Chapter 35

Logan

I sat in my room long after the fire in the hearth had begun to die, watching the embers pulse like a heartbeat in the dark. The silence should’ve soothed me.

Evelyn had decided to stay, and with her return came a flicker of hope, a sense that maybe things could still be set right.

But my thoughts wouldn’t settle. They kept looping back to the rogue who had died so mysteriously before my eyes, presumably untouched yet convulsing as though he had been poisoned. His blood hadn’t even cooled properly, as if magic—something old and unnatural—had been clinging to him when he died.

It didn’t add up. None of it did. The death, the timing, the territory he had been found in… It all felt staged.

And then there was Emma.

Lately, I’d begun to see cracks in her carefully curated exterior. Too smooth. Too quick to deflect blame. And far too interested in Evelyn’s downfall for it to be about political feelings alone.

We used to be close, Emma and I. Not lovers, but extremely, intimately close, years ago, before the weight of the pack hardened us both. She’d been my confidante, the one person who understood what leadership cost.

I trusted her once. I thought she stood for the same things I did.

Now, all I could see was the calculation in her gaze. Like she was two steps ahead of everyone, already reshaping the battlefield before anyone else noticed we were at war.

A knock broke the quiet.

I turned, brows furrowed. It was nearly midnight. No one would come unless something was wrong.

The knock came again, louder this time.

I stood, crossing the room with a growing sense of unease, and opened the door.

And there she was. Emma stood in the hallway, her posture relaxed but her expression tight. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glassy. I didn’t need to lean in and smell the liquor on her breath to know she’d been drinking.

“Logan,” she said, smiling like she’d just shared a private joke. “Can I come in?”

I hesitated. “It’s late.”

Her smile didn’t fade. “I know. But I thought we should talk.”

Against my better judgment, I stepped aside.

She entered like she owned the place, brushing past me and heading for the armchair near the fire. She had always preferred this seat. Her fingers traced the edge of the worn upholstery before she turned and sat down, legs crossed.

“You’ve been quiet lately,” she said. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” I said reflexively.

“So why have you been ignoring me?” she asked. “Any time I seek you out, you’re elsewhere, or tell me that you don’t have the time. We used to be so close you couldn’t tear us apart even if you wanted to. But now…”

“I’ve been busy,” I replied, staying near the doorway.

“With Evelyn, I imagine.”

There it was.

I folded my arms. “She’s helping with the injuries accumulated from the rogue situation. Same as Chris.”

Emma scoffed. “Oh, yes. Helping. Is that what we’re calling it now?”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

She leaned forward, lowering her voice like she was about to confess something dangerous. “There’s a rumor going around. That Evelyn’s been spending an awful lot of time alone with Chris. After hours. Behind closed doors.”

I stared at her. “A rumor you started?”

Emma raised a brow, pretending to be wounded. “Please. I’m not the only one who’s noticed. People talk, Logan. The guards. The other healers. You should hear some of the things they’ve claimed to see.”

My jaw tensed. If there truly were rumors going around, this was the first I was hearing of it. Could it truly be possible that there was gossip regarding me and my wife that even the Alpha had been excluded from?

Still, they were rumors, solcious and untrue. I knew it with every fiber of my being.

“She’s a healer,” I said. “So is Chris. They’re working in the same quarters for hours at a time. Of course they’re spending a lot of time together.”

“And yet they seem to work best in the middle of the night, apparently,” she said, smiling coolly. “Is that what you think they’re doing right now?”

“I trust Evelyn,” I said flatly.

She tilted her head. “Do you? Even now? With everything that’s happened?”

I didn’t answer. I knew that anything I said would only irk her further.

She stood, slow and deliberate, and walked to where I stood near the door. Her tone softened. “Logan… I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want you to open your eyes. Think about it. She arrives here with no ties, no history, no reason to challenge authority, and suddenly, she’s at the center of everything. Unsettling your mother. Defying orders. Making waves.”

“She’s done nothing but help,” I said. “We’d be down dozens more wolves if not for her healing. You’re starting to sound like my mother.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Your mother knows what’s right, and so do I, even if you don’t want to listen to it.”

“I don’t know where you get off accusing two of our best healers of an affair, but—”

Emma’s eyes narrowed. “And what about Chris? You think it’s a coincidence that he’s been glued to her side ever since she arrived?”

“I think you’re reaching,” I muttered.

“You used to trust me when I told you something felt off,” she said, her voice sharp now, full of something bitter and unspoken. “Now you look at me like I’m the enemy.”

“Maybe because lately you’ve been acting like one.”

Her breath caught, just for a second. I saw the flicker of pain in her expression before she hid it behind that damned smirk again.

“Fine,” she said, shrugging as she stepped away. “Then prove me wrong. Let’s go right now. Check the medical wing. If she’s guilty, she’ll be there. With him. Again. Like always. But if not, you’re right and I’m wrong. I’m sure it will make you so happy.”

I stared at her. I knew this was a setup, a manipulative little show she wanted to stage to embarrass Evelyn or catch her off guard. But part of me also wanted to put the damn rumor to rest. I was tired of whispers and half-truths, tired of second-guessing everyone and everything.

“Fine,” I said at last. “Let’s go.”

Emma’s smile returned. Smug. Too satisfied.

But I didn’t care.

I just wanted the truth.

And if she was wrong—if Evelyn was exactly where she said she’d be, taking the evening off as she was told to—then I’d have every reason to start asking different questions.

The kind that would tear Emma’s pretty lies apart at the seams.

We stepped out into the night, the corridor silent except for the creak of our boots on stone. I didn’t speak. Neither did she.

But as we walked, my pulse thrummed with something dark and restless.

Whatever we found at the medical wing tonight, this wouldn’t be the end of it.

I had feeling, deep and pulsing inside of me, that it would only be the beginning.