Liam’s POV
As much as I hated being apart from my angel, even for an hour, I was surprisingly looking forward to this drive. I needed a moment alone-time to process everything that had gone down over the past couple of days. I already missed Lia more than I could put into words, and my wolf was pacing restlessly at the thought of leaving her behind. But with everything that had happened, I needed space to think, to breathe, and to sort through the chaos in my head.
The whole ordeal with Alpha Blackwell had shaken Lia. Seeing her hurt like that had filled me with a rage I could barely contain. I wanted to rip the bastard apart for what he’d done to my mate. But my priority had been her-comforting her, making sure she was okay. Which meant I hadn’t really allowed myself to feel the full weight of my own anger yet.
Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how I’d manage working with him going forward. The only thing I truly wanted was to see him suffer-slowly, painfully. That neither Logan nor I took a swing at him was a miracle in itself, and one that could only be attributed to Lia’s calming presence. As much as I despised her ex, the alliance between our packs still held value. We had resources they needed, and those people-Lia’s people-mattered to her. They were her friends, her family. We couldn’t simply abandon them, no matter how much I wanted to distance myself from Blackwell.
So I had to find a way to let it go. At least for her sake. Whether Logan could manage the same was another question entirely. But if Finnian ever laid a finger on her again, all bets would be off.
Still, that paled in comparison to the recent revelations about Lia’s wolf. It wasn’t what she was or what she could do that unsettled me. It was the why. Why had the Moon Goddess created a wolf with powers like that? I thought the days of white wolves having powers where over ?
Elder Keziah had made one thing crystal clear-special wolves weren’t made by accident. There was always a purpose, and that purpose usually came with danger attached. Whatever Lia had been born to face, it was bound to be something formidable. Keziah warned us we wouldn’t understand that purpose until the moment it revealed itself. And that terrified me.
How could I protect her if I didn’t even know what she needed protection from?
I needed to keep her close-always. Not just me, but Logan too. She belonged to both of us, equally. He didn’t voice his fears like I did, but I knew my brother. He was just as worried, just as fiercely protective. That gave me some peace. Knowing we were in this together.
Keziah said the Goddess had fated her to two protectors when she tied her to us. I wanted to believe we wouldn’t fail her. But she had to accept us first. The thought of her rejecting our bond had been unbearable even before I knew the truth about her wolf. Now, it was inconceivable. If she turned us away and something happened to her while we weren’t there to protect her… I wouldn’t survive it. Neither would Logan. One way or another, we’d make sure she stayed with us.
That resolve grounded me. I felt some measure of calm begin to return-until the memory of our short-lived duel slammed into me again.
She could command me. She could literally freeze me in place with nothing but her voice. If she could do it to me, she could definitely do it to Logan too. That meant she could strip us of our ability to protect her-keep us out of a fight, leave us behind while she ran into danger, alone.
And she would. That much I knew about her already. If she believed a threat was meant for her, she’d never let someone else take the hit-not willingly.
But Selene wouldn’t have fated her to us only to leave us powerless to protect her. That couldn’t be the design. I refused to believe it. I wouldn’t accept it.
There had to be a way around her command. Something that gave us the ability to stand by her side instead of being forced to watch from the shadows.
The urgency to find that answer clawed at me. It took everything in me not to spin the truck around and race back to Blood Moon to convene the council, hoping someone might hold a piece of the puzzle we were missing.
But Keziah had warned us-keep Lia’s truth close. The more people who knew, the more danger she faced. There were those out there who would want to control her, use her. So for now, we had to pretend everything was normal. We had to share the truth only with those we trusted implicitly.
Three people I trusted without hesitation were our parents.
We hadn’t even told them about our mate yet. Logan and I had planned to surprise them when I brought them home tomorrow. We wanted it to be in person, together. If we’d told them earlier, they would’ve spent their whole vacation worried, calling every five minutes instead of enjoying their time away.
They deserved that break. They’d earned it.
Still, nothing stopped me from asking a few general questions on the drive back. Three of them were deeply tied to their Irish roots. My grandparents had made sure of that. Maybe they’d heard whispers of Celtic wolves or ancient legends tied to them. And MyDads, being the former Alphas, had contacts spread across the globe. If we needed to dig deeper, he’d know where to start-and who to trust.
The traffic was lighter than usual, and I made better time than expected, pulling into the parking lot of Ashford and Sons Architects fifteen minutes early. I sat in the truck for a minute, pulling myself together and nudging my thoughts in a more positive direction.
I couldn’t help wondering what Lia and Logan were up to. It had barely been two hours since I left, and I already missed her like hell. Hopefully Logan was making good use of the time alone with her. He meant well, but he had a habit of saying the wrong thing at the worst time. Given their history, Lia still wasn’t entirely sure if his feelings were real or just the effect of the mate bond. But she didn’t know him like I did. Not yet.
Maybe this time together would give her a chance to see the real Logan-the version of him I’d grown up with. The one who would go to war for the people he loved.