Free Web NovelChapter 306: Chapter 306 You Knew You Were Our Mate
Elijah
Ruby circles once, testing reach and Darius snaps too early and commits to a line he can’t fix. She feints left, darts right, and bites his shoulder to persuade, not tear. He yelps and whips around but she keeps moving. He tries to pin her against a rock, and she climbs in two quick jumps, pushes off, and drops behind him. A slash across his rear leg makes him stagger. She could press but she doesn’t. She gives him one more chance to choose sense.
He doesn’t. He lunges and she meets him halfway, bleeds his force along her side, and clamps his neck without breaking skin. She holds for proof, not bluff. He goes very still and she waits him out. He whines, low and angry. She lets go, steps back, tail high, eyes set in case pride wins.
He shifts in fits, half up, half down, then limps backward, eyes hot with the wrong kind of promise. He snaps at his wolves to move and they retreat in a sloppy line that says they’ll pay for it later.
I don’t move until they clear the trees. I scan left while Ezra takes the right and Ethan watches our back. Daniel and Fallon hold the path and when it’s clean, I walk to Ruby, careful and slow. She turns and meets me halfway. I stop at arm’s length and crouch so she can set the distance.
"Hey," I say, steady. "You took a scratch."
She looks down at the blood and then up at me, unimpressed. Ezra steps up with a small kit, hands visible. She shifts in a clean roll of light and clothes come back with her. I’ll ask later when we’re not exposed and outside. She checks the line on her arm.
"It’s fine," she says. The pitch tells me Ruby is still close.
"Can I look?"
She considers, then holds her arm out. The cut is shallow and clean and I pass Ezra a wipe which he presses into her palm so she does it herself. She smirks at him for the assist.
Ethan steps forward. His eyes are human again, but Blake sits close, you can hear it in the weight of his voice. He meets Allison’s gaze like he’s trying to square numbers that don’t add yet.
"What’s your name?" he asks. Level. Cold enough to pass for a professional. It lands in the distance.
"Allison Grey, my fox, even if you don’t care, is named Ruby," she says, chin up.
"You knew you were our mate," he says.
"And I knew you left lipstick on your mouth not twenty minutes ago," she answers, just as steady. "While you knew I was out here."
Ezra winces while Daniel looks at the ground. Fallon watches Ethan for the temper everyone else misses.
Ethan absorbs it and offers nothing back. He thinks stone is leadership, but we can fix that later.
"Allison," I say, and put my hand out.
"We don’t need this right now," she says, still looking at Ethan. Then she takes my hand. "Come on."
I don’t check my brothers. I take her hand and head for the edge of the clearing. Daniel falls in behind us without a word. Ezra shifts his weight like he almost follows and doesn’t. Ethan exhales once and keeps his words for later.
We take the narrow path along the river until the falls are loud enough that we won’t be overheard. I don’t let go of her hand until she tells me to. She doesn’t and her grip is light and sure.
’You accepted. You said the words,’ Loki says, calmer now.
’I meant them.’ I answer back.
’Say them again when she asks,’ he says.
’Every time.’ I agree, knowing she’ll need them again before all of this is over.
We stop where the trees open to a thin slice of water. I take another look at her arm. The blood has already sealed. She rests her free hand on my chest for balance while she checks it herself. My pulse jumps under her palm, fast from the fight and from the fact she’s touching me because she wants to.
"Thank you," I say. "For letting me be here without taking it from you."
"You listened," she says. The corner of her mouth lifts. "You didn’t grandstand. You didn’t shift just to be bigger than my choice."
"Your rules were clear." I hold her gaze. "I plan to keep them."
She studies me, searching for the trick, but I know she doesn’t find one.
"Good," she says, shoulders easing. "Because I’m keeping them too."
My phone buzzes. But I don’t check it. The stream is still running and father is still talking. The pack is doing what it does and Allison turns toward the water, takes one long breath, then looks back at me.
"I’m not rejecting you today," she says. "You heard that. I’m not promising I can stand with you in that yard tomorrow. You heard that too."
"I heard everything," I say. "I won’t pretend it’s different because I want it to be."
"Okay," she says, and that word pins a point on the map.
Daniel clears his throat behind us. "I’m going to circle back," he says. "I’ll check the south path and then loop to the lawn. Want Fallon to shadow?"
"Take Fallon," I say. "Stay on comms." I tip my head. "And, Daniel, thank you." freēwēbnovel.com
He nods, gives Allison a small, protective smile that belongs to the years before I showed up, and disappears with Fallon down the path.
Allison watches them go. "He kept it for seven years," she says. "He didn’t flinch once."
"I’m not surprised," I answer.
She turns her hand so our fingers lace. The contact settles me faster than any breathing trick. Loki stretches and quiets, satisfied with the progress.
’Status?’ Ezra mindlinks. Clipped, not angry; that’s his tone when he thinks he missed a step.
’Clear,’ I answer. ’Darius withdrew. Allison has a minor scratch. We’re moving back along the river.’
Ethan adds nothing. That tells me enough.
We start toward the trees again. Allison’s pace is easy, not slow and she doesn’t watch her feet and never stumbles. I don’t crowd, I don’t lag, I just match her.
"Tomorrow," I say, "I’ll take heat from my father no matter what. I’d rather take it for you than for a photo."
"I don’t want to be the reason you start a fight you can’t win in a day," she says.
"I won’t pick the wrong field," I tell her. "But I won’t keep pretending a lie is about logistics."
She laughs once. "You’re better at this than your reputation suggests."
"That reputation was built by people who like me better when I’m quiet."
She squeezes my hand. "I like you better when you’re not."
We step out near the lawn’s south edge where the lights fade at the perimeter. Voices drift across the grass. The stage holds the eye and my father’s cadence has shifted to stories, buying time without knowing for who. I keep that to myself.
"Here?" I ask, stopping under an old cedar.
"Here," she says.
I lift our joined hands and press my mouth to her knuckles. The pull under my sternum tightens and warms. It’s a promise, not a flourish. She watches and doesn’t pull away.
"Will you let me walk you to the corner?" I ask. "You can slide in behind the last row and leave when you want."
"I’ll text my mom from the path," she says. "She worries if I vanish."
"Good," I say. "Let her worry less."
She smiles and tilts her head toward the dark path that skirts the audience. "Let’s move before someone with a camera looks this way."
We go. Our hands stay linked until the trees thin and the light makes privacy impossible. I let go first because that was one of the rules and because I meant it. She doesn’t look back to check if I’m there. She knows I am and that’s enough for tonight.
