Chapter 45

Esther’s POV

The sound reached me before the smell: raised voices, echoing off stone like thunder trapped in a canyon. Then pine, rain, and iron, Kevin’s scent, rolled toward the Blood Moon Pack gates like a storm front. My pulse lurched.

By the time I pushed through the courtyard arch, guards were scattering like pigeons. Armor clanked, bows lifted and lowered. In the middle of it all stood Kevin, tall and furious, his Beta flanking his shoulder.

“Where is she?” he barked, voice cracking like a whip. “I’m not leaving without her!”

The soldiers stiffened but didn’t bar his way. Nobody wanted to be the one to stand between two Alphas. The air itself tasted metallic, vibrating with dominance and the threat of claws.

I wove through the ring of uniforms, my heart hammering against my ribs. “Kevin!”

His head snapped toward me. Relief flared in his gray eyes, but it was smothered instantly by rage. “Esther, what the hell are you doing here?”

My stomach turned over. Behind him, Nicholas’s men moved like a tide, black uniforms fanning out into a crescent. One wrong word and they’d all go feral, and there’d be blood on the cobblestones.

I darted between them before anyone could lose control, palms out. “Stop it, both of you!”

Kevin’s gaze locked on mine. “They’re keeping you prisoner.”

“No.” I caught his wrist, fingers pressing into the hot skin above his pulse. “I came here willingly.”

His brows crashed together. “Willingly? What are you—”

“I’ll explain later,” I hissed, forcing my voice low so Nicholas’s guards wouldn’t hear. “But right now you have to go.”

He stared at me like I’d grown another head. “Go? Esther, you don’t understand what they’re—”

“I understand perfectly.” My voice shook but I held his gaze. “If you attack him here, you’ll never leave this pack alive.”

Kevin’s Beta shifted uneasily, scanning the ramparts where archers crouched with silver-tipped arrows. A tremor of fear passed through the assembled guards.

“Three months,” I blurted. “That’s all. Then I’ll come back.”

Kevin blinked. “Three months?”

“Yes.” I squeezed his hand once before letting go, so quickly it almost felt like a goodbye. “I have a plan. For Carl.”

He froze. “Carl?”

I nodded minutely. “Trust me.”

Kevin’s jaw flexed, and for a moment the iron in his posture cracked. “He’s not worth this,” he muttered.

“This isn’t about him,” I said. “It’s about my son.”

Behind me, the palace doors swung open and Nicholas appeared. He moved with the slow precision of a predator, black coat sweeping the marble, eyes catching the sunlight like molten metal. The crowd went dead silent.

Kevin squared his shoulders. “Give her back.”

“She’s not yours to give,” Nicholas said coolly.

“She’s under my protection,” Kevin snapped.

I spun toward Nicholas. “Please. Don’t.” My voice came out ragged, almost lost in the hush.

Nicholas’s eyes flicked to me, unreadable but burning.

I turned back to Kevin, lowering my voice. “Go. Please.”

“I can’t leave you here,” he hissed.

“You must.” My fingernails dug crescents into my palms. “For Carl.”

At Carl’s name, a muscle jumped in his jaw. He glanced at Nicholas, then back at me.

“Three months,” I repeated. “I swear.”

Kevin’s chest rose and fell like a bellows. Finally, he gave a single sharp nod. “Fine. But if he hurts you—”

“He won’t,” I lied.

He leaned in, just enough for his scent to wrap around me one more time. “If you need me, call. Any time. Day or night.”

“I know.” My voice almost cracked.

Kevin straightened, casting Nicholas a look of pure loathing, and gestured for his Beta to follow. Together they stalked out through the gates, the crowd parting like water.

As soon as they were gone, I sagged back against the courtyard wall, my pulse still hammering in my ears. My hands smelled like Kevin’s pine scent and my own cold sweat.

Nicholas hadn’t moved from the top step. The breeze tugged at his coat, his expression carved from stone. I felt his gaze on me like a brand as I forced myself to stand straight and climb the steps back into the palace, every inch of me aware that he was following.

Nicholas’s POV

She stood between us. She actually stood between us, hands spread, eyes pleading with him.

Norman prowled inside me, fur bristling. She’s protecting him.

I watched Kevin retreat through the gates, watched his Beta throw glances over his shoulder, and tasted metal at the back of my throat.

“Three months,” she had said. “Then I’ll come back.” To him.

My claws itched to rip the smugness off Kevin’s face. Instead I smiled, a thin, chilly smile that cost me blood behind the teeth.

I descended the steps until I stood where Kevin had been moments before. The scent of pine and rain still hung there like a ghost, mocking me.

Norman growled. Stake your claim.

I kept my voice calm. “Escort our guest to his border.”

The guards nodded and moved off like dark water.

Only then did I let myself look at Esther. She was pale, her eyes huge, but she still had her chin up. Always the defiance.

“You rushed to defend him,” I said softly.

Her shoulders stiffened. “I rushed to stop a war.”

“Is that what you call it?”

She glared at me. “Don’t twist this.”

Norman pressed harder, claws scraping under my ribs. She chose us to heal the boy. Not him. Not anymore.

But all I could see was her hand on Kevin’s sleeve, the way her body angled protectively toward him.

“You told him three months,” I said.

“Yes.”

“And then?”

Her eyes flicked away. “That’s none of your business.”

I tilted my head. “Everything about you is my business.”

She flinched but held her ground.

The urge to grab her, to shake her until she admitted the truth, roared up so fast my vision blurred. Instead I pivoted sharply and strode back into the palace.

“Follow,” I said without looking back.

Norman hissed in my head. Coward.

I ignored him.

Back in my office, I poured whiskey but didn’t drink it. The cut-crystal glass trembled in my hand. I watched the liquid shimmer and thought of Kevin’s eyes, the way he looked at her as if she belonged to him.

Norman prowled. Do something. Mark her. Tell her the truth.

“She’s lying,” I muttered under my breath. “She’s using me. Playing martyr to save his brat.”

She’s our mate, Norman snarled. And the boy is ours.

I shut my eyes, inhaling her scent still lingering in the room, one of daisies, vanilla, and under it the faint wild-honey tang of Sharon, flickering awake.

She had stood between two Alphas and chosen words over claws. Six years ago she’d been a trembling slave. Now she moved like a shield.

Something in me both admired and hated it.

I set the glass down, unbroken. “Three months,” I murmured. “Let him think he’s won.”

Norman went still. What are you planning?

“Exactly what she offered.” I smiled, slow and cold. “She’ll stay. She’ll see. And when it’s over, there won’t be any doubt left about who she belongs to.”

Norman growled low but didn’t argue.

Across the hall I could sense her moving, shutting the door to her guest chamber, leaning her forehead to the wood as if she could hold herself together by force alone.

The bond pulsed, tugging at me.

I didn’t go to her. Not yet.

Instead I turned to the window where the last traces of Kevin’s scent faded on the wind, and I promised myself that next time, she wouldn’t stand between us.