Chapter 146

YENA

My first thought when I saw the news was: This can’t be happening.

I got an alert first on my phone. Then I ran downstairs and turned on the TV in the den, and sure enough, it was there on every channel: Adan had declared war against Nolan.

Evan appeared at my side and said something, but I didn’t hear him. I was deep inside my thoughts, searching my memories, trying to process what this all meant.

Adan, smooth talking and insidious, had tricked me once again into thinking he was an innocent bystander, when really he had still been plotting against my husband all this time.

My mind flipped through all our conversations over the past weeks. Adan must have had an ulterior motive for all the attention he’d been paying me. He’d been trying so hard to get back into my good graces.

Surely he had been using me. But for what?

Had I betrayed any information to him? Given him something he could use against Nolan?

At the thought of Nolan, Lily awoke within me. She was telling me that our fated mate needed us.

“Get back to his side,” she cried, “before it’s too late!”

My wolf had been right about Adan. Maybe she was right about this, too. My chest tightened with anxiety.

I looked at my phone, re-reading the last messages I’d exchanged with Adan. It felt surreal, knowing now that he’d deceived me so well.

A memory came back to me then. Nolan’s voice, saying, “He’s not who you think he is…”

Next thing I knew, I was storming back up to my room and calling Nolan. It rang and rang. I thought he was not going to answer.

But then he picked up at the last second, saying: “Yena.”

“Nolan, I saw the news.”

“Listen to me, Yena.” Nolan’s voice was completely calm. “I don’t have much time right now. Are you and Evan prepared for your flight?”

I scoffed. “How are you asking me about that right now? It hardly seems like it matters, with what else is happening—”

He cut me off. “That’s why I’m saying it, Yena. Please. Make sure you two get on that plane this weekend. You may not have another chance to leave.”

“What are you talking about, Nolan?”

“I’m talking about Adan. I know you’ve seen him.”

My breath caught in my throat, and I clasped my free hand over my mouth. Nolan did not sound upset, but my heart hurt as I imagined what he must be thinking about me, knowing I had been spending time with his enemy.

“I swear to you, Nolan, nothing happened with Adan…”

“It doesn’t matter,” he interrupted gently. “But you should know that he has been having you followed since you moved out of the palace.”

My jaw dropped. It felt like a brick fell into my stomach, and I had to sit down to keep from bowling over.

Nolan sighed. “I want you to go and follow your dream abroad. And you will be safer once you get to the human world, too.”

“But Nolan… do you need me here?” I said it before I could lose my nerve. Nolan was still my husband, and deep down I knew I should be fulfilling my duty as his Luna to support him right now.

“No,” he answered firmly. “You must go, Yena. Adan is fixated on you, and if you stay here, he will just use you to get to me.”

Tears pooled in my eyes. Lily was crying inside of me, telling me that Nolan was lying.

“He does need you,” she whined. “And he still loves you…”

NOLAN

“I should be there with you,” Yena said quietly.

Nolan’s heart started pounding. But her words were about duty and responsibility. She did not say she wanted to be with him – only that she should.

“I will stay here and fight,” he said. “That is what I was born to do. Making your art is what you were born to do.”

“It just doesn’t seem like the right time,” she argued.

“It’s the only time. The only chance you will get to leave before this world becomes very dangerous. Adan is going to challenge me the first chance that he gets. And if I am defeated, you will be in even greater danger.”

“Don’t talk like that, Nolan,” Yena snapped. “You deserve your crown, and you are stronger than him. He will not defeat you.” Her voice wobbled, telling Nolan she was holding back tears.

But Nolan was in a level-headed, unemotional mindset. He had been training for this moment for his entire life. He was feeling focused and steady-handed, ready for what was coming.

“Whatever happens here will be my fate,” he said calmly. “No matter what becomes of me, I want you to have the life that you always dreamed of. I will take care of Adan. Just please, promise me that you will get on the plane.”

Nolan’s mother looked even thinner than usual, and her aura was heavy with worry.

“It’s no coincidence,” she told Nolan, staring at him over the rim of her wine glass. “Adan knows she is leaving. And that you are weaker without her. That’s why he waited until now.”

The prince shook his head. “There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

Luna arched an eyebrow at him, no doubt ready to repeat herself on the topic of commanding Yena to return to the palace. But a soft knock on the prince’s office door alerted them that their visitors had arrived.

Nolan’s secretary ushered the men inside.

“The others are following your target now,” one of the old mercenaries said in his low, raspy voice, cutting directly to the chase. Nolan remembered this man to be the only speaker for his pack of old, rogue wolves, when he met four of them at his birthday party. This one was the leader.

Luna glared at the hulking werewolves that stood, brazenly, before royalty without bowing. “Where is he?” she asked sharply.

“Rallying support.” The mercenary shrugged. “Out in the open. Seemingly unsecured.”

“And what now, Nolan?” The queen looked up at her son expectantly.

The prince stood, silently recalling his father’s words. Nolan’s future was hanging in the balance. He had to be careful not only about how to fight this enemy and survive. He also had to find a way to do it with honor.

“I cannot make the first move against him,” Nolan said. “The only thing we can do now is wait.”

Once his mother left the room, though, Nolan did ask one favor of the pair of rough old men.

He took them out to the forest behind the palace and showed them the place. It looked like nothing more than a hole in the ground.

But the prince, his countenance dark and serious, informed the men that this tunnel ran deep. And their job tonight was to fill it completely.

“I apologize if this job is beneath you,” Nolan said. “But it is, after all, your absolute discretion that I value most in our alliance.” He then turned on his heel and disappeared into the trees before they could ask any questions.