Chapter 240
The crate sat in the center of the war room like a cursed relic.
Even sealed, it seemed to hum—like it knew we were watching. Like it was waiting to wake.
Wyatt had reinforced it with seven protective sigils and buried it in iron dust, but I still couldn’t sleep knowing it was there. Every time the wind creaked against the windows, I flinched, half expecting the entire packhouse to be swallowed by fire.
We’d taken a bomb from the Ashborn—and we’d lived to tell the tale.
But now came the harder part: what to do with it.
Roman hadn’t left my side since we returned. Not in the commanding, protective way he sometimes did when things got too dangerous—but in that quiet, grounding way of his. Like he knew I was holding too many emotions under the surface, and he wasn’t going to let me drown in them alone.
“Have you eaten?” he asked now, voice soft as he leaned against the balcony door.
I blinked, still staring at the war room table. “Not really.”
“I figured,” he said, disappearing briefly, only to return with a bowl of hot stew and a crust of fresh bread. He nudged it toward me. “Eat. Even warriors need soup.”
I cracked a smile. “Is that written in the Alpha’s lawbook?”
“Page three,” he said. “Right after ‘Don’t piss off your Luna unless you have a death wish.’”
I took a sip, grateful for the warmth. “What if I’m the one pissing people off now?”
Roman didn’t flinch. “Then they’re probably still alive because of it.”
We stood there in quiet for a moment. The fire crackled softly, casting a faint gold glow across the map-littered table and the faint outline of the crate in the corner.
“I should tell the pack,” I said. “About what we found. About the tunnels and the plans and the sabotage.”
“We will,” Roman said. “But not yet.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“We show them that thing,” he continued, nodding toward the crate, “and panic spreads like wildfire. People start seeing enemies in every shadow. I know what that looks like. I grew up in it.”
His voice dipped low on the last sentence.
I turned toward him, searching his face.
“You’ve never told me much about before,” I said gently.
Roman shrugged, but his eyes were darker now. “Not much to tell. My old pack fell apart from the inside. Fear did the killing long before blades ever did. Everyone stopped trusting each other. When the Elders came, they didn’t have to fight us. They just promised order.”
He looked at me. “I don’t want to see that happen again.”
“You won’t,” I said. “Not here.”
He walked over slowly, then reached out to take my bowl and set it aside. Then he took both my hands in his, grounding me with nothing but the strength in his silence.
“We’ll tell them,” he said again. “But we’ll do it when we have a plan. When we can lead, not just warn.”
I nodded, even though something in me still churned with urgency.
Then Roman tilted his head. “You haven’t had a moment to breathe since this started, have you?”
I huffed. “Is that your poetic way of saying I look like death?”
“No,” he said seriously. “You look like a leader who’s forgotten she’s also human.”
He stepped closer, his thumbs brushing the backs of my hands.
“Come with me,” he said suddenly.
I blinked. “Where?”
“Out. Away. For one night.”
I stared at him like he’d asked me to sprout wings. “You want me to take a break?”
“I want you to remember we’re not just warriors and strategists and ticking time bombs. We’re people. You and me—we’re not just Luna and Alpha.”
I hesitated.
Then let out a breath. “Okay.”
His grin was quiet but brilliant. “I have the perfect place.”
We left at sunset.
No guards. No fanfare.
Just the two of us and a trail I didn’t recognize until halfway up the forest ridge.
“You brought me to the old cabin?” I asked as the tiny wood structure came into view, nestled beneath a crescent of trees.
Roman smirked. “It’s abandoned. Quiet. Still has a working fireplace.”
“And probably spiders the size of my face.”
“I handled the spiders,” he said smugly. “Also found wine.”
I arched an eyebrow. “And here I thought you didn’t believe in romance.”
He glanced sideways. “Who said this was romantic?”
My mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”
“Kidding,” he laughed, unlocking the door. “Sort of.”
Inside, the cabin was rustic but surprisingly cozy. A crackling fire already danced in the hearth, and a blanket was spread out in front of it, two mugs of cider waiting.
“Okay,” I said, removing my boots. “You win. This is suspiciously perfect.”
He joined me by the fire. “You sound surprised.”
“I’m not used to slowing down,” I admitted. “Even when everything is calm, I feel like something’s waiting around the corner.”
He handed me a mug. “There probably is. But that doesn’t mean we don’t take this. This, Iris—this is what we’re fighting for.”
I looked at him, at the flicker of firelight across his face. “How do you stay so calm?”
He leaned back against the wall, one leg bent lazily. “I’m not calm. I just learned how to carry it.”
I crawled across the blanket until I was beside him.
“Show me.”
He raised a brow. “Show you what?”
“How to carry it.”
He stared at me a moment longer, then pulled me into his lap. My back against his chest, his arms folding around my waist like I belonged there—because I did.
And for the first time in weeks, I let myself lean into it. No battles. No maps. No factions.
Just this.
Later, after the fire had burned low and the world had gone quiet, I found myself staring into the embers, Roman’s hand tracing slow circles on my back.
“I think Maeven wants to be found,” I said softly.
“She helped you.”
“She showed me enough to make me question the rest.”
Roman didn’t speak.
I continued. “She’s not loyal to the Ashborn. Not all the way. There’s a fracture there. Something we could use.”
“If we can find it,” he said. “Before they use it against us.”
I looked over my shoulder at him. “You think we can win this?”
He met my gaze, firm and steady.
“I think we already are.”
“How?”
“Because the Ashborn are hiding. You’re not. That’s power. And they know it.”
I let that sink in, then slowly turned back toward the fire.
For the first time in a long time, I felt like the night wasn’t closing in—it was opening up.
And somewhere, just beyond the trees and the silence, our future waited.
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