Chapter 4

ELENA

The truth of it sits heavy in the room.

Damien stands suddenly, crossing to me in three long strides. He pulled me up and into his arms, and I broke down in deep tears.

Three years of holding it together, of being the perfect Omega Luna, of pretending I don't hear the whispers about why the Alpha and his mate never scent like each other, why they never touch, why there's no heir.

I sob into my brother's chest while he holds me, one hand cradling the back of my head like he did when we were children and I had nightmares about the rogue attack that killed our parents.

"I've got you," he murmurs. "I've always got you, little wolf."

When the tears finally stop, I pull back. My face must be a mess.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "For not listening. For cutting you out."

"I'm sorry too. For giving you an ultimatum instead of just being there for you." Damien cups my face in his hands. "But you need to understand something, Elena. You're not just my sister. You're Nightshade pack. You were born here, raised here. No matter what name you took or what territory you moved to, you're ours. You're mine to protect."

"I can protect myself."

"I know. But you shouldn't have to. Not alone."

"The bond dissolution will be finalized in two weeks," I say. "On Dominic's birthday."

"Does he know yet?"

"Not unless he's opened the gift. Which I doubt."

A slow, vicious smile spreads across Damien's face. "Letting him sign his own bond dissolution. That's brilliant. Mom and Dad would be proud."

Our parents?

Alpha Marcus and Luna Sarah of Nightshade, killed by rogues when I was fifteen. Damien had been twenty-two, forced to take over the pack while also raising his traumatized teenage sister.

And I'd repaid him by marrying the one wolf he told me not to trust.

"There's something else," I say. "Vivian and her daughter are staying at my penthouse."

Damien's smile vanishes. "What?"

"Dominic asked me to take them in. His parents are blaming Vivian for Sebastian's death, he went on that helicopter trip because she wanted to. They needed somewhere safe."

"So naturally, you opened your home to your husband's obsession and her child."

When he puts it like that, it sounds insane.

"I have my reasons."

"Which are?"

"Better to keep them close. Where I can see them. Control the narrative." I meet his eyes. "And maybe learn exactly what Vivian knows about Dominic's feelings."

Damien studies me for a long moment. "You're planning something."

"I'm surviving."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I have right now."

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "You're staying here tonight. Your old room is exactly how you left it."

"I should get back home."

"Elena." It's not quite an Alpha command, but it's close. "Stay. Please."

The please breaks me.

"Okay."

My phone buzzes on the nightstand.

Dominic: Vivian said you went out. Where are you?

I stare at the message. For three years, I would have responded immediately. Reassured him. Made sure he wasn't worried.

Now I type: With family.

Dominic: My family? Are you still at the estate?

Me: No. My actual family. The one that wanted me.

Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.

Dominic: Elena, what's going on? You're acting strange.

Me: I'm acting like someone who's tired of pretending.

I turn off my phone before he can respond.

The next morning, I wake to the smell of pancakes.

Damien is in the kitchen when I come downstairs, flipping them with the ease of someone who's been doing it for years. He started cooking after our parents died, determined to give me some sense of normalcy.

"Blueberry," he says without turning around. "Your favorite."

I pour coffee and sit at the island, watching him work.

"I called Sage last night," he says. "Your attorney. She's very good."

"The best."

"She said Dominic will be served papers the morning of his birthday. In front of the pack council, since it's their monthly meeting."

Maximum humiliation. Sage knows her business.

"Good."

Damien plates the pancakes and slides them across to me. "What are you going to do after? When it's finalized?"

"I don't know. Maybe travel. Focus on my work at the clinic."

I'm a doctor with a specialty in Omega health. It's the one thing I kept from my life before marriage. The one thing Dominic couldn't touch.

"You could come back to Nightshade," Damien says carefully. "Be our pack doctor. We've needed one since Dr. Rivera retired."

"I'll think about it."

We eat in silence, but I can feel my brother watching me.

"What?"

"You're different," he says.

"Is that bad?"

"No. Just different from the soft-hearted girl who cried when she had to dissect a frog in biology class."

Damien laughs, and for a moment, it's like the last three years never happened.

Then my phone rings.

Vivian.

I answer. "Hello?"

"Elena, I'm so sorry to bother you…" She sounds panicked, breathless. "But Mira woke up with a fever and she's asking for you. I don't know what to do. I can't go back to the Ashford estate, and I don't know any doctors in Seattle outside the pack, and—"

"Breathe, Vivian. What's her temperature?"

"102.5. She's crying and she won't let me touch her. She just keeps asking for Auntie Elena."

"I'll be there in thirty minutes."

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

I hang up. Damien is watching me with an unreadable expression.

"The kid is sick," I explain.

"You don't owe them anything."

"I don't owe Vivian anything. But Mira is innocent in all of this."

"She's also not your responsibility."

"Maybe not. But I'm a doctor. And she's a sick child who's asking for me."

Damien walks me to my car. Before I get in, he pulls me into another hug.

"Remember what I said. You're Nightshade pack. Always. If you need anything, and I mean anything, you call me."