Chapter Eleven
The morning after smelledof ash and rain, the city’s skyline hazed by storm clouds waiting to break.Rune sat on the edge of the bed, boots laced, shirt clinging damp to his shoulders.Klarissa stood at the window, her silhouette framed by muted gray light, while Kamon strapped on his holsters with a precision that betrayed nerves he would never admit aloud.They were subdued, every word weighted by the knowledge of what was coming.Today was the day—the morning of war.
The quiet was broken by the sharp buzz of Kamon’s phone.He frowned, glancing at the screen, and his jaw tightened.“It’s them.”
Rune knew immediately who.Their parents.His gut clenched as Kamon answered, switching to speaker.The room erupted instantly with furious voices—accents thick, words tumbling over each other, their mother and father both yelling in rapid succession.Demands.Anger.Fear.Neither son could get a word in.
“You had better be calling to tell us that you’ve fixed everything with your mate,” their father roared.Did you fix it?Did you?”
Their mother’s voice cut sharper, accusing and pleading all at once.“Where is she?Where is Klarissa?I will not forgive until I see her.Show me!”
Rune and Kamon traded a look.Then, as if by silent agreement, Rune reached out, pulling Klarissa gently from the window and placing her squarely between them in the camera’s view.
The yelling ceased.For a beat, only the sound of static filled the line.Their parents’ faces softened, eyes widening with recognition and something like relief.Their mother pressed fingers to her lips, tears shimmering.Their father’s stern mouth trembled before he forced it back into a line.
“Daughter,” their mother said in halting English, thick with accent but clear enough.“We ...we are sorry for yelling just now.We were angry.Afraid.We thought you lost.Thought our sons had destroyed everything.”
Klarissa swallowed, her hand finding Rune’s as she leaned back into Kamon.“I understand.I was angry too.But we are together now.Whole.We didn’t break, not completely.We’re stronger than ever now.”
Their father exhaled shakily, his gaze sharpening.“You forgive them?”
“I do,” Klarissa said firmly.“I chose them.And I’ll keep choosing them.”
Tears slipped down their mother’s cheeks.“Then ...then we are glad.You are ours now.Our daughter.”
Klarissa opened her mouth, guilt tightening her throat.“I’m sorry for what Caruso did—”
Both Rune and Kamon shushed her gently at once, their hands squeezing hers, voices overlapping with quiet certainty.“No.Nothing to forgive.Not from you.”
Her mother nodded firmly through her tears.“Yes.Nothing.You are not him.You are ours.”
Rune felt the crushing weight of his parents’ disapproval ease.Kamon cleared his throat, but his voice cracked anyway.“We will bring her to you soon.A week, maybe two.When things settle here.”
His mother’s brows knit.“Settle?What you mean, settle?”
Rune’s mouth went dry.He answered because Kamon couldn’t.“We have joined a new Pride.We fight with them now.Protect with them.Their women are the heart, and Klarissa is ours.”
The silence stretched.Then their father’s laugh came, rough and unexpected.“A Pride.My sons, part of something great as I know they would be.Prestigious.Strong.I am proud.”His eyes glistened, though his smile stayed firm, and he winked.“Do not die before you bring her home.”
Rune barked a laugh through a throat that burned.“We won’t.We promise.”
Words tumbled then—love, fierce and clumsy.Their mother telling Klarissa she wanted to braid her hair, to feed her, to hold her.Their father swearing he would honor her as blood.Klarissa’s tears matched theirs, her smile trembling but radiant.They spoke until the line frayed with emotion, until Rune’s chest ached with the weight of what he had almost lost.
