Chapter 299: Stone Pack

Rebecca’s POV

​It had been two days since I arrived at the Stone Pack, but somehow, it still didn’t feel like home.

​I stood by the large window in the bedroom my mother had given me, looking down at the pack grounds below. Everything here was peaceful. Pack members moved around freely, children played in the open field, and warriors trained farther away near the trees. No one was chasing me. No one was calling me a murderer or a breeder.

​Here, I was simply Rebecca.

​I should have felt completely free, yet a strange heaviness still sat in my chest. Maybe it was because everything had changed too quickly. A few days ago, I had believed Alpha Kelvin was my father and that my mother had abandoned me when I was a child. Now I knew neither of those things was true.

​A soft knock came at the door before it opened, and my mother stepped inside. She had been giving me space since bringing Stephanie and me here, and I appreciated that. She hadn’t forced me to suddenly behave like we had never spent years apart. She seemed to understand that knowing the truth didn’t immediately make us mother and daughter again.

​"How are you feeling?" she asked as she walked toward me.

​"I’m okay."

​Her eyes moved briefly toward my stomach. "And the baby?"

​I placed my hand over my belly without thinking. "Fine. Laura says everything feels normal too."

​Relief showed on her face. "Good. I actually came to tell you something. A welcome dinner will be held for you tomorrow night."

​My eyebrows lifted. "A welcome dinner?"

​"Yes. The pack already knows I returned with my daughter, so naturally, people are curious. I think it’s better that I introduce you properly rather than allow rumors to spread about who you are."

​I understood her reason, but the thought of standing in front of an entire pack and being introduced as Alpha Maria’s daughter still made me nervous. For years, people had always known me by something I wished I could escape. Alpha Kelvin’s unwanted daughter. Helen’s murderer. Kaden’s breeder. Ruby. Now, for the first time, I had the chance to simply be Rebecca.

​"Okay," I finally said. "A welcome dinner is fine."

​My mother smiled. "You don’t have to do anything except be there. I’ll handle everything else."

​I nodded, but before she could leave, another question came to mind. It was something I had been wondering about ever since she told me the truth.

​"Mother?"

​She stopped. "Yes?"

​I hesitated before asking, "What about my father?"

​Her expression changed slightly.

​"Lord Drake," I added quickly. "I’m just curious. Does he know I’m here? Does he even know that I’m alive?"

​My mother was silent for a moment before she nodded. "He knows."

​My heart skipped a beat. "You told him?"

​"I didn’t have to. He contacted me."

​That surprised me. "He contacted you?"

​"Yes. And he knows you’ve returned." She paused before adding, "He will be here."

​I stared at her. I wasn’t sure what I felt about that. Lord Drake might have been my biological father, but to me, he was still a complete stranger. I didn’t know what kind of man he was. I didn’t know whether he had ever wanted me or whether he had spent the past years believing I was dead.

​My mother seemed to understand what was going through my mind because she reached for my hand. "Don’t worry, Rebecca. He won’t force any relationship on you. I already made that clear to him. You don’t owe either of us anything simply because we’re your parents. You can speak to him when you’re ready, and if you’re not ready when he arrives, he will have to respect that."

​I slowly nodded. "Okay."

​She squeezed my hand gently before releasing it. "Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day."

​After she left, I turned back toward the window and rested my hand on my stomach.

​My father was coming. Just thinking those words felt strange.

​But Lord Drake wasn’t the only man occupying my thoughts.

​There was Kaden.

​My chest tightened the moment his name entered my thoughts.

​Yesterday, Alpha Kane had called and told me everything. Kaden knew the truth now. He had gotten his memories of me back, and worse, he knew I was here in the Stone Pack.

​Kane hadn’t told me what Kaden planned to do next, but he didn’t need to. The Kaden I knew would come looking for me soon.

​He would come.

​Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually, Kaden would stand in front of me again, and this time there would be no fake name, no choker, and no lies between us.

​My fingers moved to my bare neck.

​The choker was gone now, which meant there was nothing hiding my scent or my wolf anymore. More importantly, there was nothing suppressing the mate bond.

​What would happen when Kaden came close to me? What if he sensed the mate bond right away?

​Would his wolf recognize me? Would he know that I was his mate before I even had the chance to say anything?

​My heart began pounding just from the thought.

​"No," I whispered to myself, touching my belly. "I’m not doing this."

​I stepped away from the window and took a deep breath.

​"Rebecca, you can face him."

​Laura stirred quietly inside me. You’ve faced worse. Don’t be scared.

​Saying it was easier than believing it, but I refused to spend every minute looking over my shoulder and wondering when Kaden would appear. I had spent enough time running from him.

​I needed some air.

​Stephanie wasn’t around. She had gone out earlier, and I didn’t feel like waiting for her to return, so I decided to take a walk alone.

​I left my room and made my way downstairs. When I reached the large living room, several servants were moving around while two guards stood near the entrance. The moment they noticed me, they bowed slightly.

​I almost stopped walking.

​Another servant passed and did the same thing.

​I gave an awkward nod and continued toward the door.

​I still didn’t know how I was supposed to feel about all this. Being treated like royalty felt so bizarre. Two days ago, I had been hiding in another country with a fake identity. Now people were bowing to me because I was the daughter of their Alpha. I was royalty. Even thinking about myself that way felt ridiculous.

​I stepped outside and followed the stone path leading toward the garden. The fresh air immediately helped, and I walked slowly between the flowers, taking in the comforting silence. For once, there were no guards dragging me anywhere, no plans to escape, and no lies I needed to remember.

​I stopped near a bed of flowers, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

​While standing there with my eyes closed, my mind began to drift. An unwanted memory entered my thoughts—Kaden’s garden. I remembered walking there with him when he knew me only as Ruby, the night I had spent with him under the stars. I remembered the way he had looked at me, the things we had talked about, and how different he had seemed from the Kaden I remembered from before.

​My chest tightened, but I couldn’t push the memory away. Instead, my mind remained fixed on that garden, picturing the exact place as clearly as if I were standing there again.

​Suddenly, a sharp gust of wind swept across my face.

​The temperature dropped instantly. The air against my skin was suddenly colder... different.

​Laura immediately became alert inside me.

​I opened my eyes.

​My heart nearly stopped.

​I gasped.

​The flowers around me were different. The trees were different. Even the stone path beneath my feet had changed.

​"What the..."

​I turned around quickly. My mother’s house was completely gone.

​My eyes widened as I slowly looked around, my heart pounding so hard that I could hear it ringing in my ears.

​"No..."

​This wasn’t the Stone Pack. This was Kaden’s garden.

​I hadn’t opened a portal. I hadn’t tried to use my powers. I hadn’t even thought about using magic. All I’d done was close my eyes and think about this place. I’d pictured it clearly in my mind, and somehow...

​I stared down at my hands in disbelief.

​Did I just teleport without opening a portal?

​Before I could process what had happened or figure out how to escape, Laura suddenly went wild and howled deep inside my chest, loud and fiercely protective:

​MATE!