When my phone rang again, and I saw that it was Ivan calling, some of the tension in my body eased.
He must have been calling to tell me that the warrior and Nova had arrived back to the pack house and everything was okay now.
Except when I answered the phone, before I could even say hello, Ivan told me, his voice tight. “The warrin who was escorting Nova is dead and Nova is gone. It happened before they even crossed the border into the pack.”
The air around me dropped twenty degrees. I suddenly felt like I was freezing.
I had suspected that the leak revealing the threat against Leo was false, but I hadn’t expected this.
This couldn’t be right. Why would anyone go after Nova?
But Ivan wouldn’t lie to me. If he said this happened, then it happened.
Before I could even bring myself together to formulate some kind of reply, or to even finish processing. Gideon’s phone rang too.
Seeing the name on the screen of the phone, he scoffed. “It’s Daphne.” It was clear he was going to block the call.
“Answer it,” I said at once.
Gideon gave me a strange look. “Why?”
“Nova is missing,” I said, the words burning like venom in my throat. “Please answer it.”
He processed the information much faster than I had, and answered the phone.
“Hello?” he said. At once, his face went pale.
My stomach turned. Gods, I was right. I didn’t want to be right!
Gideon clicked on the speakerphone and Daphne’s voice rang out through the speakers.
“I have Nova,” she said. “And I want an exchange. Give me my father, and I will let the girl go unharmed.”
“And if I don’t?” Gideon replied.
My gaze snapped to his face. No way was he attempting to negotiate with my daughter’s life. He wouldn’t be reckless, would he? He had to give her what she wanted to get my daughter back.
Gideon avoided looking at me, which only made me more anxious. What kind of game was he playing? This was our daughter. This was her life!
16.06 Thu Jan 20
Chapter 138
“If you refuse, I will kill the girl,” Daphne said.
25 vountry
Gideon face was hard, his eyes cold. “I’m not giving you what you want. Darius will never go free”
“No!” I shouted without being able to help myself. “Do you know what you are saying? You would condemn my daughter to death?”
Gideon turned his fierce eyes to me, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care if I whined or worse. He couldn’t make th choice! Daphne was out of control There was no telling what she could do. She could just kill Nova. She’d tried to kill Leo before.
If Gideon was hoping to make a gamble with this, I couldn’t let him put Nova’s life on the line!
On the other end of the call, Claire laughed and laughed. When she finally recovered, she said, “I expect my father to be released. I will send coordinates for the exchange.”
Then the line went dead.
“How could you do this?” I demanded.
“My pack doesn’t negotiate with terrorists,” he said.
“That is my daughter!” I snapped.
Gods, for this brief moment, I thought of telling him the truth of my identity. If he knew I was Claire, and if he knew that Nova was his daughter too, would that change anything? Surely he wouldn’t be as callous with his own children as he was being with mine.
“I’m sorry, Raven,” he said. Some of the coldness seeped from his face. I knew he was attempting to be understanding, but without full knowledge of what was going on, he had no hope of understanding all he was working on losing.
“Please,” I said. “Nova… you can’t abandon her.”
“If I release Darius, it would put my pack and Leo at greater risk,” Gideon said.
–
“You can’t sacrifice Nova for your sense of ease. She’s just a little girl,” I said I pleaded, begging him to understand.
What kind of man had he become, that he was willing to make this choice, to condemn a six year old girl, whether she was of his own flesh and blood or not?
“You are a monster,” I told him, fire in my voice, burning me down to my soul. He might turn his back on Nova, but I never would. “If something happens to her before I can reach her, I will never forgive you. I will never forgive you!”
As I raged, I felt something snap inside of me. The fire that raged roared louder and hotter and bigger until it fully encompassed all of me, scorching my skin and blazing in my eyes. My vision turned red, my strength tripled, then quadrupled.
My mask fell away.
16.06 Thu Jan 20
Chapter 138
And I welcomed the return of my woll
Gideon’s POV
8200
I watched, flabbergasted as Raven started to shift right there in Leo’s hospital room. I grabbed my son from the bed and shielded him behind me, watching as I sensed Raven’s power surge stronger than almost any she wolf I had ever experienced before.
Raven was incredibly powerful, a formidable, massive werewolf. Shifted, her coat was a shimmering pale Her eyes were golden.
I’d seen this wolf before. I knew this power. This scent.
It was not a stranger, and it was the confirmation that I had been waiting for since Leo had first suspected Raven might be his mother, and I agreed.
Raven was indeed Claire.
I was certain of it now. This was Claire’s wolf. Claire’s scent. Her power. Her rage.
I didn’t know how the blood test had been wrong, I only knew that it was. There was no question in my mind as I was struck with sudden clarity.
My gaze transfixed on Claire, I knew without question that somehow Nova is my daughter.
Gods. What had I done?
In the moment, I had been trying to protect Leo, but in doing so I had potentially condemned my own daughter. I didn’t mean to choose my son over my daughter, but that was what I had done all the same.
Gods. I hated myself.
And from the sheer of overwhelm fury in Claire’s wolfy eyes, I knew she hated me too.
She threw her head back, howled, then turned and jumped straight out the window.
I covered Leo with my body as the glass shattered. We were on the fourth floor, but still she went.
When the dust settled, I passed Leo to Xavier, and then ran to the window to see.
Claire had safely landed from the fall and was pushing out now toward the forest, toward the direction of the border with the rogue territory.
Did she know where Nova was? Could she feel their connection?
She had saved Leo, why did I doubt now that she would save Nova as well?
“Alpha?” Xavier said, alarm in his voice.
Looking at him, I told him, “Get Leo to a safer room. Have the healers look him over. Guard him with your life.”
16.06 Thu Jan 20
Chapter 138
Already I was starting to shift.
Where are you going. Alpha Xavier asked.
“To save my daughter, and my former mate.”
Then, shifting into my werewolf form. I hopped from the window just as Claire had done and foll tracks
田
