Chapter 67

Logan

I returned to the palace with nothing but dust on my boots and shame clawing down my spine. Alex sent a glare at me out of the corner of his eyes as he walked, fury wafting from him like a scent.

He had been horrified when I trudged back out of the rogue camp without Evelyn. I had no victory and, admittedly, no plan going forward.

We had confronted and sought Emma’s help for nothing. We had risked our necks for a failed attempt. But I was not one to haul women away against their will. If Evelyn said that now was not the time, I had to believe her.

The walk back had been hell, each footstep pounding like a war drum in my chest. Because I knew what waited for me back in the palace.

I kept replaying the look on her face as I walked away. The way her mouth opened like she wanted to call out to me, but didn’t as I left. The feel of her forehead against mine. The way her eyes shimmered with tears that she’d barely been holding back.

And worse than all of that was the true fear that had plagued me the entire hike back to the palace: the fear that she might’ve been feeling something for him now.

By the time I reached the palace gates, the guards didn’t even speak. They just opened the entrance and turned their eyes elsewhere, like they couldn’t bear to watch a fallen soldier limp home.

Alex paused before me, frowning still. I stooped to meet his narrowed gaze.

“You will have to tell him of this folly,” he said. “It is not my fault that you failed, and I will not suffer the consequences.”

“She chose to stay,” I argued feebly.

He strode up to me, eyes blazing. “You left her there.”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice!” he snapped. “She trusted you. We trusted you. And you—”

“Don’t,” I said, voice low, dangerous. “Don’t talk to me about trust when you’re the one she always runs to. Perhaps it should’ve been you in that camp telling her to leave. I’d like to see you stand up to her, princling. Easier said than done.”

His mouth opened. Then closed.

I hadn’t meant to say it. But now that it was out, the jealousy curled hot in my stomach like a lit fuse. It had been there for some time, being nurtured with each new frustration. I turned away from him, unable to look at his face. I didn’t want to see his pity. Or worse, the confirmation of what I feared.

Finally, he managed, “You are her husband. I am not. It was your duty to keep her safe, and you failed. Miserably. That is not on me.”

And he was right. I had failed to keep her from escaping and running straight into danger’s embrace. I was the one who hadn’t been able to bring her back home twice now.

Maybe she was falling for Jesse. Maybe she did love him. Maybe she had every right to move on to someone more qualified and capable of taking care of her than me. She stayed. She refused to leave with me, and in doing so, she had chosen Jesse. The line was clearer now with distance, with the rogue camp at my back.

What else was I supposed to think?

Before Alex could say anything more, a door opened.

The Alpha King entered, wearing his fury like a second cloak. His face was twisted into a scowl. I wondered if one of the guards had sent word ahead that we had once again returned empty-handed, because he stepped toward us as though on a stormcloud.

He didn’t waste time with pleasantries.

“You failed.”

I turned to face him fully. “I tried—”

“I don’t care what you tried,” he barked. “You left Evelyn in the hands of a traitor. Again. This is the second time you have disappointed me, Alpha. I am not a man who takes well to failure. Or have you not learned this by now?”

“She chose to stay.”

“She is your wife!” His voice cracked like a whip. “Your duty is to bring her home. And your duty is to follow my orders, which you blatantly ignored in favor of her whims.”

“She has her own mind!” I snapped back. “She’s not something to drag around on a leash—”

“She’s a part of this pack,” he interrupted coldly. “We protect our own, or have you conveniently forgotten that as well? And this is no longer just about you and your inability to protect your wife. It isn’t even just about her, either. This is about the future of our pack, our rule, our bloodline. And you let it slip through your fingers once more. ”

Silence rang between us, brittle and loud.

Then, he stepped closer, voice dropping.

“Listen to me closely, Alpha, for I won’t repeat the sentiment. You have until the next turn of the moon to bring Evelyn home, or you will no longer have a home to return to.”

I stared at him, stunned. “You’d exile me?”

His eyes were steel. “If you can’t protect what’s yours or follow orders, then you no longer deserve the title of Alpha. You’ll be stripped of rank, name, and land. I’ll have you banished from my realm, and you’ll join your bastard brother on the other side of that border.”

I swallowed hard. “You would really make me a rogue.”

If that happened, I would be just as good as Jesse, resorting to a life of shoddy tents and scavenging. And my half-brother surely wouldn’t allow me to join his ranks. My time would be spent as a drifter, homeless and title-less. It was a fate worse than death for many. In fact, it was the very fate that had angered Jesse enough to initially seek revenge.

“One moon, Logan,” he repeated. “I will see you with her at your side then, or I won’t see you at all. And if she still resists returning with you, I’d advise that you look inward as to why she would deny a life of safety with you in favor of the dangerous survival among rogues.”

Then he turned and walked out without another word.

Alex stood frozen beside me. He hadn’t said a word, and I wasn’t even sure if he was capable of speaking then.

Besides, I didn’t wait to hear what he had to say. My fists clenched as I turned on my heel and left him standing there.

Every step echoed with the weight of a deadline I didn’t know how to beat. Like the tick of a clock, each heartbeat waned time closer to my allotted due date.

I had one moon, one impossible decision, and one woman I couldn’t seem to want to return with me, even if I lost everything trying to save her. She would have to listen to me eventually and relinquish, right?

But I would make it happen. Now, I knew the paths in and out of the rogue camp. I knew where she slept. I would make it work and save her.

Even if she didn’t want to be saved.