42

He flinches. “No. No, I would never have—Leanna, I never ordered your execution.”

My chest tightens, and I want to cover my ears. I don’t want to hear about the past from him. I don’t want to be faced with those memories. The last time I saw Cedric and talked to him was in his office when I gave him the small snack I had made for him. I still remember how I felt, the tight, pained sensation in my chest at his words to Bella about how I was just a tool.

A tool that missed him every night waiting for him to come home.

A tool that was meant to be discarded when he finally got the real thing.

A tool that believed in him till the bitter end.

I was so foolish back then, so desperate to survive, that I had clung to the idea of him, to the hope that he might care for me.

My body feels cold as I’m sent spiraling into the past.

Even in my wolf form, I wasn’t strong enough to fight the monsters that circled me in the Misty Forest. So, I ran. Injured, bleeding, I crawled to the edge of the Veil, a shimmering tower of light. I could hear the monsters gaining on me, and I had no reason to live—except for the possibility of the existence of a baby inside me.

I just wanted a chance. One more chance at life, with my child.

“Erik”—I hold out my hands—“give Finn to me. I’m going to go wait inside.”

“No!” Cedric snaps. “I’m not done talking to you.”

“Enough!” Erik looks really angry now. “You’re crossing a line, King Raine. Go inside, Leanna. I’ll meet you there.”

“Leanna!” Cedric roars my name as I take Finn and begin walking away. Each step is heavy on the ground, and my heart is beating wildly. My mind is a tangled mess, but the weight of the quiet son in my arms is all I need to keep going.

Erik protected me.

He protected me from Cedric, and I feel beyond grateful. I don’t know what I expected if it ever ultimately came down to it, but he had my back. I want to collapse to the ground, the relief is so immense.

The butler is waiting at the entrance, and he ushers me indoors. “I’ll fetch a healer for Master Finn.”

A healer?

I look down at Finn and realize, to my dismay, that he’s unconscious.

Panic is my first reaction, but his breathing is deep, and he seems fine. An assessment that the royal healer echoes when he finds us in a bedroom a couple of minutes later.

“Just passed out from the excitement and shock.” He gives me a meaningful look.

“Thank you, Jerry,” I reply, smiling shyly at him.

Jerry is Erik’s personal healer. He’s the one Erik brought me to when he found me bleeding and half dead in the forest. Healer Jerry is also the one who confirmed my pregnancy at the time. He was supposed to help me give birth, and when he found out I had opted for a home birth without his assistance, he was beyond pissed, scolding me about safety and health hazards. My ears still burn when I’m reminded of the lecture I received from him. He sometimes reminds me of Harriet.

For a moment, a pang of grief clogs my throat at the thought of the older woman who cared for me in my short time at the castle. My parting words to her were true. I’d never had a mother or experienced what having one could be like. With the way Harriet treated me, I sometimes wondered if that was what it felt like.

“Give him something sweet to eat when he wakes up,” Jerry advises before running his eyes over my form with a critical gaze. “What about you? Have you been taking care of yourself? You look weak.”

“I’m fine,” I assure him. “I’ve been eating plenty of meat like you told me to.”

He gives me a dubious look but sighs. “Very well. You should come in more frequently for checkups. You’re very careless with your health.”

“I will, Jerry,” I lie, knowing he’s going to keep nagging me until he’s satisfied.

I wait till he’s gone to stroke Finn’s fur. He must have heard what Erik said about being his father. Is that what shocked him? Or was it how Cedric treated him? I won’t find out before he wakes up, and when he does, I have a feeling he is going to have a lot of questions that I won’t be able to answer.

In all of his seven years, Finn has only asked me once about his father. When I told him I didn’t remember, he accepted that as the truth and moved on. I hoped he would never raise the topic again until he was at an age where I could explain a better version of events to him. As I run my fingers through his fur, I wonder if lying to him will be the right decision.

What is Cedric even doing here? Why did Erik tell me to come if he knew Cedric was also going to be here? Is this another one of Erik’s tricks?

I really do not understand this enigmatic king.

I press a kiss to Finn’s nose and wait. My excitable son isn’t easily scared, so his passing out tells me exactly how terrified he must have been.

I’m trying not to think about Cedric. About how pained he looked to see me with Erik, how devastated, almost as if the idea physically hurt him.

Fury washes through me. The nerve! My fingers dig into the sheets of the bed Finn is lying in. How dare Cedric look at me like that?

The anger is followed by a wave of fear. He found me. He knows I’m alive. What if he decides to use some unscrupulous means to get rid of me? What if he tells Bella and Vivian that I’m alive and they—What if they decide to sow seeds of distrust in the elders of the Human Wolf Kingdom? What if the past repeats itself?

My vision is blurring.