089 | ROWAN AND OAK

Waiting a week to speak to Ares was torture. The knowledge I now had burned a hole through my heart, and fear gripped me tight through every waking and sleeping hour.

I went down to speak to Luezza every day, swapping out with the Warrior Wolf on guard for a few hours each afternoon after lunch, just to be near someone who knew Ares. Being so far from him, in a place that revelled in his supposed death, made my mate start to take on an unreal quality. Rather than letting myself wonder if I’d imagined everything that had happened between us, I spoke to Luezza. She was tangible proof that Alpha Ares had been real. That he was real.

She didn’t give much away, and she alternated between spitting at my boots and begging for my forgiveness, but I took it all the same. Anything to remember that this half-life I was now living wouldn’t be my life forever.

Getting away for a second time would likely arouse suspicion, so I had to go about my exploits with more caution when the time finally cam