Chapter 56

ELENA

The summit was winding down.

The final signatures had been inked, ceremonial photos snapped. The halls of the venue were quieter now. Not empty—there were still guards, staff, a few straggling Alphas and their entourages—but the storm had passed.

Blood and scorching covered and erased with fresh paint and hastily scrubbed tiles, a reminder that the shield of peace was always paper-thin.

The revised treaty had been signed an hour ago. Everyone had clapped. Shaken hands. Toasted with crystal flutes and stiff smiles. But I’d watched the eyes behind those glasses. No one was relaxed. No one was fooled.

I wasn’t, either.

We’d survived the explosion. The rogue assault. The political scandal. For now. But none of it felt over. Not to me.

I lingered in the corridor outside the Moonstone suite, half hoping I’d spot Mason, half hoping I wouldn’t. The knot in my stomach hadn’t eased in days. I couldn’t tell if it was exhaustion, worry, or some darker sense of what was still coming.

When I turned the corner, I nearly crashed into her.

It took me a minute to reconcile her face with this place.

“Erin?” I said, grabbing her by the shoulders. I was thrilled to see her, but also surprised.

She looked just as shocked to see me, her mouth parting around my name like she hadn’t said it in years. Her dark hair was braided over one shoulder, a worn travel bag slung over her back. She looked... wild. Not dirty or disheveled, but untamed, like the forest hadn’t let go of her yet.

“Elena,” she said quietly.

For a moment, I just stood there, stunned. This was one of the girls who had saved me. One of the only people who’d been kind to me when I was nothing but a bleeding, broken stranger in rogue territory. My heart surged.

“I thought you were gone,” I whispered.

She gave a small smile. “I was. Almost.”

We stared at each other, unsure how to bridge the months between us. My first instinct was to throw my arms around her. To say thank you again. To pull her inside and find her something to eat, like we used to do in Moonstone. Like she still belonged.

But something stopped me.

My eyes drifted to the bag on her shoulder. The tension in her frame. The way her eyes flicked down the hallway, watchful, like she was planning an escape route.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

She hesitated. “I was just... passing through.”

“Through the middle of the most politically volatile gathering of Alphas in a decade?”

Her expression didn’t change, but the air between us shifted. She took a step back, subtly. I noticed.

Oh no. No. The only explanation was that she’d been involved in the attack somehow. She was a rogue. She’d—

I didn’t want to believe it.

“Erin,” I said, my voice lowering. “Tell me the truth. Were you here... when the attack happened?”

She didn’t answer.

The silence stretched, and my stomach dropped.

“You were,” I said. “Goddess—were you involved?”

That finally made her react. She flinched like I’d slapped her.

“You think I’d hurt you?” Her voice trembled, more fury than fear. “After everything?”

I was just as upset as she was. “You lived under my roof. And then you disappeared without explanation, and now you’re sneaking around the summit like a thief in the night!”

“Because I have to!” she snapped. “Because I don’t belong here anymore.”

Here? I thought. Anymore?

I tried to make sense of what she was saying.

“You don’t—”

I was lost.

“Elena,” she finally said. “I’m here… with Mason.”

The name hit like a weight to the chest.

I stared at her, stunned. “What?”

Her shoulders slumped. Her bravado cracked just enough for me to see the fear underneath.

“I didn’t plan this,” she said. “But I couldn’t stay away. Not after the attack. Not knowing he was here. That he might be—”

She was so distressed. And then it occurred to me.

“He’s your mate,” I guessed. “You’re fated mates.”

She nodded slowly.

I sank back against the wall, trying to catch my breath. “Why didn’t either of you say anything?”

“We wanted to. After the summit, once things settled. But then the explosions happened and everything went to hell.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. Of course. The missed meetings. The secrecy. The guilt I’d misread as something worse.

Oh, Mason.

“When did this—when did you find out you were mates?” I asked.

“When we were living with you,” she said sheepishly. “I ran into Mason one night in the kitchen. I was downstairs getting a midnight snack, trying to stay out of everyone’s way and he walked into the room, and it was like…”

She looked around, trying to put a name to that feeling that was almost indescribable.

“Magic,” I finished for her, remembering my first encounter with Derek.

She looked wistful.

“But why did you leave?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter. It was for the best.”

I disagreed, but didn’t say it. I was just so relieved.

“I thought…” I trailed off, shaking my head. “I thought he was hiding something terrible.”

“He was. Me.” Her voice broke. “Because he didn’t know how your father would react.”

That much, I understood.

“Does he know you’re leaving?”

“No. But he knows where to find me.”

I couldn’t bear the look of sadness on her face.

“Stay,” I said, reaching out to touch her arm.

She looked down at her boots. “I can’t. This world doesn’t want people like me in it.”

I frowned. “You may be a rogue, Erin, but you’re good. You and Carly and Maggie. You’re good people. Worthy.”

“Funny,” she said, looking up at me, her gaze frank. “I don’t remember Derek embracing your goodness. Your worthiness. I remember him barely tolerating it.”

Her words stung. I clammed up, instantly brought back to that feeling of rejection.

She misinterpreted my silence.

“You think I was always a rogue?” Her gaze lifted, fierce now. “I was born in a treaty-bound pack. Loyal. Respectable. My parents were council advisors. We wore the crest. Had a seat at the table.”

A tear spilled down her cheek. “And when we were attacked—when another Alpha decided our land was ripe for the taking—no one came. The Alpha Council didn’t save us. No one did.”

I swallowed hard.

“You weren’t the only one raised to be a Luna, Elena,” she said softly. “Tell Mason I love him. But I’m not going to let him burn his future down for me.”

“He’d do it anyway,” I said quietly.

She gave me a sad smile and stepped around me.

“Elena?”

I turned.

“Not every rogue wants a war. But that doesn’t mean we’re safe, either.”

Then she disappeared into the stairwell.

I stood there long after she’d gone, my pulse still racing. I felt like I’d stepped through a memory and come out different.

Erin was gone. Mason would be heartbroken. And I... I didn’t know what I was anymore.

When I reached my room, I found it as I’d left it—mostly. The pillows fluffed, the light on, the air scented faintly with lemonwood.

And something on the floor.

A single piece of paper, folded once, slid beneath the door.

I bent and picked it up, the back of my neck prickling.

There was no seal. No handwriting I recognized. Just four words in uneven black ink.

Moonstone is next.

The air left my lungs.

I folded the note with trembling hands and turned to grab my phone.

War was far from over. And now, it looked like it was coming home.