Chapter 50

“I know… I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you at the time,” Ace said, still looking down. “I wanted to, but you thought my mom died years before that.

“Do you remember that day when I had to leave you at school to go deal with something, and you found out later that I had flown to Ontario?”

Slowly, I nodded. I had been so mad that he was keeping secrets from me.

“I found out my mom died earlier that morning. The entire pack felt the moment we lost the connection to her wolf. I had to leave you to go pick up her body so we could bury her back home.”

My stomach sank to the ground. “B-but… that means your mom only died a few months ago.”

“Her wolf side did. My mom’s human side died when we were eight, just like you remember.”

I blinked at him, struggling to formulate a sentence that didn’t end with me breaking down in tears.

“So, while I was refusing to answer your calls or texts because I was mad you were keeping secrets from me… you were burying your mom?”

Ace’s declination filled the bond. “You’re making it sound worse than it was. I was relieved she had passed at last. Happy even. Existing as a rabid rogue is a horrible way to live.”

I thought about when he’d returned to me later that night, crawling in through my bedroom window to sleep with me.

He hadn’t seemed sad. He seemed worried about me, but that was only because I had made it very clear how upset I was with him.

Other than that, though, he seemed pleased—content to be back with me.

Little did I know, his mom had died earlier that day.

“You weren’t sad that night,” I pointed out, my heart in my throat.

He shrugged. “I wasn’t. As horrible as it sounds, I would have killed my mom myself if I had known where she was. I was glad she was finally at peace. My pack could finally move on.

“My father too. That’s why he went mad. While their bond was cut off after she went rogue, he couldn’t handle knowing that his mate was out there, suffering. That’s why he was gone all the time.”

“He was looking for her?” I whispered.

“Yes. He struggled to control his wolf without his mate. I couldn’t blame him. I would do the same thing if you went rabid. But regardless, it made for a poor alpha, and the pack suffered.”

“Ace,” I started. I had no idea what to say. “I’m so sorry. I just… that’s awful. I don’t understand how it even happened. How did her wolf get sick?”

“That’s the mystery, isn’t it? No one knows. One day she was fine, and the next, she was a rabid animal, her human side gone—dead.

“The most common cause of a rabid wolf is a broken or starving mate bond, so a lot of people think something happened between my mother and father.

“But I know that’s not the case. They loved each other. Their bond was just as strong as ours is. Yet, this means my father still worries he did something wrong. That’s why he blames himself.”

Ace shook his head. “If you ask me, powerful wolves run in my family. Maybe she struggled with her inner animal as much as I did. I think her animal side took over, and she couldn’t get herself back.”

“But that doesn’t explain why it happened,” I said.

“I’ve had time to heal. I try not to think about it anymore.” He gave me a small smile and wiped away the stray tear running down my cheek.

“She came to my room the night before she died, you know. You were there, sleeping right next to me. We were having a sleepover.

“I remember because I was having a horrible nightmare that something bad had happened to you and I couldn’t get to you in time. My mom woke me up and she whispered how much she loved me.”

Ace looked deep into my eyes. “She told me to take care of you. It was like she was saying goodbye. That’s why I think she knew her wolf was about to take over. I think she was prepared.”

I was brought back to the dream I had a few days before my heat started. The one about Esther shifting in front of me while I was staying in a guest room in Ace’s house.

“You did this,” Mr. Stoll had screamed at me in the dream while clutching his wife’s wolf to his chest.

She was snarling and thrashing to get free.

“I’ll kill you for this, omega. Do you understand me? You’re dead! Dead!”

~Did I have something to do with what happened to Esther?~

No, it couldn’t be. Ace said I was sleeping next to him the night that Esther’s wolf went rabid, not alone in the guest room.

At least that meant Mr. Stoll never threatened to kill me. He may have been driven mad, but he would never have murdered his son’s mate. He wouldn’t do that to Ace.

Still, part of me couldn’t help but wonder… If I had something to do with why she lost herself to her wolf, could that be why Mr. Stoll had hated me for all these years?

I wrapped my arms around Ace’s waist and pressed my face to his chest. Ace purred and rested his cheek on the top of my head, always looking to comfort me even when he was the one in pain.

“Whatever happened to your father?” I asked. “Did he try to kill Grayson?”

“He did. He thought he could become king of the supernatural if he killed my cousin. Completely idiotic.

“Belle was missing at the time, so Grayson had very little patience. I was lucky he didn’t kill him. Kyle intervened, put my father in the palace dungeons, and called me.”

“And that’s why you left me that night to fly to Croatia.”

Ace nodded. “I didn’t want to leave you, but I had been looking for an opportunity to challenge my father for the role of alpha for a while.”

“Challenge? What does that mean?”

“For a pack member to become the alpha, they must challenge the existing leader to a fight. If either refuses to submit, the fight is to the death. I challenged my father that night in Zaweth.”

“And you won?”

Ace grimaced. “Not without almost maiming my father first. He’s always been stubborn. I worried I was going to have to kill him.

“But he submitted at the last minute, making me the alpha of the Embermoon Pack.” He grinned and tugged me closer. “And you, its luna.”

My stomach fluttered with excited nerves. ~How the hell am I the leader of a pack of werewolves? And why does it suddenly feel so right?~

“Where’s your father now?”

“Still in Zaweth. He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison for trying to murder the king. Serves him right, the idiot.”

I stared up at him, trying to come to terms with everything he had just told me. It was a lot.

But it was true that Ace seemed fine. Even through the bond, I could sense that none of what we had talked about bothered him. Painful, sure, but he seemed at peace with it all.

“You’re not processing your emotions,” I said, running my fingers over his stubbled cheek.

Ace shrugged. “Maybe not. But I’ve had a lot on my mind.” He kissed my lips. “We have the rest of our lives to process everything that has happened to us. For now, I just want to be happy.”

I sighed and promised myself we would have more conversations about this later. “I’m happy as long as I’m with you.”

I lifted myself onto my toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You should let your wolf out, though. I can feel how antsy he’s getting. Go for a run.”

“I can finish packing on my own. By the time you get back, we’ll be ready to go.”

Ace’s pleased expression immediately soured. “I don’t want to leave you. My wolf doesn’t want to either.”

“But he needs to be let out. How about I hang out with your wolf in the back for a little while, and then you can go for a quick run?”

I ran my hands down his chest. “It’s been too long since I’ve been with the other half of my mate anyway.”

Ace was still hesitant. “I’m not leaving you to finish packing while I go frolicking in the woods. I know how to keep him down now. My wolf will be fine.”

“Just because you ~can~ suppress him doesn’t mean you ~should~. Your relationship with your wolf is sacred. You need to start treating it like that.”

My hands drifted under his shirt and up his hard stomach. I loved the way his muscles rippled under my touch.

“Clothes off, mister. It’s time to let the beast out.”