Page 68 of The Reaper's Vow
My throat locks. Every head in the room is turned toward me, their collective attention a crushing weight. There’s no wriggling out of this. No polite deflection.
“I don’t know.”
“Your parents’ names,” Hudson presses.
I swallow hard, my hands trembling at my sides. “David and Sarah Greene.”
Helena’s heels strike sharp against the floor as she moves closer, manicured fingers brushing her lips in thought. “Greene?” she repeats softly. “Elena’s mate was Marcus Greene.”
“Describe your father,” Hudson commands.
“Tall. Dark hair. Green eyes. He had a scar on his left hand from when he…” My chest tightens with the memory, sudden and raw. “From when he said he got caught in machinery at work.”
Hudson exchanges a look with Helena that sends my stomach plummeting. “He earned that scar protecting Elena during the Blackrock conflict.”
A ringing builds in my ears, drowning the room. The floor tilts beneath me, and I reach blindly for stability. My hand findsDamien’s arm, his muscles rigid under my grasp—solid and anchoring when everything else feels like it’s unraveling.
Hudson’s jaw hardens with decision. He strides to his desk, movements sharp with purpose. Without a word, he reaches for the wall behind his chair, lifting down a framed photograph I hadn’t noticed before. He carries it back to me with surprising care, his attention locked on me as if waiting for the final confirmation.
“Look,” he commands, holding the frame out.
With trembling hands, I take it from him. The photograph is old, the colors faded with time, but the faces staring back at me are unmistakable. A group of wolves stands around a campfire, arms thrown around each other's shoulders, faces bright with laughter. And there, in the middle of the group, are my parents—younger, wilder, happier than I've ever seen them.
My mother's dark curls cascade down her back, her smile fierce and proud as she leans into the man beside her. My father. But not as the quiet hardware store owner I knew. This man stands tall, a visible aura of power radiating from him even in a decades-old photograph.
I gasp, my finger tracing their faces behind the glass. “That's my parents.”
“That's Elena and Marcus,” Hudson corrects. “Taken the summer before they disappeared.”
My mother—Elena—stands at the center of the group, clearly its focal point. The woman in the photograph radiates power in a way that makes my knees weak. She doesn't just stand among the other wolves—she commands them. Her posture, her expression, the way the others seem to gravitate toward her...This isn't just any female wolf. This is an alpha.
There’s no denying the resemblance. The same stubborn line of the jaw. The same shape in the face I’ve seen in the mirror all my life.
It’s true. Oh god. I am Elena Rosewood’s daughter.
The photograph slips from my numb fingers, hitting the floor with a sharp crack that echoes in the silence. The truth slams into me like a tidal wave, stealing the breath from my lungs. I stumble backward, hip striking Hudson’s desk hard enough to jolt me, but the spinning in my head doesn’t stop.
Through the haze, I register Damien moving closer, his energy bristling with alarm. I lift a shaking hand to hold him off. If he touches me now, I’ll break into pieces I won’t be able to put back together.
“Get out,” Hudson orders. For a heartbeat, I think he means me. Then I realize his command is aimed at Helena and Bella.
“But Hudson—” Helena starts, only to wither under the sheer force of his stare.
“Out. Now.”
Bella lingers a second longer, uncertainty written in the tightness of her mouth, before following her mother to the door. The heavy thud of it closing behind them feels final, like the walls have locked me into a destiny I never asked for.
Karina
Hudson doesn't speak immediately. He retrieves the fallen photograph, examining it with an expression I can't read before carefully placing it on his desk. When he finally turns to me, his eyes have lost some of their coldness.
“You truly didn't know?”
I shake my head, still struggling to breathe normally. “They never told me anything about...this.”
Hudson moves to a cabinet against the wall. He pulls out a crystal decanter, pouring amber liquid into three glasses. “Elena was hunted relentlessly after she challenged the old order. Many wanted her dead. Others wanted to leash her. If her intentionwas to keep you away from this world, it not surprising that she kept this all from you.” He hands a glass to Damien, then offers one to me. I take it with shaking fingers. “Despite how much it’s stunted you and your wolf.”
“Lockhart is picking up where they left off with her mother it seems,” Damien remarks. “He’s been hunting Karina.” He pauses. “That’s why we’re here. They attempted to abduct her from her apartment and again last night from the Bellandi compound.”
