Page 45 of Alpha’s Wife

But does he not see the cost? A children’s playground is no place for a war. He’s built a home here, not a battleground.

Ronan is off the boat without a backward glance before it’s even tied, giving orders, running a war. He says something to Cole, and then, without even looking at me, he says, “Take her to Ryder; he’s the only one I trust to handle watching her.”

Two guards march me through the settlement, up the hill, and what I see chills me to the bone. The families have obviously been warned that the fight is coming, and women are packing bags with small children, presumably looking to move them somewhere safer; they’re boarding up windows. They clearly knew this moment was coming and had a plan, but how effective will it be if three packs descend in a rage? A woman spots me coming, flanked by my guards, and pulls her pups out of the way, watching me carefully, as though she doesn’t know if I’m a friend or the enemy. I’m not sure I know anymore.

With every step, I’m painfully aware that I have caused this escalation.

Ryder is in a long cabin at the stop of the settlement, maps spread everywhere, a laptop open, and three men in the middle of receiving orders when I walk in. He takes one look at me, and his expression turns grim.

“Out,” he tells the men, and they look between them before nodding and heading out. Then it’s just us, the maps, and the sound of the settlement preparing outside. I cross to the window and watch as more ships arrive in the docks below.

“So,” Ryder says behind me, “I have you to thank for all this today?”

There’s no point lying to him; I suspect he already knows the whole story anyway, or at least Ronan’s version of it.

“I guess so,” I say quietly.

He’s silent for a moment, and when he speaks, his voice is almost deliberately calm and even, which is even worse than if he’d started shouting.

“He gave you that tablet because you were homesick,” he says. “Because he couldn’t stand watching you miss your people. Do you have any idea how rare that is, that he even noticed or cared? He doesn’t let anyone in. Not ever. You’re the first.” His jaw tightens. “And you betrayed him.”

For a second, I think he’s going to escalate. I can feel his rage. On his brother’s behalf. His wolf is right there in his eyes, and it is not the calm, bookish Ryder I’ve met before. Then he masters it, and I realize that’s what he does, how he contains his alpha wolf, and just looks at me like I’ve gone and confirmed something he was praying I’d deny.

“I was trying to stop the war, Ryder.” I don’t drop my eyes because I’m done being ashamed of trying to do the right thing. “I didn’t give them anything that could hurt him. Or your people. Not this place; I don’t even know where on the island we are. Everything I sent was to try and make them stand down.”

“Stand down.” He laughs, and it’s an ugly short sound. “You think three alpha packs were ever going to stand down because a bond witch asked nicely?”

“I think they were closer to it than he wants to think,” I say, holding his gaze. “I didn’t do it to hurt him. I did it because I care. About him. About the pack. About every family in these cabins that is going to lose someone in a war that they didn’t start. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, Ryder. That’s all I was thinking, and I don’t want him to die out there tonight trying to get revenge on the wrong people.”

Something in him gives, just slightly. He turns away, one hand braced on the table.

“The women don’t want this either,” I press, while I can. “Ava, Emily, and Serena. They’ve been working on their mates for weeks to try to hold them back from retaliating against the raids, and it was working, I think. They told me more about Ralph.”

Something moves across his face at the name.

“They told me he wasn’t just cruel to you and Ronan,” I say. “He was a monster to all of them. Callum, Tristen, and Aiden. He beat them. He terrified them. They grew up with scars. The brothers that Ronan thinks got everything also got violence and tragedy. Their mother didn’t survive, either.”

Ryder goes very still.

“I didn’t know that,” he says, and for the first time, his voice isn’t steady.

“Would it have changed anything, for you or Ronan?” I ask.

“Our mother used to say it.” He’s not really talking to me now. “Near the end. That she felt sorry for the boys in that big house. That the man who threw us away wasn’t the Ralph she met, that he was cruel, and when she saw his true colors, she realized that he would be a tyrant all his life. I thought she was being soft, but perhaps she had the measure of the man.”

“She was right,” I say. “And I still think they would stand down and talk if Ronan gave them a chance.”

Ryder is quiet for a moment and then crosses to the window where I’m standing, and we both watch the ships coming in. “I never wanted the island. Not really. I wanted a house, and my books, and a life that didn’t feel like fighting every day. But I’ll always be on Ronan’s side, because he’s my brother, and he’s all I’ve got. I keep thinking I’ll be able to stop him if he ever goes too far, but I’m starting to doubt that.

“You have to understand what the island is to him,” he goes on before I can reply. “It was never really about the territory. He just wants to prove a point to himself and everyone else. That Ralph was wrong to throw us away, that the bloodline didn’t matter, and his illegitimate sons were the strongest. He wants to bring our mother home and bury her back with her pack, her parents. This island means so much to him that he can’t see that it doesn’t really matter at all.”

“Then don’t give up,” I plead. “Surely it’s worth trying again. This can be stopped.”

I think he’s going to tell me to get lost, but then I see the hesitation on his face. His love and loyalty for Ronan are palpable, and I hold my breath. Suddenly, he heads for the door. “Stay here,” he says, stopping at the door. “And Selene. If he asks, we barely spoke about this; it’s all on me.”

I don’t stay. Of course I don’t.

We find Ronan down by the water, where the boats keep coming. He’s in the center of all of it, hundreds of them moving to commands he barely needs to speak, and I can feel the bond running through the whole thing—my magic, threaded through the pack, making them faster and deadlier. I gave him that. Whatever happens now, I’m the one who helped create it, and that’s why I can’t leave Ryder to talk to him alone.