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Finn winced slightly at her demanding tone, taking a moment to collect himself before he addressed Willow again. “It’s his fault this is happening. Him and his gang.”
Willow looked between him and the other guys with a distraught expression as she shook her head in disbelief. “You really think Rowan worked up some scheme just to boost his popularity? He’s my mate! I thought you would understand what that’s like, and I thought you’d support me too. I have stood behind all of you and your relationships, and this is what I get when it’s my turn. You’ve treated Rowan and his effort to find common ground like a nuisance since he got here.”
“What the hell is going on around here?” Kai said, voice carrying across the open space. He hurried onto the scene before things could get out of hand. He wore his own anger plain as day and pointed harshly at Finn and the other men. “Leave. Now.”
Finn and the guys had enough sense to listen to their alpha, visibly shrinking beneath his authority.
“If any of you get in Rowan’s face unprovoked again, you will pay severe consequences,” he added, unwavering in his blatant sincerity.
As they turned to leave, with Finn storming off, River turned to Willow and gave her hand a quick squeeze. “I’m so sorry about him, Willow. I really don’t know why he’s been so angry.”
“You don’t need to apologize for him, you know,” she said in return, still standoffish.
River sighed and nodded. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“It’s done now,” Kai said to me while I remained behind Willow, studying the situation from my wolf’s perspective.
Knowing what he wanted of me, I had my wolf take the back seat, and I shifted back.
The others turned away as I rose to my feet again, and Griffin handed me a pair of shorts from his bag. Slipping them on, I found Willow’s worried stare on me as she put a hand on my arm.
“Are you all right?”
Nodding, I tried to dismiss her concern as gently as I could. “Yes, I’m fine. You’re the one who shouldn’t be getting worked up because of the baby.”
She took a deep breath and nodded, hanging close by my side as I faced Kai and the girls.
“Your strength…it was similar to that of an alpha. It caught my attention from nearly across town,” Kai began, examining me closely. While any display on my behalf would typically be seen as a challenge, he didn’t seem interested in fighting. “I shouldn’t be surprised, not since you have people to lead.”
“I didn’t mean to let myself get out of hand, but I was cornered. I was only defending my mate bond,” I said, hoping not to splinter the delicate peace we had been working hard to establish.
Kai nodded. “I know that. Finn was at fault. It seems he’s been getting out of hand lately, and I’m sorry for his behavior.”
“I’m sorry he doubted your intentions,” Sienna said, looking between myself and Willow. “But we all support you. We’ll do better to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
While Willow nodded her acceptance, the exhaustion was plain on her face. I felt the same, wishing we could leave it behind us and move on.
“How are you able to shift again? I thought you couldn’t access your wolf,” Kai asked, more curious than accusatory like Finn had been.
Taking a deep breath, I began, “After Willow and I…patched our connection, it just seemed to awaken again. Our bond must’ve brought it back. I didn’t mention anything because I didn’t want any progress on figuring out a cure for the others to stop. We still need answers. I didn’t want to cause problems either.”
While I expected Kai to get upset with me for not telling him about the return of my wolf, he only nodded and studied me further. “I understand. Progress hasn’t stopped, and it won’t. Not until we can get to the bottom of it. I will have to tell Soren about this, and he’ll likely want you to come in at some point.”
It was mostly what I wanted to hear, and I had nothing to object to. “Thank you. And about keeping the peace, I really do mean it. I don’t want any bad blood—not with Finn or anyone else.”
“And you’re a good man for it. If Finn tries anything else, let me know, and I’ll handle it,” he said, putting a respectful hand on my shoulder. “And congratulations, by the way. Welcome to the family.”
The latter caught me by surprise, but Kai gave me a knowing grin and a final clap on my shoulder before he began in the other direction.
Willow’s cheeks bloomed faintly with color at that, seemingly softening at the idea.
Even if things were still rocky between me and the people of Rose Valley, it was nice to hear. It gave me a flicker of hope that things would get better eventually.
The girls apologized again before they left as well, and while we accepted their apologies, the two of us were drained from it all.
“I’ll catch you later,” Griffin said, giving me a bump on the arm.
Nodding, I watched as he walked off, then returned my attention to Willow, who looked like she was in desperate need of a nap and some alone time.
