215 The Goodbye Before War
Lucian
Tears welled in Mara’s eyes before she could hide them. “Why?” she whispered. “Why would you walk into his trap,
Lucian?”
“Mara,”
“You know it’s a trap,” she said, her voice rising only slightly, but the heartbreak in it cut through everything. “Why would
you walk straight into it?”
“Because we don’t have a choice,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. “He’s pushed us into a corner. We don’t know who he is. We don’t know what he’s planning. But everything, everything, points to Mistwood. It’s the one place we keep circling back to. What if Chase Nighthorn isn’t just some rogue? What if he’s an Alpha over there, trying to take the island
from the inside out?”
She bowed her head, her body trembling.
“We have to know what we’re dealing with,” I added. “We won’t be going as ourselves. No names. No titles. Just ghosts slipping in and out. We’ll be careful.”
Her voice was barely a whisper. “And if something goes wrong? If he finds out who you are and kills you, Lucian? Then
what?”
I looked down.
Because I didn’t have a comforting answer.
Only the truth.
“I promise I won’t let it come to that,” I told her, my voice low but steady. “I have too much to live for. I won’t confront him, no matter how badly I want to. I’ll be a coward if I have to. I’ll come home to you.”
I looked her in the eye, my heart aching as I spoke the words I needed her to believe.
“I can’t do that to you, Mara. To Richard. To our baby. You’re everything to me. But I do need you to trust me on this, and let me go to Mistwood.”
She stepped toward me and wrapped her arms around my waist. Her head rested against my chest, and I felt it, the tremble in her body, the quiet storm she was holding back.
I stroked her back slowly, grounding her. Grounding myself.
“I need you to take charge while I’m gone,” I said softly into her hair. “Darian and Rowan will support you, but the weight will fall on you, Mara. Keep things in control. Keep the pack steady.”
She nodded against me, and I could feel her resolve harden, even through the fear.
“How will we keep the mission secret?” she asked.
I sighed. “I’ll be reported as sick. With everything happening, it’s believable. If I’m gone too long… then you’ll claim I’ve been kidnapped. Stage a search party. Keep the narrative tight and controlled. No one outside this room knows the truth.”
She pulled back slightly to look at me, her brow creased. “Is it wise to bring Denis? He and Keisha just got married. What’s
he going to tell her? And what about the others?”
Her concern was valid, and I was relieved she voiced it.
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215 The Goodbye Before War
“We’ve handled it,” I assured her. “They’ll tell their mates they’re going on a mission to secure weapons reserves. It’s true enough. With military support vanishing, it’s a believable cover.”
She held me tighter, burying her face into my chest again. I felt the tension in her ease just a little, but it was still there, humming under her skin like a warning.
I knew what this meant for her. For us.
And I’d just asked her to carry everything in my absence… while pretending nothing was wrong.
But that was war. Silent, creeping, and already at our doorstep.
“Lucian… please come home to me,” Mara whispered.
Her voice was soft, but the plea carried every fear she couldn’t say aloud. I bent down and kissed her, slow and lingering, trying to give her what I couldn’t promise in words.
She needed to feel it. That I would always come back to her.
But we were out of time. Chase Nighthorn’s game had gone on long enough.
“While I’m gone,” I said, brushing my thumb gently across her cheek, “I need you to look into Alaric’s mole. If our suspicions are right, someone’s been feeding him information from the inside.”
Mara nodded, focused. “And we’ll need a loyal officer guarding Martha around the clock. If there was foul play, they may
try to silence her before she wakes.”
She was right. Martha might be our only living witness to what really happened in that room. And if someone was working
against us, they wouldn’t leave loose ends.
Especially one as vulnerable as Martha. Lacy wouldn’t be able to protect her if it came to that.
I didn’t want to talk anymore. Words wouldn’t do what I needed now.
I just wanted to spend what little time I had being with Mara, loving her, memorizing her, grounding myself in her warmth.
So we did. We made love, slow and quiet, and stayed in the room for the rest of the day, wrapped in each other. No
interruptions. No thoughts of war. Just us.
Darian took Tiffany and Emma back to the hospital, he understood. He knew I wouldn’t be seeing Mara again for some
time, and we needed this. I needed it.
As night gave way to dawn, Mara held me close, her voice breaking the silence one last time.
“Make sure you hurry up and come home.”
“I will,” I said, meaning it with everything I had.
Every day away from her would be hard. Every moment, a quiet ache.
And when I found Chase Nighthorn… I’d make him answer for all of it. For the pain. The fear. The lost time. For hertears.
I slipped out of the house in the early hours, packed and ready, hidden under the cover of dark.
The road ahead was uncertain.
But I was going to Mistwood.
And I wasn’t coming back empty-handed.
