Chapter 52

Eric

“This Wolf’s Fury virus is spreading,” my father, leaning on his mahogany desk with his arms folded across his chest, said coolly. “Those who are searching for Rowena may intensify their search now.”

My mother, who was standing by the window and watching as the gardener pruned the hedges outside, nodded in agreement. “I’d like to pull her out of school, but she simply refuses. I’d say the girl is as stubborn as you, Edward, if it weren’t for… well…”

Her voice trailed off at that, but we all knew what she was saying.

Rowena was not my parents’ daughter. She was not my biological sister. In fact, she was from a different bloodline entirely.

I still remembered the day I had brought her home as if it had happened yesterday.

The house had been dark all day. When she had died of the mysterious disease that had wracked her tiny body, we had stopped all of the clocks instantly. They were still set to the moment her heart had stopped beating: 4:03 AM.

My little sister, Lilly, had died at just two years old in the middle of the night. I had been sleeping soundly, but had been awoken by my mother’s wails of pain when it happened.

“My baby!” my mother had cried out. “She’s gone! She can’t be gone!”

I hadn’t been able to handle the sight of her. I called myself a coward for refusing to look upon my little sister’s body, but later, I knew that it was fate for me to wander out into the woods that day. I hadn’t been trying to get away from the pallor of death in my home; I had been drawn toward something.

Or rather, someone.

And now, I knew that she was my fated mate.

When I had carried the limp, blue little girl into the house later, I had cried out for my parents. They had come running, thinking that something horrible had happened to their only living child. But they had never expected to burst into the foyer and find me holding her, snow caked to both of our bodies and crimson blood dripping down my shoulder from the arrow that had grazed my skin.

After that day, we had discovered much about the little girl I had found in the snow; through snippets of whatever information we could find, we had discovered that she was a princess.

But even more importantly, we had discovered that the men who had chased us weren’t doing so in a bid to find her. They were trying to hurt her.

Since Lilly had only just died, the only logical option was to take Rowena on as our own. Lilly, being so young and suffering from a disease that could have killed her—and did kill her in the end—had largely been kept out of the public eye.

No one aside from us even knew her name or what she looked like, making it easy for us to slip Rowena in as a sort of ‘replacement’. My mother always said it was to keep her safe, but I think part of it also had to do with the fact that she couldn’t live without her daughter.

Of course, none of us could bear naming the little girl the same name as my dead sister, so we gave her a new name.

Rowena.

And from that day onward, she had become my sister. For a long time, I thought that it was strange that I had just happened to stumble upon her on the exact day my real sister died—a rare miracle for both us and for her.

But now, I knew different. We had been drawn together by fate.

After all, why else would a five-year-old boy go wandering off into a blizzard all on his own?

I sat there now, on one of the plush armchairs in my parents’ study, prodding the soft raised flesh on my shoulder through my shirt. The wound from that day had healed, but had left a small, jagged scar in its wake.

I always told everyone that it was from a childhood accident, which wasn’t necessarily untrue.

“Eric? Are you listening?”

I looked up to see my father staring at me, still leaning against his desk. “Er, sorry,” I said, lowering my hand. “I was just thinking.”

My mother, Amelia, turned to face me from the window. Her eyes were red-rimmed and filled with tears, just as they had been that day when she had lost her first daughter.

And now, she was at risk of losing Rowena.

“We can’t let them take her away from us,” she said softly, crossing over to grasp my hands in hers. “If they find her, there’s no knowing what they’ll do to her.”

“You know I’d never let anything happen to her,” I said, glancing back and forth between both of my parents. “I made that promise years ago, and I plan to keep it.”

My father opened his mouth to retort—likely in regards to the pool accident all those years ago—but then he shut it again, as though thinking better of it. Aside from that one incident, I had never failed in keeping Rowena safe.

“We trust you,” my father finally added after a long silence. “But, Eric…” He paused, licking his lips. “I know we were planning on telling her around her eighteenth birthday, but it’s simply not safe.”

“I’m aware.” I nodded and stood, walking over to the door. “But are you sure we shouldn’t—”

“Eric, you can’t.” My father’s voice was firm and brooked no argument. I turned, my eyebrow quirked, to see him glaring at me with his jaw set hard. He was a kind man, truly, but as stern as can be. He was even more stern with me than with anyone else. And it was moments like this that reminded me of that.

When I was younger, I used to think that maybe he wished that I had died instead of Lilly, but now I knew that he was just preparing me to take on the role of Alpha of our pack someday.

“She deserves to know,” I said. “And the longer we wait, the more she’ll resent us.”

My father shook his head. “We can’t tell her, Eric. Maybe we should… never tell her.”

I felt my heart begin to clench for multiple reasons; not only because it felt wrong to keep the truth from Rowena forever, but also because if she didn’t know the truth, I could never make her realize that we were fated.

Our kiss from the other night still burned my lips. I could still taste her lipgloss on my tongue, could still feel her small hands pressed into my chest.

If only I could just tell her the truth, then we could be together.

“Never tell her?” I asked incredulously. “What do you mean?”

My parents exchanged glances before my mother spoke up. “She will always be hunted if anyone knows the truth,” she said. “It’s safer if we’re the only ones who know.”

I scoffed. “Rowena is smart. It’s not like she would tattle. If only we could—”

“Enough, Eric.” My father pushed away from his desk, his tall form almost seeming to dominate the space. But the way he put his arm around my mother’s trembling shoulders gave way to the true man beneath the surface: tender, loving, and most of all… frightened.

I wanted to retort, but I didn’t. What was the point? I was outnumbered on the matter, and I was the fuckup who partied and hooked up with girls in their eyes. My word was just about as good as dirt in matters like this.

“Fine,” I finally choked out, even though the words sounded hollow to my own ears. “I won’t tell her.”

“That’s a good boy.” My father nodded at me, indicating that I was free to leave. With my teeth grit, I turned on my heel and swung the door open.

“Wait.” My father’s voice stopped me in my tracks, and I stopped, glancing over my shoulder at him. “There is one more matter to discuss.”

“What is it?” I asked.

My father cleared his throat, exchanging one last tentative glance with my teary-eyed mother before she spoke up in his stead.

“Eric, your father and I believe… that it is time for you to start searching for a suitable Luna.”