~ ROWAN

It took a full twenty minutes before the woman finally calmed down enough to speak.

As averse as I was to questioning her, there was information I had to know to help the guards narrow their search.

"I don’t know what border he went out through," she said with a sigh, her hand pressed against her forehead. "I asked him to stay fucking put. He knew he wasn’t supposed to cross the border but he’s stubborn and he has friends that are rogues."

"Rogues?" I repeated and she nodded. "How did he meet them?"

"Through the other kids in the rogue rehabilitation center. I work there and sometimes he goes with me. The kids play together, and just because they’re rehabilitated now doesn’t mean they don’t have rogue friends. He’s met a few of them and from what he says, they’re very nice people."

I hummed, taking note of that as I prepared to ask my final question. "Where did you find him?"

"I didn’t actually. Your sister, she..." her voice cracked as she sniffled. "She knocked on my door and told me that... they had found my son. She said she was with the guards when they came across him. He had a wristband that had our address, in case he ever got... lost."

She wiped the tears as they fell from her cheeks and my chest twisted painfully.

I’d never know how she truly felt, but that did not mean that I could not sympathize. The mere thought of someone hurting my child was enough to send a murderous rage swirling through my chest.

"She brought me here... your sister I mean," she continued. "She is such... a good person. She has been with me since. She... explained what had happened. Told me that it was the vampires and they were waging war because the Luna is their King’s daughter and they want something from her that she won’t—"

"Aria told you that?"

She shrugged. "I mean, I knew about it already. The entire pack knows she’s his child but... we didn’t know the details. No one likes to talk about it because ... well, because she’s the Luna and we thought she was a werewolf but if she’s a vampire—"

"She is a werewolf," I said firmly.

The urge to defend my mate was overwhelming, but there were far greater things at the back of my mind, like the fact that Aria told her all of that.

She had no right, and it was completely against the safeguarding protocols. In that moment, all Aria needed to do was fucking comfort her. No wonder she exploded on Nyssa earlier.

"Thank you for answering the questions," I said, rising slowly to my feet. "I want to assure you that we are doing everything within our power to make sure that the bastard responsible pays for it with his life."

"How will you do that?" she asked, head cocked to the side. "How will you find them before they kill more people?"

I opened my mouth to speak then promptly shut it again. "Don’t worry about the details."

With a tight smile, I turned away from her and headed out of the room, my insides twisting with suspicion and confusion.

The guards followed close behind me as I walked. Their expressions were carefully impassive but I couldn’t help but note that they kept glancing at each other warily as I walked.

I turned to them. "Did you also hear anything like that? Like what she said?"

They were silent for a long minute before nodding.

"From who?"

"From the princess, your majesty," one of them murmured. "She has been helping around at the border as per your requests and she gives us the information from the palace. We assumed you wanted us to know."

"Wanted you to know what?"

"That the vampires were after your mate, sir, and that the reason for the war was... well, it was because she had something they wanted."

Not only did I not send Aria to them, I for sure did not ask her to feed anyone any sort of information. This was very unlike my sister who was very big on keeping private things private.

I managed a small nod towards the guards and went in search of Aria. Thankfully, I didn’t have to search far because she stood in the waiting area with Nyssa, both of them whispering in hushed tones.

Nyssa saw me first and she immediately rushed over. "You will never believe who we just—"

"You’ll have to hold that thought little wolf," I murmured, letting my lips ghost over her head. "Aria, come with me."

Both women looked shocked, but neither of them said a word as I brushed past my mate and gestured for my sister to follow.

"I’m not a dog that you can summon," Aria snapped as we stopped in the middle of the parking lot. "A simple please or—"

"Is there a reason you’re telling the guards shit about Nyssa being the cause of this?"

"I didn’t—"

"I know what you told them and the woman inside What the fuck is your problem?"

"I was only trying to be honest."

I scoffed. "Honesty? You wonder why they fucking blame her when you’re giving them the ammunition!"

"That’s not why I told them, Rowan, and I can’t believe you would even think that. I thought if they knew what the vampires wanted, then they would know which places to protect more. I was trying to help."

"Then fucking don’t!" I snapped. "You’ve made shit worse and now the entire pack is side eyeing Nyssa. Just... stick with the shit you do in the human world."

Her lips thinned as hurt flashed behind her eyes. "I was just trying to help, Rowan, but no worries, I’ll keep my fucking hands out of it."

A part of me wanted to reach out and comfort her, but the vast majority of me that was loyal to my mate, forced me to stand there, hands fisted by my side. It may not have been her intention but her words had stirred a whole lot of fucking trouble.

Terse silence stretched between us for a moment before she cleared her throat and stepped back.

"You should go back, Nyssa is watching through the doors. She has important news to tell you. I’ll go... well, I’ll fix the mess."