I consider joining her, but I have no desire to right now. I’d rather make sure Marius is okay.
“How about the two of you go sort out your alpha business?” I suggest to Cade. “I’ll be okay with Marius and Archie.”
Cade studies me like he’s checking for cracks—irregular breathing patterns, micro-expressions, any hint that I’m pretending to be fine when I’m not. For a second, I’m certain he’s going to refuse my suggestion. And honestly? I wouldn’t blame him.
But then Cade leans in and presses a slow, grounding kiss to my lips. “I won’t be far.”
Warmth settles through me, steady and sure. I press a hand to his chest, right over his heartbeat. “See you soon.”
His eyes soften, then he gives a curt nod and headstoward Elias, still standing near the doorway. Halfway there, Cade pauses and glances back at my father.
“I believe you about Bram,” he says. “I’ve only spoken with him a few times, but if I’m right about what he’s doing, it’s not going to be a problem for us.”
Marius stays seated. “No,” he agrees quietly, confidence threaded through the words. “I don’t imagine it will be.”
Cade and Elias leave, and for the first time since the cave, I’m left alone with my dad. Well, sort of.
Archie is still curled in my lap, a warm, snoring loaf of fur. He only startled awake long enough to register Elias’s sudden entrance, then fell straight back to sleep. I run my fingers down his belly, reassuring myself that he’s okay with the easy rise and fall of his breathing.
He spent days in his Great-Dane-sized form searching for me. He pushed past every limit he had to find me. He shouldn’t have had to, but I’m undoubtedly grateful he tried.
“He’ll be okay,” Marius says with quiet certainty. “I’ve known a few of his kind. They’re sturdier than they look.” Then a small smile curves his lips. “It’s interesting, seeing you with him. I remember when Iris gave him to your mother.” His eyes warm, nostalgia dimming the present for a beat. “She thought a ferret could replace what Jocelyn and I had.” A soft huff. “She was wrong, of course. But I think it worked out. He was meant for you.”
I trace a thumb along Archie’s side, feeling the familiar texture of his brown fur and the warmth beneath. “Yeah,” I murmur. “I think so, too. I can’t imagine my life without him.”
Marius clears his throat, the sound low and hesitant enough to pull my gaze up.
“I’m sorry if I startled you with my reaction when I found you in the woods,” he says. “I was certain I was following your mother’s scent.” His voice breaks a little as he lays a hand over his chest. “Even now, I swear I still feel her.”
I tilt my head. “Feel her? How?”
As far as I’ve been told, my parents weren’t mates, so this definitely falls under theRowan Didn’t Get the Manualcategory of wolf-people facts.
Marius lifts one shoulder in a quiet shrug, the lines around his eyes deepening with something that looks like memory and loss. “It’s been that way since she became pregnant with you. Like a thread I could sense but never pull. I think that’s how I honored her request to stay away.” He huffs softly. “A poor consolation prize, but it was better than being cut off entirely from her.”
My chest tightens. “I still don’t understand why she kept you away. You could have protected us.”
His smile is small, sad, but sincere. “She thought she was protectingme,too. Jocelyn didn’t want my wolf to be without a pack. And she wouldn’t believe me when I said it didn’t matter.” His gaze drops to the table. “Even my wolf didn’t want anyone else after she was gone.”
A quiet, aching truth settles between us.
That’s hands-down the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever heard. Even Archie makes a soft grumble in his sleep, like he agrees.
“I’m sorry,” I say, and the words feel too small. “I wishthings had been different. That we’d all been able to stay together.”
“Your mother wanted you to have the life she never could,” he says gently. There’s no bitterness, no edge to it—just understanding. “She never wanted you to feel trapped the way she did.”
The frustrating part is, after that first day, I haven’t felt stuck at NightShade. Not really. The life I’ve found here—the people I’ve met—it’s become the home I thought I might never have again.
Marius seems to read that right off my face. “Don’t think differently of her, Rowan. None of us knows who we might’ve become if she’d chosen another path. She did what she believed was right.”
He’s right, and I know it. None of us can change the past, and I won’t ever love my mom less for it. It’s not hard to believe she did the best she could with the situation she was put into. I know that now, just as I always have.
“Thank you for coming back here with us,” I say softly. “I know Iris isn’t…easy.” Understatement of the century. “But maybe she’ll grow on you like she did on me.”
His dark eyes flick toward the hallway where Iris disappeared. “Something is off with her,” he says, brows knitting. “More than usual.”
A humorless laugh slips out of me. “You’re not wrong.”
