Chapter Sixty-one
Hunter’s POV
As the dust settled and the last of the assault forces retreated, I stood amidst the wreckage of what had been a brutal and chaotic fight.
The Howle Wulf pack had held its ground. Against all odds, we had resisted the attack… and we had won.
I wiped the blood from my face, my muscles aching from the relentless hours of fighting. The victory, though hard earned, felt heavy on my chest.
We had planned in secret, just as Caleb and I had discussed. A few trusted officers knew, and we were ready.
Steeprock pack had been held back by our defense, their tactics no match for the preparations we had put in place.
But the battle had taken its toll. I looked around at my pack mates… wounded, exhausted, but alive. Most of them.
There were a few casualties, faces I knew well, warriors who had stood by me for years. My stomach twisted as I saw their bodies being carried away.
We had won, but every victory had its cost.
Still, we’d made it through better than I expected. And the truth was, we had Faelen to thank for that.
As much as I hated to admit it… even to myself… she’d been right. Her warning had been real, her information accurate.
If she hadn’t told me about Belladonna backing Steeprock, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. And as much as I tried to stay mad at her, the truth pricked at me.
She had risked everything to tell me, even after everything that had happened between us.
I watched as Caleb approached, his face grim but not without relief. He stopped beside me, his gaze sweeping over the scene.
“It’s over,” he said quietly. “We held them off.”
I nodded, feeling the weight of the battle slowly lift from my shoulders. “Yeah,” I muttered, my voice rough. “We did.”
Caleb glanced at me, then back at the aftermath. “She was right, Hunter. Faelen. She wasn’t lying.”
I knew that. Of course, I knew. But hearing it out loud, spoken by Caleb, made it harder to ignore. I clenched my fists, my knuckles aching from the fight.
“She did well,” I admitted, the words bitter but true. “She warned us. Without her, we wouldn’t have been ready.”
Caleb gave me a long, considering look. “Then what happens now? With her?”
I exhaled slowly, running a hand through my hair. That was the question, wasn’t it? What now? Faelen was still an outsider, even though she had saved us.
The guilt sat heavy on my chest. I’d been so blinded by my own anger, my own sense of betrayal, that I’d thrown her in a dungeon without thinking it through.
And now, I had to face the fact that she had done more for us than I could have imagined.
“I don’t know,” I finally said. “But I’m not keeping her in there any longer.”
Caleb nodded, his expression softening. “Good. It’s the right thing to do, Hunter. She deserves more than this.”
I gritted my teeth, knowing he was right. With a heavy heart, I turned toward the path that led back to the estate, the weight of what I had to do settling deep in me.
I walked through the aftermath, my thoughts heavy. The warriors around me began to clean up, moving the wounded, checking on the fallen.
My mind kept going back to Faelen. She had escaped her cell in the midst of the battle. I didn’t see it happen, but some of the pack members mentioned it.
She had also fought with us, alongside me. Not as a spy, but as one of us. Then, just as quietly as she’d escaped, she had returned to her cell.
That spoke enough about her.
I didn’t know what to make of it. She could have fled, she could have gone back to Belladonna or disappeared into the wilds, but she hadn’t.
Instead, she stayed and fought, risking everything for a pack that had every reason to hate her.
By the time I made my way down to the dungeons, the battle had long since ended, the sun already rising.
The guards nodded as I passed, though they didn’t question why I was headed there. I needed to see her… to make sense of everything.
When I reached her cell, she was sitting on the stone floor, her back against the wall.
Her red hair was dark, stained with dirt and blood, her face also bruised, but there was a quiet strength in her eyes.
She looked up when I approached, her expression unreadable.
“You fought,” I said, my voice low, still trying to make sense of the situation.
She nodded but didn’t say anything. For a moment, the silence hung between us, heavy and thick.
I wished I was angry still, I wanted to continue clinging to the betrayal I had felt, but it was impossible. Not after everything.
“You could’ve run,” I added, stepping closer to the bars. “But you didn’t. Why?”
She looked down at her hands, fingers tracing a faint scar along her palm. “I couldn’t run, Hunter,” she said softly, her voice tired. “Not after everything. I told you before that I couldn’t let them destroy you… or this pack.”
Her words cut through me, and for a moment, I didn’t know what to say. I had been ready to throw her to the wolves… literally.
I had been ready to label her as a traitor, to let her rot in this cell for the rest of her life. But she had saved us.
I let out a heavy breath, running a hand through my hair. “You did well,” I admitted, my voice quieter than I intended. “Without your warning, we would’ve lost a lot more today.”
She looked up at me then, surprise flashing in her eyes. “So, you believe me now?”
I hesitated, the words stuck in my throat. “I do now,” I finally said, meeting her gaze. “You didn’t have to warn us. You didn’t have to fight. But you did.”
Faelen shifted slightly, her hands falling to her sides. “I know I’ve lied, Hunter. About a lot of things. But my feelings about this… about you… they’re real. That’s why I couldn’t stay silent.”
Her confession hung in the air, and for a moment, I was speechless.
She had been caught between two worlds… just as I had been caught between my duty to the pack and my growing feelings for her.
I reached for the keys hanging by the door and unlocked the cell. The door creaked as it opened, and she blinked up at me, confused.
“You’re free,” I said, stepping aside. “After today, you’ve earned that.”
Faelen rose slowly, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She stepped out of the cell, her eyes locked on mine, searching for any sign that this was some trick.
When she saw that it wasn’t, she let out a breath she had been holding. “Thank you,” she whispered.
I nodded, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything more. There were still too many emotions swirling inside me.
But most of all, there was a sense of something changing between us. Something I wasn’t ready to face just yet.
As Faelen walked past me, I couldn’t help but glance at her, the woman who had been a spy, a traitor, and yet had saved my pack.
There was more to her than I had ever realized, and I wasn’t sure what that meant for us… or for me.
But one thing was clear though… whatever came next, things wouldn’t be the same. The battle was over, but the war inside me still went on.
As I stood watching Faelen walk away from the dungeon, I knew that this wasn’t the end.
I couldn’t just let her disappear back into the shadows, back to being a servant, as if none of this had happened.
She had saved us, warned us about the attack, and fought alongside us when she didn’t have to. Despite everything, she had proven something.
“Faelen,” I called out.
She stopped and turned around, confusion in her eyes. I wasn’t sure how to say what I needed to, but I knew I had to make things right.
“You’re not going back to the servants’ quarters,” I said firmly.
Her brow furrowed, and when she finally understood what I meant, she shook her head. “Hunter, you really don’t have to do this. I’m fine where I was. I don’t need…”
“No,” I cut her off, stepping closer. “You’ve earned more than that. You deserve more.”
Her eyes softened, but she still hesitated. “I’m a servant, an omega,” she said, as if she needed to remind me. “I lied to you. I’m not asking for anything, Hunter. I don’t deserve a reward.”
My jaw clenched. “It’s not a reward. You saved my pack. You deserve to be treated with respect, so you’re not going back to live as a servant.”
I didn’t add that a part of me didn’t want her far from me. The truth was, after everything, I wanted to keep an eye on her. But it wasn’t just about that.
“I want you to have a room here,” I continued, “in the estate. Close to me.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Close to you?” she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.
I nodded. “Yes. So I can keep watch on you,” I added quickly, feeling the need to explain myself. “I still can’t fully trust you. Not yet. But after what you did, I can’t just ignore that either.”
Faelen’s lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to argue, but then she sighed, looking down at the ground.
“Like I said, you don’t have to do this,” she said softly. “I’m fine being a servant. It’s what I’ve always been.”
I stepped closer, my eyes locking with hers. “You’re not just a servant anymore. And it’s not up for debate.” I said firmly, meeting her gaze.
There was more force in my words than I intended, but I meant every one of them. “You’ll be cleaned up and given a room in the estate.” I added.
For a moment, Faelen just stared at me, her emotions flashing across her face. I could tell she was conflicted… torn between her guilt and the appreciation for my kind of her.
Finally, she nodded, her voice barely a whisper. “Thank you, Hunter.”
There was something in the way she said it that made my chest tighten. I cleared my throat and turned toward the door. “I’ll send for someone to take care of you,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “Rest. You’ve been through enough.”
Without another word, I left her standing there, knowing deep down that this wasn’t just about keeping her close to watch her.
It was something more. And whatever it was, it wasn’t going away anytime soon.