Chapter 79

Mira

I met Ward at the edge of the forest. While not forbidden from being on Pack grounds, he was nervous about skulking around after all the drama with his fiancé. He had answered my text message immediately, and I wondered if he also hadn’t slept the night before. There was still one more day until the moon was full, the day of my trials and Mate ceremony, and I marveled at how early the lunar effects can set in among some wolves.

Ward looked disheveled when I arrived. His short hair was spiking up in many directions and stubble on his chin told me he wasn’t keeping up with his regular habit of shaving every day. A pang of nostalgia hit me, from growing up together to being Mates. It seemed like a different life entirely from this current one I was living, though it had only been a few months.

He smiled at me, and reached out for a hug that I felt rude not to reciprocate. The mint on his breath meant he had at least brushed his teeth before coming, which I appreciated.

“You still like to wake with the sunrise I see,” he said, taking me in from head to foot. “And you’re—“

He cut himself off, taking a deeper breath to inhale my scent. This was the first time he’d encountered me since the return of my wolf, and it was dizzying to him.

“You’re something else,” was all he could come up with to say.

“That’s one way to put it,” I told him.

We walked back down the trail slowly, easing into the conversation that he wanted to have. He was definitely nervous, and it started to rub off on me as I waited for him to speak up. I supposed it would be to disparage Dominic again, but something about his voice in the message compelled me to at least listen to what he had to say.

“So, okay,” he said finally, lifting his face to the tree tops as if the words he needed were hidden in the boughs. “I know you don’t really trust my word anymore, and granted I haven’t been the best friend.”

I made a sound in agreement, but kept quiet otherwise.

“But remember that I have been around a lot longer than this new family of yours, and I only want to look out for you.”

“Just get to the point, Ward,” I said, stopping in the middle of the trail to make him face me. “I know you hate Dominic out of jealousy or whatever, but he is not the bad guy you make him out to be.”

“No, I know!” He put his hands in the air, displaying his innocence. “Dominic is fine, he’s great, even if it pains me to admit it. This isn’t about him.”

I tilted my head slightly to the side, giving him a quizzical look.

“Then who are you talking about?”

“Lucian.”

I actually felt the breath rush out of my lungs. “Lucian? You barely know him, he’d just gotten home before Irene and Tessa went nuts and he was left behind.”

“That’s not true, and Tessa did not go nuts!” This had upset him, his voice going pitching upwards. “I’ll remind you that she is still the mother of my child, and your patient, Doctor. Or did you forget about your oaths now that you’re stepping up to be Luna?”

There was the nasty Ward I remembered, the one who even when we were young would complain if he didn’t have his way. He needed to make others feel small in order to feel big. I couldn’t believe it had taken me so many years to really see it.

“Fine,” I said, keeping on task. “We were talking about Lucian?”

“Yes, Lucian!” Ward said as if I had been the one to veer off course. “I don’t trust him, he’s too shady for me and I still find it hard to believe that anyone in his family is fully innocent.”

“He’s been through interrogations and lie detectors and all sorts of scrutiny, and they found nothing” I told him, feeling tired all of a sudden. “Davos, I mean the Alpha, has found no reason to accuse him of any wrongdoing, and we have to accept his word.”

Ward looked taken aback when I used the Alpha’s first name, but moved forward.

“Maybe nothing against Dominic, but what about you?”

His voice was cold and serious, and in the first second I was concerned.

“What about me?”

“If Lucian is so innocent, why has he been asking me for information about you?”

“What kind of information?”

“Your upbringing, schooling, personal life,” Ward listed these things like groceries. “He was very interested in whether or not we slept together.”

I swatted him on the arm. “You’re disgusting.” I started to walk away from him.

“Me? I didn’t tell him anything! At least, not about that.”

I paused in my steps.

“What did you tell him?”

“I don’t remember everything, he got me pretty drunk,” he said, embarrassed, “or maybe put some truth serum or something in my drink… but he wanted to know about your wolf. I’m sorry… I told him…”

I thought back to my interactions with Lucian. When he found me in the library, the intel from his source about the Rogue facilities— what were his real motives in latching onto my cause? Only he would have those answers, and I would have to get them out of him somehow.

“You shouldn't have done that,” I said, “not that it matters much, since I’ve reclaimed her. Is there anything else?”

Ward looked hurt that I didn’t think he’d done enough for me, as if he deserved a cookie or something.

“No, just,” he took my hand, “promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I promise.”

We parted ways, Ward slinking back through the trees and to his own Pack. I wasn’t ready to go home, and found my feet guiding me to the hospital without realizing. Maybe I would find Cinda to distract me, but she was busy and the rest of the staff seemed confused to see me this close to the ceremony.

“Shouldn’t you be at home, or getting a pedicure or something?” Jacqueline teased me.

“Oh leave her be, maybe she’s superstitious about seeing the groom the day before the wedding!” Tanya, an anesthesiologist, offered. “I stayed at my parents’ house for the full week before I married Brayden, and we’d been living together for two years at that point!”

She gave me a conspiratorial nudge with her shoulder, and I tried to play along.

“Something like that!”

I finally accepted that I needed to go home. Dominic had let me know he would be home, and I tried to sound jovial in my reply. I used my walk home to figure out what I would say to him, but nothing creative came to mind.

When I walked into our apartment, my heart stopped.

There were candles everywhere, the shades pulled in every window to block out the midday light. The table was set with a light lunch, and fresh flowers sat in a vase. Dominic appeared behind me as I stood gaping at the display.

“This is—“ I said as I turned to face him. But all I could do was reach up and wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m so sorry about last night.”

“So am I,” he said into my ear.

I slowly released my grip and my feet came back to the ground.

“I know I’m not easy to…be with, sometimes,” I told him, trying to remember anything I had prepared to say. “I’ve kept people out for so long, shutting off my emotions when I needed to disconnect in order to be a good doctor. And I am trying to break through that, to open my mind and my heart to those who deserve it. Like you.”

“Mira, you don’t have to—“

“No, let me finish,” I put my hand on his chest. “You deserve to be respected and to hear the truth, even when it is difficult for me to say.”

His mouth drooped a little, unsure which way this might go.

“And the truth is, Dominic, I love you.” I professed, “I have loved you for longer than I even knew, and maybe it took my wolf returning for me to see it, but I cannot imagine a world in which I would not love you, for the rest of my life.”

He responded by pressing his lips to mine. I tasted salt and realized tears were falling down my face.

“I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“This hasn’t exactly been the most traditional timeline for courtship,” he said jokingly. “Usually people date first before getting engaged.”

I laughed, and felt all the worries of the last twenty-four hours disappear.

“I do wish I could’ve done things the right way, and I’d like to change that starting now,” he said, pulling away from me and reaching into his pocket. “I hope you’ll say yes.”

“To what?” I asked.

I got my answer as he lowered himself onto one knee, holding out a small velvet box.

“Mira,” his voice was like velvet as well, “will you marry me?”