Chapter 4

In no time at all, Callum had the whole terrace set up. Fur rugs on the floor. Wine and little plates of food along the long table. Lanterns everywhere, the kind the wind couldn't put out. He sent every servant away, so it was only us.

"You never used to let me have a quiet drink with you." He poured for me. "It was always one fight after another."

The wine rocked gently in my glass. I didn't say a word.

To him, that sounded like a yes. His mood got even better.

"But look at you now. I'm going to start making more time for you." He settled back, already dreaming out loud. "Tomorrow, they start on the nursery. And I really hope she's a girl." He smiled across the table at me. "With your silver hair. Your eyes. Once she's big enough, I'll be the one who teaches her to hunt."

My grip on the glass went tight.

The pup we should have raised together was gone. He'd washed out of me with my blood. And here was his father, planning birthdays for a child who would never exist.

The hollow in my belly ripped open all over again. It hurt so bad I could hardly breathe.

"Wren? Hey." He put his hand over mine, frowning with worry. "You're white as a sheet."

I looked at him.

That was the way he used to look at me. Back when he was brand new as Alpha of Ashcrest and kept showing up at the Sanctum by himself. That time the snow had closed the mountain pass, he stood there covered in frost with a Moontear lily in his fist.

"I don't want to hear about the Goddess's plan for you. Or that you were born for the robes." His eyes were on fire, stubborn and honest. "I want you. As my Luna. The Moon Goddess herself can try to stop me."

That was the moment I stopped saying no.

He'd made it clear he'd stand against the whole world for me. So I walked away from the Sanctum for him, and from everything it had ever given me.

And now he had no idea our pup was gone.

I forced down the bitter lump in my throat. I was going to tell him.

"Callum. Listen, there's something—"

Footsteps pounded up from below. A guard came running and went down on one knee at the foot of the terrace.

"Alpha, the Beta's maid is asking for you."

Callum lifted a hand at me, shushing me before he even thought about it. "Bring her up. Now."

I bit my lip until I tasted blood.

The maid hurried up, head bowed, voice trembling.

"The Beta was opening her letters and cut herself on the silver opener. The bleeding won't stop."

A paper cut, basically. From a bit of silver. And Callum's whole face changed. He was out of his chair before she'd finished talking, and he never even looked my way.

"Take me to her."

I watched him go and almost laughed.

Three days ago, I was on my knees outside the pool gates, holding my belly, and he said I was overreacting. Brielle nicks her finger, and he can't get there fast enough.

He was two steps away when he seemed to remember I existed. He turned around.

"Wait, you had something to tell me?"

Moonlight fell across his face and those eyes I used to be so in love with.

Looking at him, I felt the last bit of warmth in me go cold.

"It can wait. Forever, probably." I raised the glass to my lips. "You should go."

He hesitated. Maybe I was too calm. He frowned, but he didn't push.

"Stay put. I won't be long."

And he went down the steps behind the maid.

Once his footsteps were completely gone, I got up and went to my room.

The bag by my bed was already packed. There was almost nothing in it. My old priestess robes. My prayer book. A tiny charm I'd bought for the pup, one he'd never get to wear.

Six years in that house, and that was all I wanted to take.

With the bag over my shoulder, I left the Alpha's house. The big front doors swung closed at my back.

The Hollowfir woods, the watchtowers, the last patrol line. I put them all behind me one by one. Up ahead, the boundary stones stood pale and white under the moon.

Just beyond them waited a carriage, a crescent-shaped lantern swaying on its roof.

I stepped over the line.

"Six years," an old voice said from the dark. "We kept your bed made, Wren. Welcome home."