did not show gratitude easily.

“You’re welcome,” I said simply. And because I knew there would be no handshake, no fanfare, I let it lie. Sometimes, surviving was the only reward. And in this case, it also meant that Evelyn was safe and free. So I stood and nodded.

“That is all, Alpha,” the Alpha King said. “Our bickering on the matter is over. You are dismissed.”

I left without argument, eager to get out from under his assessing view.

The halls of the palace were quieter than usual, and what servants I saw in conversation were speaking in hushed tones. They were still reeling from the aftermath of Evelyn’s return, no doubt. Rumors would be flying about her time there, and some of them would be unsavory.

And Jesse… Jesse’s shadow loomed even larger over all of us now.

I made my way to the medical wing, my boots echoing off marble. The scent of antiseptic and herbs met me at the door. Evelyn’s room was tucked in a quieter section and partitioned off with cloth curtains, away from prying eyes and overeager mouths.

She looked stronger than she had yesterday. She was still pale, but upright in bed, a blanket draped around her shoulders and a book in her lap that she clearly wasn’t reading. Her eyes snapped up the moment I stepped in, narrowing just slightly. When she recognized me, she smiled softly in a way that pulled at something in my chest.

“You didn’t knock,” she said.

I grinned. “Didn’t think I needed permission. Besides, it’s hard to knock on curtains.”

“Wouldn’t hurt,” she said, setting the book aside. “I’m rethinking who gets to enter my space freely these days.”

I crossed the room and pulled a chair up beside her bed. It was the one I had sat in for hours and hours, waiting for her to wake up. “Glad to see that fire’s back.”

She rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched like she was trying not to smile. “I’d be angrier if I could sit up longer than twenty minutes without getting dizzy. Mal Root is a bitch. I didn’t realize how tough it would be to recover from it.”

“I take it that means you’ve never been drugged from it before.”

Her brow arched. “Have you?”

“Once, on a scouting campaign.” I smiled slightly. “You’re right. It really is a bitch to recover from.”

She made a face. “Jesse miscalculated the dosage in the first batch. I was unconscious for three days.”

I didn’t respond to that. Didn’t need to. Plus, I wasn’t sure I was capable of speaking then. Fury had wound my tongue into knots.

We both knew how close it all had been.

“I came to ask about Jesse, actually,” I said, leaning back in the chair. “He’s been spotted in the city. Not the outskirts this time but the actual city. He’s getting bolder or else he has some specific reason for being there. Someone to meet up with. We have reason to believe he brought rogues with him. Do you know anything he might be planning?”

Evelyn’s brow furrowed. “No. He never talked about the city or even any concrete plans in front of me. He mostly asked me for hypothetical routes into the palace. He was asking about guard rotations, entrances, and hidden tunnels. That was all, really.”

I frowned. “So he’s still thinking of the long game.”

“Always.” She picked at the edge of the blanket. “But he’s impulsive when he’s angry. If he’s in the city, it means he thinks someone there owes him something, or he wants to make a statement.”

I nodded, storing the information away. Her insight into Jesse was clearer than most war maps. It was odd to note that she might know more about my brother than me.

“Of course, I gave him all false information,” she said with a smirk. “None of the routes or guard changes I gave him were true. I expect he’ll be trying the southern wing when he attempts to break in. I told him it was the most vulnerable.”

I felt something in my chest swell at this: Pride. Pride for this brilliant woman who had had the foresight to lie to save us even in her drugged state.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll pass that on to the scouts.”

I stood to leave, not wanting to wear her out more than necessary. But something in me lingered like some weight that hadn’t settled.

At the door, I turned back. “I meant what I said, Evelyn.”

She looked up at me, brows raised. “Which part?”

“That I’m grateful you’re home. And safe.”

Something flickered across her face. Surprise, maybe. Or perhaps it was that something neither of us was brave enough to name. The something that fluttered in my chest just looking at her.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

I left before I could say anything stupid, like how her voice was the only thing keeping me focused from exploding about this recent news of Jesse. Or how her absence had been a weight on my shoulders that had made it hard to breathe. Or how watching her sleep and seeing her so still, quiet, and pale, had cracked something in me I didn’t know could break.

I walked the halls back toward my quarters, but every step felt heavier than the last. My chest ached, and I rubbed it without thinking, sliding my palm right over my heart.

Damn it.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. I thought I had been careful. So careful. But I felt it anyway, the quiet shift, the slow unraveling. My wolf raised its head, stirring as I came to the conclusion: I might just be falling for her after all.