A throat clears behind her, and for the first time, I realize we’re not alone.
My entire body snaps tight. A growl slips free before I can choke it down, low and primal, vibrating up my spine. Instinct takes over, and I tuck Rowan slightly behind me, shielding her, muscles tight enough to snap bone.
A man stands a few feet away.
Tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair silvering at the temples. Light brown eyes, marking him as Stoneclaw Pack—watchful, quietly aching.
He doesn’t move.
But the grief in him is so bare, so bleeding and unhidden, it hits me like a blade pressed straight to the ribs.
He’s not a risk, my wolf says.I would have warned you. He smells like Rowan. I think that’s Marius.
A conclusion I was coming to as well, except that knowledge doesn’t soothe the tension gutting through me. If he’s Marius, then why now? Why here? Why not weeks ago—before she walked into a nightmare alone?
“Cade,” Rowan breathes behind me, her palm sliding down my arm. “It’s okay. That’s my… He’s my dad.”
My full attention goes back to her, softening only for my mate. “And you’re fine with him here now?”
She nods, eyes watering. “He found me after I escaped and probably saved my life. I didn’t know where to go.”
I would have found her, but I don’t point that out. Not when it’s so clear with the way she keeps casting glances at him that she needs this moment to hold onto.
So, I look past her and meet the man’s stare with one of my own. “Thank you.”
“None needed,” he replies, voice rough with emotion but steady. “And you’d be?”
“Her mate.”
It comes out clipped and unyielding. Territorial in a way I won’t apologize for. He’s her father, and I’ll respect that, but I’m also the male who will bleed and kill and die for her, and he needs to understand that, too.
Marius dips his chin once, slow and assessing. “Very well.” He gestures toward the mouth of the cave, the faint howl of wind echoing beyond. “We should get moving. We’re exposed here, and if that sorcerer is following?—”
A sharp crack echoes from outside. Something heavy hits the ground with a thud that reverberates through the stone.
Only two of us tense, and before I know what’s happening, Rowan is moving toward the opening.
I reach for her, but she’s a step ahead, intent on doing as she pleases.
Panic for her safety gnaws at me, but then I sense what I’m sure she already has.
Archie.
He barrels past the last boulder, snow spraying off his fur in a glittering arc. He’s enormous—bigger than I’ve yet to see him—and he doesn’t hesitate before wrapping his long body around Rowan, like he’s trying to shield her from the world itself.
Marius is suddenly at my side, claws sliding free, body coiled to strike. I lift a hand, cutting him off before he makes a mistake neither of us can take back.
“He’s her familiar,” I say low.
Marius snaps his gaze toward me. “But she’s a wolfshifter.” His jaw flexes, tension crackling through him like static. “Not a witch.”
“I know.” My voice comes out rougher than intended. “I can’t explain it, but I’m certain. I’ve seen the way they move together. The way he reacts to her. Their bond doesn’t follow any rule I’ve ever known.”
Archie may not share her blood. He may not be a wolf. But I’ve watched him guard her with a loyalty that defies any logic our world runs on.
And as much as it should chip at the territorial instinct embedded in every inch of my DNA… It doesn’t.
He’s the only other creature on this earth I don’t feel the need to challenge for space at her side. Probably because he carved out a place there long before I ever entered her life, and I couldn’t hurt Rowan in that way by ever making her feel as though she had to choose between the two of us.
