Chapter 6 (Part 2): When the Dark Breaks

Savannah Whitlock.

For a heartbeat, the room stood still.

Then Asher chuckled, low and warm, like he couldn't help it. The next instant he closed the distance in a blink of an eye. 

Before I could form a coherent thought, his arms slid underneath my knees and around my back, and he scooped me up off ther bed like I weighed absolutely nothing. 

"Asher!" I yelped. "What...no! Put. Me. Down!"

He laughed, actually laughed, and the sound vibrated straight throughme.

"You said that you liked the view," he teased, holding me securely against his chest as if my protesting and wiggling was adorable, "I'm just trying to give you a better view. A better angle."

"Yes I said that I liked the view, but that wasn't the view I was talking about..." I muttered, cheeks ablaze.

"Oh? and what view would that be?" He teased again. 

"I'm going to kill you..." I hissed, squirming uselessly because his grip didn't even budge. 

Asher's eyes crinkled at the corners, amused.

"We shall see, little one." 

He adjusted me slightly, effortless and careful, then tipped his head toward the door like this was all a normal morning for him.

"Now," he said, still grinning, "how about some breakfast?"

Asher DravenHart.

Savannah's feet hit the top stair with a sharp little stomp that was pure attitude, and I had to bite back a smile. She stopped glaring, just barely, but the heat in her cheeks still hadn't faded. She kept tugging the hem of the oversized tee, which told me she was trying to wrestle her dignity back into place one inch at a time.

I'd set her down and offered my hand. She took it and that alone felt like a victory. 

We started down the stairs together, the pack house still half asleep around us. The early light leaked in through the tall windows and made the polished wood glow honey gold. Somewhere deeper in the estate, a door shut softly. A pair moved through the halls with quiet purpose, nodding when they saw us, then quickly looking away. Like they weren't sure if Savannah fit in yet but couldn't say it outloud. 

She shot me a sideways look, eyes sharp and mouth set.

"If you pick me up like that again," she said, voice low, "Like a sack of potatoes. I will bite you." 

"Biting me is a bold strategy." I said, lifting a brow. 

"It's not a strategy." She said her eyes narrowing, "It's a promise." 

"And what if I like it?" I countered, tone innocent in a way that absoluetly wasn't innocent. 

Savannah's entire face flashed red so fast that it was almost impressive. She sputtered once, then snapped her mouth shut like she'd just bitten her own tongue. We reached the middle of the staircase and I felt her squeeze my hand, hard. Like she was trying to transmit I hate you through skin contact.

At the bottom of the stairs, she leaned closer as if she needed to make sure that only I heard her. Her voice came out in a hissed warning.

"Don't tempt me, Asher."

Her voice slid down my spine and stirred Nero, who perked up like he heard the word treat.

"Tempt her. Have her bite. Mark her."

"Quite."I warned, but my mouth twitched anyway.

Before I could reply, a laugh floated from the dining room, easy, familiar. Rowan.

"Oh I am loving whatever is happening out there," Rowan called out. "You two keep flirting like that and the walls are going to start blushing."

Savannah's head snapped toward the open archway like she had spotted prey.

"How..." she started, then glanced up the stairs behind us, "How do you hear us from there?"

Rowan's laughter deepened, and I could hear the scrape of a chair as he shifted at the table.

"I do have ears, Savannah."

"That's not an answer." 

"It is literally the answer," Rowan said and I could hear the grin in his voice, "Also you two weren't exactly whispering."

We headed into the dining hall the scent hit us like a wave.

Food.

Real food. Warm food.

Butter on toasted bread, coffee sharp and rich, bacon sizzling somewhere near the back. There was sausage too, smokey, peppery, and a sweet undertone that made my stomach tighten with hunger. Cinnamon apples, or spiced oatmeal, my stomach couldn't decide which sounded better.

The long dining table was already is use. A few pack members sat scattered down the length, quieter than usual, eyes flicking toward me then away. Respectful, but cautious. Watchful.

Rowan, however, was entirely unconcerned with anything except his plate. 

He was seated halfway down the table, scarfing food like he'd ben starved. A plate in front of him was piled obscenely high. Thick slices of toast slathered in butter, eggs scrambled with herbs, bacon crisped at the edges, and a bowl of cinnamon apples steamed beside it. A mug the size of a small bucket sat near his elbow, coffee dark enought to qualify as ink. He looked up, mouth full and grinned.

Savannah's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Do you guys have, like... a group chat or something? Is there a wolf telepathy happening? Because I am starting to feel deeply excluded."

Rowan chuckled around his bite and, without thinking, let the word slip out in the tone he used when we were teenagers when he would talk to women he wanted to smooth talk. 

"Oh, little one..."

A growl ripped out of my throat before I could stop it. Low. Purely instinctive. The kind of sound that made the room got silent.

Savannah blinked, startled.

Rowan went pale so fast. He swallowed hard, nearly choking on his food.

"I..." He coughed. "Savannah. Sorry, sir."

I held his gaze for a moment, long enough for the reminder to settle, then nodded once.

Rowan released a breath like he'd just survived a near death experience and immediately shoved another forkful into his mouth like if food could protect him. 

Savannah turned her head toward me, eyes wide.

"What was that for?"

I exhaled through my nose, forcing the edge down.

"Pack nonsense." 

She just stared at me.

"That's not an answer, Asher."

"Well, honestly, it's the only one that you're currently going to get," I said, but my tone was calmer, "He shouldn't call you that."

"Why not?" She asked, as her cheeks turning pink again, "It's just a nickname."

"But it's not though." I said, keeping my voice low, "Not in the way he means it."

Rowan made a muffled sound into his coffee mug.

Savannah looked between us, clearly deciding whether to push. Savannah on the other hand, pushed.

"You two are so weird..." she muttered.

"You're not wrong." Rowan said around another mouth full of food.

I lead Savannah around the table and guided her to an empty seat closer to the head, where she would have space and have fewer sets of eyes directly on her. I squeezed her hand and let go, felt Nero whine under my skin, and sat at the chair at the head of the table, next to her.

As we sat, Savannah leaned in, voice quieter.

"So... do you actually have a group chat or something?" 

Rowans smirk returned, because he had regained his courage now that my glare isn't on him.

"Not a chat, so to speak."

"What is it then?" She pressed.

Rowan's presence brushed my mind like a familiar knock.

"You going to tell her?" he asked, his tone half amused, half caution.

"I mean, she asked. If she is to be our future Luna, she needs to know everything." 

"How much was said last night?"

My gaze flicked to Savannah. She was watching us both with suspicion, like she could sense there was a conversation going on, but could't hear it at all. Which I mean... it was.

"Enough." I hesitated, then told him the truth. Rowan hadn't earned it but he was my Beta, "She had a nightmare."

"And?" The amusement in his tone dimmed.

"She was scared." The words felt strangely intimate even in my own mind, "She asked me to come onto the bed."

Rowan's grin grew wide, and he chuckled softly into his mug. 

Savannah's head tilted.

"What's so funny?"

Rowan didn't answer her.

He stood abruptly, chair scraping against the floor with a loud SCREECH that turned heads. He planted boths hands on the tabletop like he was about to make an announcement to the entire territory.

"Never, never ever, bet against Rowan Pierce! I told you! PAY UP!"

A few of my wolves groaned. One of the younger ones near the far end looked like he wanted to crawl under the table. Another fumbled in his pocket with a grimace.

Rowan, still standing, pointed dramatically at two different pack members.

"You, owe me five. You, ten," Then pointed to third, "And you Marcel, don't you try and back out now and don't try to pretend you didn't bet the most. I saw you."

"What is happening?" She said as she stared at Rowan like had had lost his mind. 

Heat rushed to my face, an emotion that hasn't made itself known for years, until last night. 

"Nothing." I said way too quickly.

Savannah turned to me.

"That was the most unconvincing 'nothing' I have ever heard." She looked at me horrified and fascinated all at once, "You let them bet on... on what exactly?"

On me. On her. On the bed.

My ears heated.

Rowan sat back down, completely pleased with himself, and took anothr ginormous bit of food like he hadn't just annouced my personal life to the entire dining hall. 

She leaned close to me.

"Asher..." she whispered. 

Just my name. One word and it hooked me like a hungry bass. 

My blush deepend instantly, hot and humiliating, crawling up my neck as if my skin had chose to betray me. My stomach tightened, not with fear or anger, but with something that felt dangerously like love. A flustered warmth. It was like her voice slipped past my walls and pressed a thumb right into a soft spot in my core that I pretended didn't exist.

It was absurd. 

And it made Nero purr like an idiot in the back of my head.

"She scolds you like you belong to her. I like her with claws."

I swallowed, forcing the calm back into my expression, and avoided her eyes for a moment, just long enough to get my emotions back under my control. My pulse thundered.

"It's just..." I cleared my throat once, "It's pack nonsense." I repeated.

"That's your favorite non-answer isn't it?" 

"It's effective." I managed, still feeling the heat on my face.

"It is because he is embarrassed." Rowan commented.

"Rowan." I warned.

"Fine. Fine." Rowan immediately raised both hands, "I'm just eating breakfast."

As if on cue, my stomach rumbled, loud enought that Savannah's eyes widened with delight.

"So, was that the wolf roommate?" Savannah said, grinning, "Or just your stomach?"

Rowan snorted in his coffee.

I couldn't help the smile that tugged at my mouth.

"That, my dear, was my stomach."

"Sooooo....." Savannah's grin turned sly, "Nero didn't approve?"

"If it was Nero, little one..." I said, my voice low enough so that only she could hear it, "You would feel it more than hear it."

Her blush returned, bright and furious, and she looked down at the table. She bit her bottom lip as a small sound escaped her. 

Rowan's laughter rumbled again, smug. Savannah dragged a slow breath through her nose like she was trying to regain control. 

She failed.

Her eyes cut to me, pupils dilating slightly. 

"Oh." she said softly, too sweet to be innocent. There was something hiding beneath, "So if it was Nero, I'd feel it huh?"

I felt my pulse spike as her eyes narrowed.

"That is what I said."

Her gaze flicked down, to my mouth, then lower, then back up. Quick and daring. Like she wanted me to know that she had done it. 

Rowan, mid-bite, paused, like a man watching the start of a bonfire.

Savannah's mouth curved.

"Well, that's good to know."

I should've shut it down, I should have redirected.

Instead I let my smile show, even though it was small, it was controlled.

"Careful, Savannah."

"Or what?" she challenged.

Even as she said it while scooping the eggs onto her plate, I could tell she was trying to pretend that she hadn't just thrown a match.

I leaned closer to her.

"There is a big difference between heard and felt, little one. and you will learn the difference."

Her cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red.

Rowan chose that moment to laugh again, outright with his shoulders shaking.

"This is the best breakfast I have had in months."

"Can you not?" Savannah said shooting him a glare that could curdle milk.

"What? I am not doing anything." Rowan said, spitting flecks of egg onto the table. 

"You're being you..." she snapped.

Rowan swallowed his mouthful.

"That's unavoidable, sweetness." Rowan's grin sharpened.

The word landed like a spark.

Savannah's fork froze halfway to her mouth. Her eyes widened, and then she snapped her gaze to me so quickly that I felt I was shoved. 

"Well?" she demanded, cheeks turning pink again, "Are you going to let him call me that?"

Rowan's smile turned innocent in a way that only a guilty man could manage. He shoveled another bite into his mouth and chewed loudly, hoping it would protect him. 

I kept my gaze on Savannah.

"It's not what I call you, and you said it yourself, it's just a nickname." I teased her.

"Little one?" she asked, blushing again.

I simply nodded.

"But if it is making you uncomfortable, I can tell him to stop." I added.

Savannah was about to agree, then she bit her lower lip. She only does that when she's deep in comtemplation. Her eyes flicked away.

"I... honestly kind of liked it." she said, her voice small and honest.

Rowan made a choking sound into his coffee mug again that might have been just surprise. He set the mug down quickly, still grinning like he'd just won something we didn't know he wagered on.

Heat curled low in my chest. It wasn't jealousy or anger, it was something I couldn't quite place. I liked Rowan. We had been close. But ever since I lost my parents, I have been a recluse. I pushed him away. Hearing him call her 'sweetness' brought feelings I thought I had locked away tight bubbling back to the surface. I could feel that heat crawling from my chest to my neck. 

"Alright." I said, nodding slowly.

Savannah blinked.

"Alright?" 

"Yup. Alright." I repeated, letting a hint of amusement touch my mouth, "We will keep it on probation. His nickname for you differs than mine. So I'm not upset about it." 

Rowan's shoulders shook as he tried to conceal some more laughter. 

Savannah rolled her eyes hard enough that I thought that they would get stuck. Then she finally reached for her plate again.

I watched her take her first real bit of food since crossing into my territory. She had piled almost everything onto her plate that was on the table.. As soon as she started chewing, I saw some of the tension ease from her shoulders. It wasn't all of it. But enough that her breathing slowed and her posture was less rigid.

"Good." I thought to myself. 

I glaced up to Rowan. He met my gaze with his, smiling and gave a small nod.

Our minds brushed.

"Look at that. She's eating and still here. She's not running." He paused.

I could tell that there was more he wanted to say so I pushed.

"What is it Rowan?"

"Are you going to tell her?" He tried to keep his voice casual but I sensed a shift in his tone. 

"Tell her what?" I asked, my own tone sharpening.

Rowan's amusement flared.

"About us. About the fact that you and I shared a bed before."

My jaw tightened hard enough to click.

Savannah was still chewing, blissfully unaware that the word bed had just lit up every nerve in my chest.

"That was years ago." I sent back, clipped, "And honestly irrelevant."

Rowan laughed in the link, bright and annoying.

"It is relevant that second she starts believeing every affectionate thing in this house comes with strings attached. She deserves to know you've loved before, Asher. That you're not some cold stone monument, though something was rock hard if I remember correctly."

As if on cue, heat swirled and pooled below my stomach.

A memory flickered, way too vivid for how much I had tried to bury it.

A different winter. A different war.

Rowan and I. In my bed, breath shared in the dark. Hands finding skin with a reverence that wasn't about claiming. The quiet after, when his forehead pressed to mine and the world ouside these walls could have burned down and I still would have felt... loved.

It hadn't been some joke.

Or 'pack nonsense'.

It had been real.

And it had ended the way so many things ended in our world. Duty first. Desire second. He had chosen to by my Beta when I needed someone with a spine more than I needed a lover. We'd both pretended that the change didn't carve a hollow place in us both. It had never come up in conversation before.

"We were young..." I answered, my tone becoming a bit heavier.

"But it mattered." His presence softened against mine, "And if she finds out later on, from someone else, she will think you hid it because you are ashamed."

I felt Savannah glace up mid-bite, eyes narrowing like she could sense the tension in the air.

"I am not ashamed... I just don't want her to think different of me." I snapped back.

Rowan's replay was immediate and patient in the way only he could be.

"Do you think secrets stay secrets in the pack house? You just watched me collect money from grown men because you got into bed with her last night."

He was right.

And I hated it.

"Look, I'm not trying to embarrass you." Rowan pressed again, gentler now, "I am trying to keep her from thinking she's stepping into a fairytale with a monster at the end."

My throat tightened.

Becasue I knew she was already looking through the haze, already trying on deciding if I was safe enough to be around.

Rowan's last jab hit the sore spot.

"But if she asks you what is was... don't call it 'pack nonsense' please."

The words settled heavy.

For a moment, all I could hear was the clink of Savannah's fork and the soft murmur of the dining hall. The smell of coffee and warm bread sat in my lungs, grounding.

"Then what should we call it?" I asked. 

I was surprised by how raw the question sounded in my own mind. It wasn't angry, just honest.

Rowan didn't answer right away.

Finally, his presence brushed mine again, quieter now, like he had turned down his voice so that it wouldn't echo. 

"We call it what it was... no what it is..." He said.

His eyes met mine.

"Love." 

One word.

Simple. Unavoidable.

It landed in my chest like a hand to a scar.

My pulse thudded and it took all of my will to force my expression to stay neutral at the table. Savannah was still eating like she didn't have a care in the world. I could feel Rowan across from me, his mind was steady, but his body wasn't as composed as he pretended.

Something old and stubborn rose up.

"My feelings for you haven't left.," I sent, carefully, as if the words might shatter something fragile. "They have always been there."

Rowan's mental presence stuttered.

His surprise hit the link like a flash of heat. 

At the table, his fork paused. He swallowed nothing.

And for the first time in a long time, Rowan Pierce; the Beta who could stare down a room full of wolves, went visibly flustered.

A faint flush climbed his cheeks. 

His ears went pink.

It was so familiar it almost hurt to see.

Something tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"I have always loved it when you got flustered." I added because I couldn't help myself. 

Rowan coughed, hard. Nearly choking on air. At the table, it came out as a real sound, drawing up a couple of glances from down the hall.

"Rowan?"

Savannah looked up, confused.

Rowan waved a hand without looking at her. He coughed again, hacking like he had something stuck in his throat. His ears went pinker.  

"I..." He started, then cleared his throat again, too loud, "If you will excuse me..."

He shoved his chair back with a quick scrape, standing up far too abruptly for a man who was supposedly calm. He didn't even finish his coffee. He muttered something about 'checking on something' and escaped the dining hall like it was set ablaze. 

Savannah stared after him, her brows knitted together.

"What just happened?"

I kept my face steady, even as my chest felt strangely full and hollow at the same time.

"Pack..." I started, then caught myself, "I'll explain later."

I exhaled once, softer.

Her eyes narrowed.

"If you say so..." she said as she returned to her plate.

I watched Rowan retreating back, while Nero purred with pleased approval. I finally had the mental function to grab a plate of my own and loaded it with some sausage, bacon, eggs, and a few slices of toast. I brought up one slice to my lips and nibbled lightly. 

For one small second. One fragile, dangerous moment, the dining hall felt like something it hadn't felt like in years...

A home.

END OF CHAPTER 6.