Chapter 5: Ironridge

Caleb chose himself to stand beside me.

He said it at dawn in the doorway of the sickroom, with Ida's page folded in his pocket and no sleep in his face.

"You asked me to name who watches you. I'm naming me."

"You can't touch me," I said.

"I'm not going to. I'm going to sit in that chair."

I took the other chair, on the far side of Lenora's bed, and Maud sat at the foot with her knitting.

We had moved Lenora to a room in the Alpha's house, because it was the only place with a lock on the door that Caleb could trust.

She slept most of the first morning.

Maud poured her tea at the hour she always did, out of her own brown pot.

"I'll taste it first," I said.

"Of course, dear." Maud smiled and pushed the cup across. "I'd think less of you if you didn't."

I drank, and it was black tea with honey and nothing else.

Lenora drank the rest and slept again.

Caleb watched my throat swallow, and then he watched Lenora's face, and I felt something warm and aching move through the frayed cord.

I knew it was not for me.

It was for the girl in the bed, the one he had loved since they were children.

I looked at the window and waited for it to pass.

It did not pass, but I could stand it.

At midday a horn sounded at the river gate, three short notes and a long one.

Caleb's head came up.

"Ironridge," he said.

"They're early," said Maud, and her knitting needles stopped.

The Alpha of Ironridge rode into the yard with four riders behind him.

He was a heavy man in a canvas jacket, with an easy grin, and he swung down from his horse before it stopped.

"Rooke!" he called. "I bring a peace offering and bad manners. I'm Joss Rotheram. You'll have to forgive both."

Keep reading free with an account. Start After Rebirth, I Broke Our Bond and My Alpha Regretted It from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.