Page 25 of Wolf's Reckoning
As we left the room, I didn’t need to look back to know the druid watched us leave; I felt the pressure of their gaze linger, like a brand between my shoulder blades.
A brand or a knife? Time would tell.
I may have fucked up when I decided to return to the Blueridge Hollow Pack, and that didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t like surprises and I had a feeling I was in for a big one.
Chapter 7
Rowen
I came backthrough the lower tree line, the sun already dipping behind the trees. I’d taken the long route home, looped wide through the creek bed just to avoid what waited for me in the halls.
That feeling of something coming had only grown stronger over the last few days, and I was just permanently on edge now.
I’d taken the long way because, for the first time in my life, I couldn’tbreathein my pack.
I knew the suitors were coming, I expected it, but I thought that maybe I’d have had more time. A chance to pull my spine straight and square my shoulders. To remember to be sweet and agreeable. Ready to pretend.
It hadn’t happened like that. They arrived together with theircompanions. Two males who looked at my pack with opportunity in their eyes and a challenge in their stare. But the challenge wasn’t aimed at me; it was at each other. They weren’t interested in me or my pack; they were interested in bestingone another.
Blueridge Hollow Pack may as well not have been there.Imay as well not have been there. So I took the opportunity they gave me while they fell into a dick-measuring contest, and I went for a run.
I doubted they’d have missed the fact I hadn’t returned that night. After all, I wasn’t important. I was a means to an end. I was the wife they’d get when they gained a pack. The sobering fact was that they were exactly the same for me, an alliance to ensure my pack survived.
At the end of the day, was I any better than them? Was my father? The druid? Probably not. Which is most likely why I resented them so much, as they forced me to face my own shortcomings and the lengths we would go to, to secure a pack.
I braided my hair as I walked, approaching the pack hall from the forest beyond it. But the second I stepped into the clearing near the hall, I knew something had shifted.
Scents.
Voices.
Strangers.
And—one heartbeat too late—his scent. I stopped dead in my tracks. It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be?—
But itwas. The scent of oakmoss, black pepper, leather, all wrapped in something jagged and unforgiving.
Wolfe.
Blood surged to my ears, too loud to think. I strode across the clearing like it owed me answers, past the fire pit, past the low conversation that paused as I passed. Someone called my name, but I didn’t stop.
When I stepped into the hall—into that space—there hewas. His back was turned to me, but I took in his broad shoulders, recognizing the tension crackling through him like a caged beast trapped beneath his skin. His thick black hair kissed the neckline of his simple white tee. His jeans were worn, but he wore them well, showing a sculpted ass, and thighs as thick as my waist. His feet were bare, and my heartbeat picked up. Still wild. Still untamed.
My mouth salivated as I took him in.
The male next to him caught my eye and held mine curiously. Short, really short brown hair, not a buzzcut, more like a rugged, slightly tousled crop. Shoulders so broad and wide he looked like he could bench-press my entire pack. Biceps bulged under a gray T-shirt but not in an obscene way; he was justbuilt. And younger than I thought at first glance. Dark blue eyes watched me, and a slow, knowing smile curled across his face.
Wolfe turned.
And just like that, everything I’d shoved down for years since he left tried to claw back up. Those eyes. That jaw. The sheer size of him—like the forest had spat him out whole just to piss me off.
His stormy blue gaze hit me, sharp as a blade, and held. “Rowen,” he said it so casually, as if my name belonged in his mouth.
Like the last ten years hadn’t happened.
I didn’t reply. Didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. I just stared back at him like the memory of him hadn’t just shattered every wall I’d spent a decade building. My wolf stirred low under my skin, confused but hopeful. Stupid thing. We knew better.
I didn’t let him or his companion see my inner turmoil.Or the spike in my pulse. The way my lungs felt as if I had forgotten how to draw a full breath. No one in this hall needed to see how he affected me.
