The eastern ridge was steep, the path lined with jagged stones and stubborn wildflowers pushing through the cracks.
The chief and Elijah led the way without speaking, with Mara trailing behind him and Lucas looking around the place.
The cabin was smaller than he'd expected—weathered cedar and a rusted iron chimney, half buried in ivy. The porch sagged in the middle, as if tired from holding up too many memories.
The chief's old and wrinkly knuckles rapped against the worn doorframe. Three sharp knocks that sounded more like a warning than a request.
The door swung open before the third knock faded.
A mountain of a man filled the doorway, his shadow swallowing the afternoon light. Rohan's amber eyes burned like banked coals as they landed on the chief.
The scent of pine and old blood clung to him.
"No."
The chief didn't blink. "You haven't even met him, Rohan."
"I don't care; now leave."
The chief sighed as she stepped aside for Rohan to see Lucas.
Rohan's jaw flexed, eyes flickering towards the direction of Lucas. His mouth agape at the sudden realization. "Lucas Black?"
A beat of silence. Lucas felt his heart skip a beat. Someone knew him. But that's impossible.
The chief's eyebrow arched. "You knew each other?"
Rohan almost laughed as he swung the door fully open and stepped past Elijah and the chief.
"Look at you. You've grown into your paws." The ghost of a smile touched his lips as he took in Lucas's height.
"Of course, you won't remember me, Little Stormbringer."
The old nickname hit Lucas like a physical blow. He hadn't heard it in a seven summers. Not since…
"Wait, you're Rohan Medger." The realization hit him like a truck. "The one and only."
Lucas felt a lump forming in his throat.
He was alive. The last time he heard about Rohan and his mate was when they got attacked by rogues when they were travelling down south.
The chief watched them quietly, her eyes never leaving the young pup.
"We met at La Ber. It was during the solstice truce. He was…" A quiet chuckle at the sudden shot of memory of him meeting Lucas the first time. "...trying to steal figs from his father's greenhouse."
Lucas's chest tightened.
He remembered Rohan's mate hoisting him up onto their shoulders when he couldn't reach the branches. The way they'd both laughed as juice dripped down his chin.
He also could remember when he first met his strange-looking pale mate.
"He also nearly took my mate's head off when they first met." His mouth quirked up, as if teasing Lucas with the memory.
"You thought all vampires were rogue back then, didn't you, pup?"
Lucas scoffed. His face burned in embarrassment.
"Shut up. I was a kid back then."
Rohan chuckled, his small smile slight faded as he touched the bite mark on his wrist—the mating bond that should have been impossible.
Then it hit Lucas.
"Wait, your mate," Lucas said slowly, "was a vampire."
Rohan gave him a tight smile. "Still is, wherever his spirit walks."
Lucas's mouth was agape when he realized that the vampire was the one who died from the ambush.
The chief cleared her throat. "Well, since you both knew each other, I suppose you won't mind sharing your roof."
Rohan nodded, "Not a tiny bit. Come in, I will show you around."
Lucas accepted the invitation and bid his farewell to Elijah and Mara before giving his thanks to the chief, who only gave him a soft smile.
—
The space was neater than what was outside, though every surface bore marks of the two souls who had built this life together.
The mismatched chairs—one sized for Rohan's bulk stature while the other slender and carved with vampiric runes. The weapons rack holding both silver daggers and wolfsbane-coated arrows.
The framed sketch above the hearth showed a laughing Rohan being fed grapes by a pale, elegant man. The hearth held a shelf filled with pressed wildflowers and a pair of wooden cups, one of which was gathering dust.
Lucas brushed alongside the rim of the dusty cup as he stared at the crack underneath it.
"Here," Rohan handed him a steaming bowl of stew; their fingers brushed. The Alpha didn't flinch away.
"Eat," his voice laced with concern as he looked at Lucas' current state. "You look skin and bones. Don't they feed you back in La Ber?"
Lucas laughed as he sipped his first hot meal of the day. He hadn't eaten since he left the motel. "I'm sorry about Logan."
Rohan shrugged his shoulder and sat in front of the fireplace. He stirred his own stew as he sipped through it.
"We all lose things, Lucas. It just differs on how you carry on."
Lucas nodded and sat adjacent to where Rohan was sitting.
"How about you? Why are you in Tanisab? I don't remember your ever-doting parents giving you a hard time back in La Ber."
Lucas stopped mid-sip from his stew and shivered as he gulped down the hot liquid, slightly feeling the burn against his tongue.
Rohan's spoon clinked against his bowl as he studied Lucas over the fire's glow.
"My father once told me that Tanisab takes in what other packs won't." His thumb brushed the faded mating mark on his wrist.
"Like wolves who love the wrong people?"
The stew felt like ash against Lucas's mouth. Rohan's sharp eyes caught the flinch.
"Is that why you are here?" He set his bowl aside with deliberate calm. "Let me guess—La Ber's golden boy?"
Lucas's grip tightened around his bowl as he looked in Rohan's direction. "Was it that obvious?"
Rohan didn't answer. He took a deep breath as he leaned towards the fireplace and poked at the fire, sending up a shower of sparks.
"Only to someone who's been stupid in the same way. How far along is the bond?"
Lucas's finger crept to his sternum, where the imprint burned like a brand. "Far enough that it hurts to breathe."
The fire crackled between them. Rohan's smile faltered as he leaned forward, the flames casting shadows across the scars of his face.
"You know you're killing yourself, right?" He tapped his temple. "The bond's not just in your chest, Lucas. It's in your blood. Your bones. Too much distance…" His calloused fingers mimicked an explosion.
"Poof. You're gone. And he will be…well, like me."
Lucas's stomach dropped. "Wait. I thought Logan—"
"Died from rogues? Nah," Rohan shrugged off the idea, teeth bared in something too grim to be a smile. "It was just a story I had spread while copingwith his sudden death."
Lucas hitched as the realization hit him. He felt as if the cabin walls seemed to press closer.
Logan didn't just die in the hands of the rogues. Rohan laughed at his expression.
"It's easier to cope with the loss if I start thinking that he was killed by rogues. So I did."
He tossed a new log onto the fire hard enough to send embers flying.
"One day, you are both okay, laughing maybe, and well, tossing around the bed. The next day you were fighting over spilled milk, and then some idiot gorgeous pale vampire decided to play martyr and leave Tanisab."
The words lingered in the air, akin to smoke. Lucas found himself staring at Rohan's left hand—the missing pinky finger he hadn't noticed before.
Rohan followed his gaze. "Tried to cut the bond. Didn't take." He stood abruptly, his shadow swallowing the room. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow I'll teach you how to survive what's coming."
As he disappeared into the darkened bedroom, Lucas swore he heard him murmur, "Let's just hope we are not too late."