Chapter Two

Raven

“What do you mean, Raven?” His voice quivers with emotion.

“I mean, you need to come home with me now.” I straighten my shoulders and prepare to be harsh with him. “I’ve indulged this long enough. This is turning into an actual war. There will be a war, Rafe. I can not have you standing across from me when it begins. When you mated me and joined my pack, you knew what that entailed and all that we stand for. You don’t get to change sides now.”

He steps back, confusion, betrayal, and finally, rage flits across his face. “Indulge? You’ve indulged me with this? You make it seem as if I have no rights at all? Being mated to the great Raven Hale, and brought into the Black Moon pack has stripped me of my freedom to think? To decide what I believe is right and wrong? To-”

“No,” I laughed dryly. “You knew everything. This way of life is not new to us,” I gesture wildly between us, “and now,” I shove his chest and drill my finger into him, “you put our pups, myself, and our pack at risk by aligning with Duncan. His concerns were never yours. This,” I wave my hands around the tent, “is never something you voiced concern for. Until Duncan.”

“It always comes back to Duncan with you Raven,” he scoffs, shaking his head, giving me a look of disgust, “I didn’t realize how large of an issue it was until Duncan. He made it so I had a cause that I could fully back. One I agree with. I’m not coming home. Not yet. Not until we get this figured out and come to an agreement.”

He sounds so calm and sure of himself, convicted in these beliefs. I swallow thickly as I step up to him, taking his face between my hands. “Rafe, you have to see how crazy this is. You won’t have a home to come back to if you don’t help stop this.” I plead with him, my mate, the other half of my soul, the father of my children. “Duncan is trying to go after the Moon goddess by taking out our pack. How does that help anything?”

“It does. Again, you will see, Duncan has a plan and it will work out.”

My wolf lets loose a growl just as frustrated because baffled isn’t even the correct word for how I feel. I search his eyes, and I find nothing. I would be alarmed if I wasn’t so confused already. My mate is one of the smartest wolves I know, few rival him in book smarts and common sense. So, how is it he is being so stupid right now?

As I feel my heart breaking all over again, I refortify my walls. I tried. If he refuses to see reason, I can’t let him get anything more from me. For the last seven years, he has had free access to all the knowledge that the Black Moon pack has. Which is so much more than most. We are the original pack and we still hold the Moon goddess’ favor. So, as I am sure he put that newly available knowledge to good use and learned a lot, there is much he doesn’t know. And I won’t let him get that from me. So until this is done and over, my walls will now remain up. I won’t bring them down again.

With a sharp exhale, I step back and nod while avoiding looking at him. I look around blankly through the blur in my eyes.

“Raven, look at me,” I meet his soft gaze with one of steel, blinking away the tears I refuse to let fall. “I love you. I love the twins. Please hug them and kiss for me, tell Jasper we’ll finish his train when I get back, and-”

“Do you think he waited for you? Rafe, I don’t want to pit our children against you, but the hell if I will lie. You left, and I told them the truth as I know it, that I didn’t know if you would ever return to us, and after this conversation, I still don’t know.”

“You know I will,” he grinds out from between his clenched teeth, his eyes are flashing, his wolf trying to assert his dominance. He’s a true alpha and could be the alpha of his own pack, but he gave that up when he mated with me. I don’t take lightly the sacrifices this man has made for me and our family. That just adds to my mystification of this situation we find ourselves in.

“I don’t know that.” I assert, my wolf shining through, “you’re talking about coming home after Duncan declares war on us. You know we will win, but tell me, Rafe, as you stand here taking his side, why would you be the lucky one spared? We both know I won’t be the one to fight you. I couldn’t.” I choke up even thinking about it, “but I also couldn’t ask my pack to not fight an enemy. Because if you come with him, you will be the enemy and you must plan to fight. Right?”

My voice raises as my anger rises, a shove to his shoulders. “What is your plan? To stand around yelling and calling for peace while war rages around you? This is ludicrous. You are being so stupid right now. Why can’t you see this, Rafe?” Pulling at my hair, I am close to losing control. I heave for air. I can’t let my anger rise any further, for I fear I will start a fight I can’t escape from. And my current priority is now getting home to my pups.

Dropping my hands down, I step up to him grabbing his face, I pull him down into a passionate kiss, trying to pour all of my emotions into it.

“I love you,” I whisper before I shift, tearing the clothes he gave me in the process as I dart out of his tent and toward the gate.

I spot Duncan off to the side, standing beside a large tent, which must be their meeting tent. He stiffens as he sees me run by and my paws falter for a moment, almost wanting to change course and go straight for him. But I don’t. That would be the fight I can not currently win.

But I swear it now, I will bring him down for causing this. This war, this rift between me and my mate, this heartache that I have only felt once before when my family died, a feeling I hoped to never experience again.

It’s bad enough that he’s picking a fight with the Black Moon pack, but now he’s made a personal enemy out of me.