Page 36 of Alpha Charmed

“Now, go. Find Chione. And try not to get killed before you figure out what you mean to each other.”

The door closes behind us.

Caius and I stand on Sylvana’s porch, the journal clutched in my hands, the afternoon light filtering through old-growth pines.

“Well.” I find my voice with difficulty. “Your grandmother is…”

“Terrifying? Brilliant? Insufferably observant?” He turns to face me, his expression caught between embarrassment and affection. “She has opinions about everything. Especially about my personal life.”

“She called it mooning.”

“She’s been calling it worse for years.” He steps closer, close enough that I have to tilt my head to meet his gaze. “She’s not wrong.”

The admission hangs between us. I should deflect. Should redirect to the journal, the investigation, the dragon we apparently need to find.

Instead, I say, “Neither is Grandmother Peach. About what the mist has been doing.”

“No. She’s not.”

He reaches up, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear—a gesture that’s become familiar, wanted. “You and I. After we find Chione. After we expose Cordelia. After we save your coven from centuries of lies.”

“That’s a lot of afters.”

“I can wait a bit longer.” His expression softens, warm and certain. “I’m persistent when I want something.”

“What if I don’t want you to wait?” The words slip out before I can stop them. His expression shifts—surprise, heat, fierce satisfaction.

“Then tell me.” His voice drops, rough and intimate. “When you’re ready. When you’re sure. Tell me, and I’ll stop waiting immediately.”

My heart pounds against my ribs. My magic stirs, responding to his proximity with heat and want and the growing certainty that whatever this is between us, it’s not going away.

“After Chione.” My voice comes out steadier than I feel. “After we find the truth.”

“After Chione.” He takes my hand, his fingers intertwining with mine. “But, Anouk? When you’re ready to tell me—I’ll be listening.”

We walk back through pack territory hand in hand, the journal pressed against my chest and the future spreading before us like an uncharted map.

Somewhere in the mountains, a dragon waits for questions she’s been wanting to answer for centuries.

And somewhere in my chest, a door I’ve kept locked for too long is finally beginning to open.

TEN

CAIUS

The journal is open on Anouk’s workbench when she enters the workroom, afternoon light filtering through windows lined with herbs that have started growing faster since she touched me in Grandmother Sylvana’s forest. I had been at it for an hour—she had been somewhere else in the shop, the low sound of her moving through her routines a quiet counterpoint to my reading.

She takes her place beside me without preamble and leans in.

“What your grandmother said is verified on this page.” She pulls the journal closer, her shoulder brushing mine as she leans forward. The contact sends a current of warmth down my arm. “Mathilda found references to Chione in old pack records. The dragon was there when the Severing was performed. She watched it happen.”

“And she’s been waiting for someone to ask about it.”

“Yes.” Anouk’s voice carries a mix of frustration and awe. “All this time. All these generations of lies. And one dragon in the mountains knew the truth and couldn’t share it because no one thought to look.”

“Dragons are patient. More patient than wolves.” I reach across her to turn a page, my arm pressing against hers. She doesn’t move away. “According to Grandmother, Chione considers anything under a thousand years to be a temporary inconvenience.”

“A thousand years of waiting for the right questions.”