All Chapters of The Space Between Full Moons: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter Twenty-OneRowan drove fast, faster than Elena had ever seen him drive, the truck's headlights cutting sharp lines through the dark trees lining the access road. Neither of them spoke. The howl had not repeated, but its echo seemed to hang in the cab of the truck anyway, impossible to shake off."Where would he go?" Elena asked, breaking the silence as they took a hard turn onto the main road. "If he wanted to find proof about your mother, where would he start?""I don't know. That's what scares me." Rowan's knuckles were white on the wheel. "My father doesn't do anything without a plan. If he left that note and drove off alone, he already knew exactly where he was going. I just don't know where that is.""Naomi said Kieran found a photograph. Somewhere three hundred miles from here. Would your father go there? Tonight, alone?""Not that far, not without telling someone first. That's not how he operates." Rowan slowed the truck slightly, thinking. "There's an old boundary mark

Chapter Twenty-ThreeThe trucks pulled to a stop a short distance away, headlights cutting across the road and throwing long shadows through the trees. Rowan positioned himself in front of Elena without seeming to think about it, the same protective instinct she'd seen from him since the first day on this road.Three men climbed out of the lead truck. Elena recognized none of them, but she didn't need an introduction to know which one was in charge. He walked with the unhurried confidence of a man who had spent years hunting things smarter and more dangerous than himself, and had never once lost."Rowan Ashford," the man said, stopping a few yards away, his eyes moving briefly to Elena before settling back on Rowan. "Out here awfully late. Bad night for a walk in these particular woods, don't you think?""Jonah." Rowan's voice was flat, controlled, though Elena could feel the tension radiating off him. "This is private land. You know that.""I know a lot of things, actually. Getting t

Chapter Twenty-FiveThe clearing froze. Every pack member stood locked in place, caught between the order Callum had just given and the rifle now leveled at them from across the open ground. Elena felt Rowan's hand close hard around her wrist, pulling her half a step behind him without breaking his stare from Jonah."Put the rifle down," Callum said, his voice steady despite the blood still drying along his jaw. "You're outnumbered, Jonah. This doesn't need to go the way you think it does.""I've been outnumbered by this family for twenty years," Jonah answered, his voice rough with something that sounded like exhaustion as much as anger. "Every question I asked, every report I filed, every year I spent being called the town's obsessed lunatic while your family walked around like nothing was wrong. I'm done being outnumbered quietly."The man beside him raised the camera, already recording, its small red light steady in the darkness. Elena's stomach twisted watching it, knowing exactl

Chapter Twenty-SevenThe clearing tensed again instantly, every pack member's attention snapping toward the new threat. Rowan pulled Elena slightly behind him, old instinct reasserting itself even mid-crisis, though his eyes stayed fixed on Reggie's camera."Reggie." Jonah's voice carried a warning edge. "Put that down.""Why would I do that?" Reggie kept the camera steady, panning it slowly across the gathered pack, clearly enjoying the sudden power he held over the entire clearing. "You've been chasing this for ten years, boss, and you're just going to hand over the only proof because a wolf-man gave you a sob story about his dead mommy? I've got better plans for this footage than that.""What plans?" Callum asked, his voice dangerously quiet."There's a market for this kind of thing. You'd be amazed." Reggie's smile was thin, calculating. "News outlets. Private collectors who'd pay serious money to know something like your family actually exists. Government contacts, if I wanted to

Chapter Twenty-Nine"Not now," Naomi said sharply, cutting off whatever Callum had been about to say. "You're losing too much blood to talk. Rowan, help me get him to the truck. This wound needs real attention, not confessions in the dark.""Dad, tell me later. Save your strength." Rowan's voice was tight with fear, already moving to support his father's weight, one arm braced under his shoulders."No." Callum's grip on his son's arm tightened despite his obvious weakness, refusing to let the moment pass. "I might not get another chance to say this the way it deserves to be said. Your mother is alive, Rowan. She's been alive this whole time, living under a different name, in a town called Ashwood Creek, four hours north of here."The clearing had gone quiet again, pack members nearby clearly hearing every word despite Naomi's efforts to keep the conversation private. Elena watched Rowan's face, torn between the urgency of his father's injury and the enormity of what he was hearing."W