The Name I Should Have Called Chapter 05
Aller sering Sloan off, Kieran started rehearsing what he would say to Elena when he saw her next.
But when he kicked open lena’s door, the house was empty.
Old Mara happened to be passing by and gave him a cold glance. “Looking for Elena? She left with Darian. They’re heading north to formalize the rate bond in the capital.”
The words hit him like a bucket of ice water over his head.
Impossible. Elena had followed him for fifteen years. There was no way she would just leave.
“Mara, stop helping her with this nonsense.” He forced a cold smile. “Is she hiding at a friend’s house? Tell me the truth.”
Mara adjusted the laundry basket on her shoulder. “Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself.”
He pushed inside her cabin. A thin layer of dust covered the fireplace. The bedding was neatly folded. Half the clothes were gone from the wardrobe.
Everything he had ever given her. The glass beads from when she was fifteen, the old riding crop from eighteen, the worn–out comb. All left behind on the table.
The only thing missing was the turquoise braided chain her mother had left her.
He spun around and searched every corner of the pack territory. Old Rowan’s place, the cabins, even the
abandoned lookout post near the border.
Finally, he galloped to the foot of the high ridge and screamed her name into the wind.
The valley sent his voice back, hollow and mocking.
Defeated, he went to her parents‘ grave.
Two bouquets of flowers stood before the headstone.
Two sets of footprints led away from the stone. One large, one small.
He crouched there until a bitter wind cut through his coat. Her voice from the avalanche echoed in his ears again. Hoarse, terrified, desperate. It made his wolf ache with pain.
That pain was back now.
He mounted his horse and scoured the pack territory, his boots crunching on the frozen ground until dawn.
At five in the morning, he squatted on the porch steps, his face in his hands.
His gloves still held a faint trace of Sloan’s perfume. Now it made him nauseous.
Chapter 5
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A rugged transport truck pull up. Sloan stepped out in a red wool coat.
“Kieran What are you doing here? You’re covered in frost.”
She hurried over, pulled other gloves, and tried to warmth his frozen face with her hands.
He looked up, his eyes bloodshot. “Elena left with Darian. They’re going through with the mating ceremony.”
Sloan’s hand stopped in midair.
“You believe her? She’s just trying to scare you into something. She’s been doing this since you were pups.”
She sighed, sat down beside him, and unwound her scarf, wrapping it around his neck.
“I saw her yesterday. She left alone.”
“She asked me to tell you she’s waiting for you in the capital. If you don’t come get her, she’ll never speak to you again.”
Kieran gripped her wrist tightly. “Is that the truth?”
Sloan lowered her eyelids, her lashes fluttering. When she looked up, a glint shone in her eyes.
“I didn’t want to tell you. You know how I feel about you. I thought if you couldn’t find her, maybe I could have a few more days with you.”
She pulled a flask from her bag. The scent of honey wine drifted into the cold air.
“I brought this to toast my departure. Drink some. Warm yourself up.”
He took the flask and tipped it back.
The alcohol spread quickly through his empty stomach, dulling his thoughts. The world seemed to tilt.
“Next year,” he murmured, “I’ll answer her call. Even if the pass is buried in snow.”
“I know,” Sloan whispered. She cupped his face, brushing frost from his brow with her thumb. “So tonight,
let it be just us.”
She kissed him.
The flask fell into the snow. Amber liquid melted a dark patch, then quickly froze again.
When Kieran woke, sunlight was streaming through thin curtains.
His head pounded as if horses had trampled through his skull.
Sloan sat by the window, combing her hair.
