Evaline:
By the ti I finished laying out everything that had happened inside Alpha Grey’s office, my bedroom fell into a silence so thick I could almost taste it. The kind that presses at your lungs, compresses your ribs, and makes you aware of every passing second.
I didn’t bla them.
The things Elion had said...
The offer...
The heritage...
The implication that he knew more about than even I knew about myself...
Even I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Truthfully, I doubted I had spoken in a completely coherent order. My mind had been a whirlpool ever since the mont I stepped out of Elion Grey’s office. Thoughts circling, crashing, choking. The shock of his persistence. The worry over what River might say. The temptation - sharp and shaful - of discovering the truth behind my healing ability. All of it mixed into a storm that refused to calm.
River had been away at Nightshade Pack.
Oscar and Kieran were at the base camp, busy with the entrance exams for Silver Moon’s new students.
That left alone with my spiraling thoughts for hours.
And when the three of them finally returned ho around dinner... they noticed imdiately. Of course they did. It took them only five minutes to corner in the bedroom once I had tucked Lioren into his crib in the nursery.
I hadn’t been trying to hide anything... not really. I just... didn’t know how to say it. How to bring up Elion Grey of all people. And certainly not how to explain everything he had offered.
Now the room was heavy and unmoving.
River stood with arms crossed, leaning against the floor-to-ceiling glass wall.
Oscar sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees.
Kieran leaned against the back of the couch, his expression sharp and unreadable.
For a long mont, nobody spoke.
It was Oscar who broke the silence.
"Why," he said slowly, "would Alpha Grey use sothing like that to make you agree to his offer?"
Three pairs of eyes shifted instantly toward River.
I did too.
He was the ruling Alpha of the Rogue Community, a council mber as well. He interacted with Alpha Grey more than any of us. He would know... if anyone did.
River exhaled quietly, brushing his thumb across his jaw as though collecting his thoughts.
And I braced myself.
I expected him... especially him... to tell to reject the offer. To stay away from Elion Grey. To forget everything he had said.
But instead... River was calm. Thoughtful. Almost startlingly objective.
"He’s smart," River said finally. "Very smart. Smarter than most people realize. And he doesn’t waste ti with strategies that don’t serve a purpose. If he revealed sothing as big as that to Evaline... sothing he shouldn’t logically know.... it wasn’t random."
The room seed to tighten around us.
River looked up at then, his gaze deep and probing. "I have worked with him enough to understand this much - Elion Grey doesn’t take risks unless he’s sure of the outco. If he’s this persistent about making you his assistant... then he must believe there’s sothing unique about you that he needs. Or values."
He paused.
Amd went quiet.
Too quiet.
"Unless..." he said, then stopped.
But Oscar, of course, didn’t let it slide. He chuckled. "Unless he’s interested in our mate."
My head snapped toward him. "He’s not."
"I’m just saying what River looked like he was thinking."
"I wasn’t thinking that," River muttered... but his ears turned a very faint shade of red.
I pressed my fingers to my forehead. "Oh my goddess..."
Honestly, they were impossible sotis.
But the truth was - I hadn’t felt even a flicker of romantic interest from Elion Grey. Not once. Yes, he was handso. Very handso. That tall, clean, quietly intense kind of handso that was almost unfair. But beautiful n weren’t new to . And nothing in the way he looked at felt... like that.
This was strategic.
Purposeful.
Calculated.
But why?
Kieran cleared his throat softly, pulling us back to the real issue. His voice was calm, but beneath it I sensed tension... threads pulled too tight.
"How did he even know?" He asked. "About your healing powers?"
I had been asking myself the sa question.
"Either he investigated you and soone talked," Kieran continued, "or he sohow infiltrated our circle."
River shook his head. "Elion isn’t sloppy. If he infiltrated anything, we would have noticed it. And if he investigated her... it might have reached us already, especially after we recently cleaned our teams."
"Or..." Oscar added quietly, "...he might know sothing we don’t."
That thought sent a shiver through .
Because if Elion Grey had answers about my healing power, then he had access to information that even we didn’t understand.
My fingertips tingled.
And despite the uncertainty twisting in my stomach... there was sothing else inside too.
Curiosity.
Hope.
A desperate, sharp longing.
"What if," I whispered, "he really does know sothing... sothing real?"
River’s eyes softened when he looked at . "Evaline..."
I swallowed.
"I have wanted answers ever since I got this power," I said, my voice trembling before I steadied it. "I have wanted to know about my mom’s lineage ever since I was little."
None of them spoke.
None of them interrupted.
They just listened, truly listened.
And I realized sothing that made my chest ache... they weren’t trying to push away from the decision.
Not even River.
They were letting think for myself.
I sat down on the edge of the bed beside Oscar, clutching the blanket between my fingers.
"I don’t want to walk into soone else’s pack politics," I admitted. "But if Elion actually knows sothing about my bloodline... about why I can heal-" My voice cracked. "I can’t ignore that."
Kieran moved first, stepping closer until he stood directly in front of .
"Then don’t," he said softly. "Just don’t rush."
Oscar nodded. "We are not saying go. We are not saying don’t go. But don’t make the choice in haste."
River crouched down in front of , taking my hands gently into his.
His touch always grounded .
"You don’t owe Elion anything," he said. "But you also don’t owe us the sacrifice of sothing important to you. Whatever you choose, we’ll support it."
My chest tightened again... this ti with warmth.
With love.
With the quiet certainty that whatever storms ca next, I wouldn’t be facing them alone.
I looked at all three of them, my voice barely audible.
"What if accepting his offer changes things? What if it turned out a trap or sothing?"
River squeezed my hands. "Then we’ll deal with everything. Together."
I exhaled shakily.
Their words didn’t erase the uncertainty.
But they did sothing gentler.
They steadied .
And deep inside... beneath the confusion, the anxiety... sothing small and fragile whispered...
You know what you want, Eva.
And maybe I did.
Maybe the truth of who I was mattered more than the fear of what might happen.
But it was still worrying.
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