"Because…" Kingsley leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes narrowing with sharp amusement, "…you haven't asked me who I am since I walked in here." His grin deepened when he saw the faint flicker in her expression. "Which means you already know. And how would you know that—unless May herself told you."
The air seemed to thicken, and for a moment Nelly could hear nothing but the pounding of her own heart. He was right. And worse, he knew he was right.
"May is under my protection," Nelly said. Her body thrummed with tension, every muscle ready to spring if he made a wrong move.
Kingsley smiled slowly as though savoring her defiance. "See, that is not going to work… Miss?" His eyes glinted with mock politeness, a hunter playing with his prey. "What do I call you?" He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, studying her the way one might admire an exotic animal in a cage.
"May's guardian," Nelly replied. She refused to give him her name; names had power, and she wasn't about to hand him any piece of herself.
Kingsley chuckled, the sound low and unsettling. "May's guardian… How quaint." He rose and paced a slow circle around the room, his presence filling it like smoke. "But you see, you're wrong. May belongs to me. She is under my protection. Our bond isn't something you can sever with false bravado and borrowed courage." He paused, then tilted his head, feigning sympathy. "Couples do quarrel—it's no big deal. They fight, they cry, they storm out. But in the end… they always settle their issues."
The insinuation in his tone made Nelly's stomach twist. She felt a flash of hot rage rise in her chest. "I urge you to get the fuck out of my house right now, or this is going to end very badly," she threatened. She would snap his neck if she had to. She might die for it, but at least May and Adelita would have time to run.
Kingsley smirked, almost delighted by her fury. "Oh, it will," he agreed silkily. "But not for me." He stopped pacing and faced her, his eyes gleaming with malice. "If you don't hand May over to me, tonight will be the last quiet night this little street ever knows. I came here with humans because I thought this would be easy." His lip curled with disdain. "But if you insist on making this messy—at the risk of exposing myself to them—understand this: it will not end badly tonight. No, tonight I will leave."
He leaned closer, his breath brushing her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. "But if May does not come to me willingly in three days, I will return with my own people. And then this will definitely end badly. For you, for her, and for anyone foolish enough to stand in my way. I don't care under whose protection she hides. I don't care whose shadow she clings to."
"Truly, you do not want to know whose protection she is really under. I am just a caretaker." she murmured, almost gently, as if speaking to a child who had wandered too close to a cliff. Her eyes glittered with the secret she carried—the name of Beta Kade, his loyalty alone would get Alpha Lucas Raventhorn to bring down fire on him. A power that Kingsley would be insane to provoke.
"You are not getting May," she said, every syllable a strike of iron. "You will not get May. And I really, really advise you to sign those divorce papers."
"We'll see, love…We'll see." He adjusted his cufflinks savoring the moment of control, then added with quiet certainty, "I am staying at the little motel at the city center. I expect May there." The way he said it was a claim, a promise, a verdict already passed.
"Keep dreaming," Nelly shot back, her eyes narrowed into sharp slits. She held his gaze like two swords locked in combat, refusing to let him taste her fear. Every instinct screamed to lunge at him, but her rational mind held her back. If she moved too soon, if she struck before May and Adelita were safe, everything would collapse.
Kingsley stepped toward the hallway, his gait smooth and arrogant, every movement dripping with the confidence of a man who thought the world bent for him. As he reached the threshold, he paused, head cocking toward the bedroom door. A wicked smirk crept across his face. "She cannot hide from me." His voice rose just enough to carry beyond the walls. Then, with a mocking bow of his head toward Nelly, he was gone.
The door clicked shut, and silence swallowed the room. Nelly's chest tightened. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath until it left her in a rush, a ragged exhale heavy with all the things she couldn't say. Her hands shook as the adrenaline drained, but there was no time to collapse. No time to break. She spun on her heel and sprinted into the bedroom.
She flung the closet door open, and the moment her eyes landed on May, her heart clenched. May's face was pale, her lips trembling, and there were already tears swimming in her eyes, threatening to spill. She clutched Adelita so tightly it looked as though she might fuse with the child, her body curled in a protective cocoon.
"He was here!" May gasped. Her entire frame shook, her fingers digging into Adelita's small shoulders as though Kingsley might materialize from the shadows to drag them both away.
"Its okay, Love," Nelly said softly. She crouched and carefully pried Adelita from May's grip, gathering the little girl into her arms. "Listen to me." She brushed back a lock of May's hair with tenderness. "We don't have the luxury of fear right now. Pack a few things. Only what you can carry quickly. We are going on a trip."
For a heartbeat, May stared at her as if she hadn't heard. Her lips parted, a protest forming—how could she run again? How could she leave the fragile normalcy she'd been trying to build? With a choked sob, she nodded, stumbling to her feet to gather the barest of belongings.
*****
By the time dawn bled across the horizon, their car had eaten up miles of cracked highways and shadowed woods. The world seemed to shift around them, as though the air itself knew they were crossing a line few humans dared to breach. Adelita stirred in the backseat, her lashes fluttering before her wide, curious eyes blinked awake. Sunlight spilled through the car windows, dancing across her face, she looked untouched by the chaos unraveling around them.
Nelly's grip tightened on the steering wheel as she glanced at the passing treeline. Werewolf territory.
In the passenger seat, May sat rigid, her hands clutched in her lap. Her eyes darted from the window to Nelly, to Adelita, back to the window again, her mind a storm of questions and dread.
Nelly sure as hell knew she would have a lot to explain the moment May saw a wolf shifting.
And that moment… was coming fast.
May was still sobbing quietly, her body trembling. Her eyes were swollen and rimmed red, every sniffle tugging painfully at Nelly's heart. When the car finally rolled slowed, rolling up a long, gravel-lined road that led into the Silver Pack's territory, May blinked through her tears. Her head jerked up when she caught sight of the towering stone walls and the fortress in the distance. At the checkpoint, scouts requested to see her identification and instantly knew who she was.
They waved her through.
"Where… where is this?" May asked.
Nelly kept her eyes on the road, her hands firm on the wheel. She could feel May's gaze boring into her profile, demanding an answer. "I'm taking you to someone who can handle Kingsley," she said.
"Yes," May pressed. "But where is this?"
"My home," Nelly answered simply.
The moment they approached the gate to the fortress, May watched in alarm as several guards stepped forward. They moved with an unnatural fluidity, their stances sharp and predatory. Their eyes flicked from the car to Nelly, and when they recognized her, everything changed. The guards broke into shouts of joy.
"Lady Nelly!" one of them called, beaming as if seeing a long-lost sister. Another guard thumped his chest in respect, while two more hurried closer to the car, their excitement palpable.
Nelly parked and slid out of the car with fluid grace. She was immediately surrounded. Rough, calloused hands clasped hers, shoulders bumped her playfully, and she was pulled into a flurry of hugs and backslaps. The joy in their voices was real.
"It's been too long, my lady."
"We thought you were never coming back!"
"Wait till Alpha Lucas hears this. He'll—"
Their chatter blurred for May, who sat frozen in the passenger seat. She felt like a stranger staring into someone else's world—a world she had no business seeing.