Derek didn’t hesitate. He stripped off his shirt and stepped forward, every inch of him radiating authority.
“You’re formally challenging my station as Alpha?”
“I am,” the other wolf said.
“I accept.”
The fight was brutal.
The challenger was older, heavier, but Derek was faster–more precise. Every move had purpose. But there was nothing clean about it. The man didn’t fight like he expected to win. He fought like he wanted to wound.
I stood at the edge of the circle with my heart in my throat. Every punch Derek took felt like it landed on me too. Blood spattered the ground. Bones cracked.
It went on longer than it should’ve. The pack watched in silence, like they didn’t care who won–only how much damage was done.
In the end, Derek pinned the man to the ground and shifted his wolf tearing into the throat of his opponent with a final, shuddering bite.
The man didn’t move again.
Derek stood over the body, blood dripping from his mouth, his chest heaving. He shifted back.
“Anyone else?” he growled, voice raw and thunderous.
No one spoke.
He turned, barely pausing to wipe the blood from his hands before crossing the space between us. He took my hand–gently, but firmly–and led me back toward the packhouse.
But as we walked, I heard them.
“What a waste.”
“If that rogue hadn’t been here, none of this would’ve happened.”
“His father is rolling in his grave.”
Derek’s grip tightened. I don’t know if he heard them or just felt the weight of it in the air.
When we got inside, he didn’t speak. Just wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and stood behind me, silent and tense, until the sun came up.
***
Back in the restaurant, Aiden had stopped stirring his ice cream. He was watching me now, his big brown eyes searching mine.
“Was Dad always like this?” he asked quietly.
I blinked, pulling myself out of the memory.
“I haven’t always known him,” I said. “But I think… he used to be different.”
1/3
Chapter 142
+25 BONUS
“Better?”
“Net better. Just… less broken. I met him just after his father died. It was a hard time for him. But he tried really hard to keep it together. For his pack.”
Aiden looked down. “I still don’t get why he left.”
I hesitated, then leaned in closer.
“Sometimes, people do what they think is right in the moment. Even if it hurts someone they love.”
“Even if it’s wrong?”
“Yeah. Especially then.”
We sat in silence for a while, the last of the sunlight fading from the window beside us. Outside, a breeze shook the trees. Inside, Nonna Lucia returned with a paper bag of leftovers and a quiet smile.
“For later,” she said.
I thanked her and stood, guiding Aiden out with one hand on his shoulder.
As we walked to the car, I looked up at the sky.
I didn’t know where Derek had gone after the phone call. Or what he was thinking. Or what, exactly, Cassandra had told him.
DEREK
I burst through the door of the Silverclaw packhouse, barely registering the greeting from the guard at the front. My eyes found Cassandra immediately–curled on the couch, face buried in Caroline’s shoulder, her body shaking with sobs.
Her hand was clutching her stomach. My heart dropped.
She looked up when she heard me, eyes red–rimmed and swollen. “I’m sorry,” she choked. “It just started. I didn’t know what to do.”
The weight of her words sank into me like a stone. It hit harder than I expected. Harder than it would have before I knew what fatherhood felt like–what it meant to hold your child in your arms and know they were yours.
The grief was sharp, immediate. Real.
I knelt beside her. “You need to go to the doctor. Now.”
She recoiled slightly. “I’d rather just stay home. Please, Derek. I just want to rest.”
I looked at Caroline. Her expression didn’t shift, but something in her eyes narrowed.
Caroline spoke softly, “Don’t you think it would be a good idea if you went to the doctor to make sure the baby is really gone? Maybe there’s still a chance to save it?”
“I’m sure,” Cassandra said quickly, too quickly. “There was so much blood.”
I studied her. “I’m going to have to insist.”
Cassandra’s whole body stiffened. Her tears vanished like someone had flipped a switch. She wiped her face and stood. “Fine. But I want to go by myself.”
2/3
Chapter 142
I blinked.
Alone?
That wasn’t like her. Not at all.
Something inside me shifted.
Not grief.
Suspicion.
