hapter 74
-ELENA
The summit was winding down.
The final signatures had been inked, ceremonial photos snapped. The halls of the venue were quieter now. Not empty–there were still guards, staff, a few straggling Alphas and their entourages–but the storm had passed.
Blood and scorching covered and erased with fresh paint and hastily scrubbed tiles, a reminder that the shield of peace was always paper–thin.
The revised treaty had been signed an hour ago. Everyone had clapped. Shaken hands. Toasted with crystal flutes and stiff smiles. But I’d watched the eyes behind those glasses.
No one was relaxed. No one was fooled.
I wasn’t, either.
We’d survived the explosion. The rogue assault. The political scandal. For now. But none of
it felt over. Not to me.
I lingered in the corridor outside the Moonstone suite, half hoping I’d spot Mason, half hoping I wouldn’t. The knot in my stomach hadn’t eased in days. I couldn’t tell if it was exhaustion, worry, or some darker sense of what was still coming.
When I turned the corner, I nearly crashed into her.
It took me a minute to reconcile her face with this place.
“Erin?” I said, grabbing her by the shoulders. I was thrilled to see her, but also surprised.
She looked just as shocked to see me, her mouth parting around my name like she hadn’t said it in years. Her dark hair was braided over one shoulder, a worn travel bag slung over her back. She looked… wild. Not dirty or disheveled, but untamed, like the forest hadn’t let
go of her yet.
Chapter 74
“Elena,” she said quietly.
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For a moment, I just stood there, stunned. This was one of the girls who had saved me. One
of the only people who’d been kind to me when I was nothing but a bleeding, broken stranger in rogue territory. My heart surged.
“I thought you were gone,” I whispered.
She gave a small smile. “I was. Almost.”
We stared at each other, unsure how to bridge the months between us. My first instinct was to throw my arms around her. To say thank you again. To pull her inside and find her
something to eat, like we used to do in Moonstone. Like she still belonged.
But something stopped me.
My eyes drifted to the bag on her shoulder. The tension in her frame. The way her eyes flicked down the hallway, watchful, like she was planning an escape route.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She hesitated. “I was just… passing through.”
“Through the middle of the most politically volatile gathering of Alphas in a decade?”
Her expression didn’t change, but the air between us shifted. She took a step back, subtly. I
noticed.
Oh no. No. The only explanation was that she’d been involved in the attack somehow. She
was a rogue. She’d-
I didn’t want to believe it.
“Erin,” I said, my voice lowering. “Tell me the truth. Were you here… when the attack happened?”
She didn’t answer.
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Chapter 74
The silence stretched, and my stomach dropped.
“You were,” I said. “Goddess–were you involved?”
That finally made her react. She flinched like I’d slapped her.
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“You think I’d hurt you?” Her voice trembled, more fury than fear. “After everything?”
I was just as upset as she was. “You lived under my roof. And then you disappeared without explanation, and now you’re sneaking around the summit like a thief in the night!”
“Because I have to!” she snapped. “Because I don’t belong here anymore.”
Here? I thought. Anymore?
I tried to make sense of what she was saying.
“You don’t-”
I was lost.
“Elena,” she finally said. “I’m here… with Mason.”
The name hit like a weight to the chest.
I stared at her, stunned. “What?”
a
Her shoulders slumped. Her bravado cracked just enough for me to see the fear underneath.
“I didn’t plan this,” she said. “But I couldn’t stay away. Not after the attack. Not knowing he was here. That he might be-”
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