We didn't speak for the first ten minutes after the checkpoint.
The van was silent, save for the soft hum of wheels on cracked road and the occasional muttered curse from the driver. No one knew what had just happened. Or maybe they did, and none of them wanted to be the first to ask.
I stared out the narrow window, but I wasn't seeing the trees.
I was seeing him.
Kade.
My first mate.
The one who had rejected me.
The one who had walked into that hospital room years ago, looked at me—broken, bloodied, raped—and severed our bond with the cold efficiency of a butcher.
Unworthy, he'd said back then. You smell like another man.
I hadn't seen him since.
Until now.
Nyx was coiled tight in my mind, tail lashing. He let us go. Why? Why would he do that?
I didn't know.
But it had been deliberate.
He had seen me. Smelled the crates. Knew exactly what this shipment was. Knew I wasn't here by accident. And he'd waved us through anyway.
Why?
Guilt?
No. Kade didn't feel guilt. Not unless it could be shaped into control.
He still wants something, Nyx hissed. They were waiting for us. That checkpoint didn't just appear.
That part was true.
We'd rerouted last-minute, taken a trail off-grid. The only people who'd known the new path were in that conference room with me—and the boss himself.
So how did the police know where to be?
Who told them?
More importantly—why hadn't Kade acted?
I played the memory back in my mind. His voice. His face. That brief flash of something in his eyes.
He'd looked… surprised.
But not angry.
Not disgusted.
Not even smug.
Like he hadn't expected to see me of all people walking out of that van.
And then there was his scent.
Still the same.
Still that mix of rain and frost and something sharp underneath.
It had hit me like a punch to the gut.
And I'd hated that I still recognized it.
Still felt the old tug—deadened, yes, but not gone.
Nyx was pacing again.
If he tries anything—if he comes near Nine—
"I'll handle it," I said under my breath.
One of the handlers glanced at me sideways.
I ignored him.
My mind was spinning too fast to care.
Kade had power now. Influence. He was working with local law enforcement, maybe more. If he wanted me arrested, he could've done it then and there.
But he hadn't.
Why?
Because of the old bond?
Because he still felt something?
Because he wanted to use me later?
Or—gods forbid—because the boss had planned this?
I clenched my fists.
Was I being tested?
Was this whole detour a setup?
Send the werewolf. Watch how she handles seeing her past.
See if she breaks.
See if she runs.
See if she folds.
The van jostled over a rock. My shoulder hit the frame.
I didn't move.
Didn't speak.
Just kept my gaze locked on the road ahead, mind miles away.
Back with Nine.
Back in that sterile room where they were probably prepping for surgery already.
Back where I should've been.
Where I'd left part of myself behind.