The Name I Should Have Called Chapter 04
Kieran stormed into my cabin and kicked the door frame so hard it rattled.
“Elena, have you lost your mind? You left the patrol without permission and rode off alone?”
I was bandaging the wound on my leg and didn’t look up. “I was hurt. I needed to deal with it right away. I left you a map of my route.”
He gave a sharp, humorless laugh. “Hurt? That scratch? You’re just throwing a tantrum because I took your herbs.”
“You’re becoming insufferable.”
I was silent for a moment, then looked up at him. “Kieran, do you remember when you were eighteen? You fell from your horse on the high ridge and shattered the bone in your leg.”
“The mountain pass was buried in snow. I carried you on my back all night just to get you to the healer’s lodge at the border.”
“I lost two toenails to frostbite. Even now, my toes still ache in the winter. Do you remember?”
The muscles in his face tightened. He looked away.
But then the cold expression quickly returned.
“You’re mine. Isn’t it natural for you to sacrifice for your Alpha?” He waved a hand dismissively. “Why are you dragging up the past now?”
A bitter smile touched my lips. “Kieran. You really know how to hurt someone.”
Sloan appeared behind him, her face a mask of fake warmth. “Kieran, go get some healing salve. Let me talk to her.”
The moment he left the yard, the smile vanished from her face. She pulled a phone from her coat and shoved the screen in my face.
“This is a picture Kieran sent me last year. Look how happy he is.”
“We sailed across the bay together on my father’s boat. And what do you have? A horse?”
She swiped to show more pictures. “This one was taken on the cable car over the capital ridge. He said he’d never seen a view like that.”
She put the phone away and tilted her head. “Elena, you and Kieran aren’t from the same world. The biggest place you’ve ever seen is this pack’s little meeting hall.”
Looking at those photos, I remembered the eighteen-year-old boy who had climbed into the high mountains alone just to pick moonflowers for me.
The twenty-year-old who had pulled me onto the dance floor at the summer solstice and announced to everyone that the most beautiful she-wolf in the territory was his Elena.
That Kieran was gone.
I looked at the victorious smile on Sloan’s face and nodded slightly. “You’re right. You are better for him.”
For a moment, she hesitated.
“Don’t bother with your tricks, Elena. They might work on Kieran, but not on me.”
Her voice dropped, laced with venom. “If your parents could see you clinging to him like this, they’d be ashamed. They’d rather become rogues than claim you as their daughter.”
“Don’t you dare mention my parents!” I shoved her.
Sloan fell easily, hitting the floor hard. She gasped dramatically, her eyes instantly reddening.
“Elena!” Kieran rushed in at the noise and helped her up.
She curled against him, her voice trembling. “I’m leaving this afternoon. I just came to say goodbye. She pushed me. I don’t understand why she hates me so much.”
Kieran’s eyes were bloodshot with barely suppressed rage. “Elena. Apologize. Now.”
“No!” I glared at him.
He let out a low, cold growl. “No apology? Then don’t expect me to come get you on the mountain next year.”
I met his furious gaze without flinching. “I won’t be here. Darian and I are leaving for the northern territory this afternoon.”
“Still dreaming? Save the act.” Kieran grunted and lifted Sloan into his arms.
At the door, he threw one last line over his shoulder. “I’m going to see her off. When I get home, I’d better find a written apology on my desk.”
The moment he left, Darian walked in.
“Elena, everything is ready. We can leave.”
