Chapter 5: Back To Ironfang
Rhea’s mind swirled as the memory slammed into her again. Then she exhaled and looked directly at him, refusing to lower her gaze despite the instinctive pressure radiating from his Alpha presence.
"Why did you save me?" she asked bluntly.
The servant didn’t just freeze, she looked terrified. Even the healer looked startled by her question.
But Rhea kept staring at him. "You were there that night," she continued, hurt sharpening her voice. "You watched everything happen and did nothing."
Adam’s mouth curved slightly. Something in his expression shifted, quick, sharp, before he buried it again. "At first?" he said slowly. "Curiosity."
A pause followed. Then his gaze darkened slightly. "Now I’m beginning to think it may have been poor judgment."
Rhea narrowed her eyes. "Did Kaleb ask you to save me?"
A short scoff escaped Adam before he could stop it. "You’re clearly not heartbroken enough for a woman whose mate tried to bury her alive." The bitterness beneath his words caught her off guard.
Rhea ignored it. "Are you planning to hand me back to him?" she asked instead.
Adam leaned slightly against the doorway, his broad shoulders filling the space with effortless dominance.
"You’ve been healing in my pack house for two months," he replied coolly. "If I intended to return you, why would I waste the effort saving you?"
Rhea’s gaze hardened. "That’s exactly what I’m trying to understand," she said quietly. "Why save me at all?"
For a moment, silence stretched between them.
Adam’s eyes moved over her slowly, in a way that made heat crawl beneath her skin. There was something unsettling about the way he looked at her now. Like his wolf had noticed something his mind hadn’t fully accepted yet.
Finally, he spoke. "You’re free to leave whenever you want." The challenge in his tone was unmistakable.
His eyes held hers. "Assuming you survive the walk out."
The room fell still.
The healer immediately frowned. Her wolf growled quietly beneath her chest. But Rhea said nothing.
Instead, she threw the blanket aside and pushed herself off the bed. Her legs trembled the second her feet touched the floor, weakness still lingering beneath her skin, but she forced herself upright anyway.
Adam watched her carefully.
"You should rest," the healer warned softly.
Rhea ignored her. She lifted her chin and looked directly at Adam. "Thank you for saving me," she said firmly. Then she turned toward the door.
"You’re not strong enough yet," the healer said again, worry slipping into her voice this time.
Still, Rhea kept walking.
As she brushed past Adam, his jaw tightened. In one swift movement, his hand closed around her arm. The contact sent heat shooting up her skin so suddenly that her breath caught.
Rhea froze. His grip was firm, rough, overwhelmingly warm, and her wolf reacted instantly, pressing hard against the surface like it recognized something her mind didn’t.
Adam went still too.
Rhea looked up sharply. Adam was already staring down at her. His eyes had darkened, silver threaded faintly through them beneath the dim light. His jaw remained tense, his wolf disturbingly close to the surface.
His grip tightened for one dangerous second before he released her so abruptly it almost looked forced. Without a word, he reached to his side and pulled out a knife.
Rhea froze the moment her eyes landed on it. Kaleb’s blade. The same knife that had been buried inside her stomach.
Adam took her hand, turned her palm upward, and pressed the weapon into it. "You’ll need it," he said quietly.
Rhea stared down at the blade for a long moment, emotions twisting painfully inside her chest. The knife felt heavier in her hand than it should have, dragging every ugly emotion back to the surface at once.
Then she looked back at him, but neither of them spoke.
Finally, Rhea closed her fingers around the knife and stepped past him. Adam watched her disappear into the corridor.
As she walked away, the faint scent of her drifted through the room: rain-soaked earth, silver pine, and something soft beneath it. Far more intoxicating than it had any right to be, and it wrapped around him long after she walked past.
Adam’s wolf surged so violently beneath his skin that a growl nearly tore from his throat. Possessive. Immediate. Wrong. His jaw tightened hard enough to ache.
Because nothing about this woman should have affected him this quickly.
—
Rhea’s heart pounded violently beneath her ribs as she moved through the dark forest, her boots crunching softly over damp leaves and broken twigs.
Her knees trembled beneath her after only a few steps, forcing her to catch herself against the rough bark of a nearby tree. A sharp breath escaped her lips as dizziness swam through her head again.
She should have turned back. The healer was right, her body was not healed, but the fury inside her burned hotter than any pain.
Cold night air brushed against her skin, carrying the sharp scents of pine, earth, and distant wolves on patrol.
But her mind remained fixed on only one place. Home. Or what used to be home.
Despite the fury hammering through her chest, despite the betrayal still bleeding inside her like an open wound, she knew there was only one place that held the answers she needed.
Ironfang. That alone kept her moving.
She slowed briefly as the massive pack house finally came into view through the trees. Moonlight spilled across the towering stone structure, its silver rays washing over the familiar walls she had once ruled beside Kaleb.
Rhea stopped for a moment, her chest rising unevenly as she stared at it. She had made it back, but the sight twisted painfully inside her.
This place had once smelled like safety to her, the warm fires, the pack bonds. This was supposed to be her home. Now all she smelled was betrayal.
Her gaze shifted toward the entrance. Armed guards stood posted at the front gates, alert and heavily armed, their wolves close enough to the surface for her to scent their aggression
They were ready for intruders. But not for her.
A bitter thought curled through her chest. No one knew Ironfang better than its former Luna.
Without hesitation, Rhea slipped left, keeping low beneath the shadows of the stone walls. Her movements were quieter now, sharper than they had been in months.
Her wolf stirred restlessly beneath her skin as instinct guided her through forgotten blind spots and hidden paths she had memorized years ago. Within moments, she was inside.
The familiar scent of the pack house hit her instantly, cedar smoke, old stone, wolf musk layered into the walls.
Then laughter echoed through the corridor ahead, bright, warm, intimate.
Rhea froze.
"He’s strong already," Kat’s voice rang out with soft laughter. "Look how much he kicks." A low chuckle followed immediately after.
"That’s because he’s my son," Kaleb replied. Then more laughter followed. Together this time.
The sound hit Rhea harder than any blade ever had. Her stomach twisted violently as pain and rage surged together through her veins.
Her wolf growled low beneath her skin, her eyes flashing silver.
They had murdered her child, taken everything from her, and now they stood somewhere nearby happily celebrating another pup. Without remorse or guilt.
Rhea’s breathing sharpened as fury clawed up her throat. Her fingers instinctively touched her side where the knife rested beneath her clothes. Kaleb’s knife. The same blade he had buried inside her body.
Slowly, she pulled it free. Moonlight glinted faintly across the steel as her grip tightened until her knuckles turned white. They had stolen her child, they had stolen her life, and for the first time since waking up, Rhea knew exactly what she wanted.
So she turned in the direction of the laughter and started walking.
