<h4>Chapter 359: She is Extraordinary</h4>


    <strong>River:</strong>


    For months I thought I knew her past. My men had dug through her history before I ever made her mine. I had discovered the surface - her mother’s death, her father’s ignorance, her stepmother’s cruelty, her stepsiblings’ and pack’s bullying. It was enough to make me want to protect her, enough to try and heal her scars. Or so I thought.


    But tonight had opened my eyes.


    The truth ran deeper, darker than anything I had imagined.


    I stared out at the pale dawn breaking over the treetops, my chest heavy. All this time, I thought I knew. I thought I understood what she endured. But I only knew what was in in sight. And now... now I realize there’s more. Things she never told anyone. Things she buried so deep she hoped no one would ever dig them up.


    I noticed how Oscar was clenching his fists in hisp, while Draven had a grim expression on his face as he stared out the window.


    I breathed out slowly, the ache of it pressing against my ribs. I wanted the truth. I needed it. But stars help me... I was terrified of what we would uncover.


    Because if what Ethan ckwood confessed tonight was only the beginning... what else had our mate survived before she came to us?


    And how much of her pain was still hidden, waiting to shatter us all?


    We pulled into the driveway of our new home just as the first rays of dawn touched the sky, painting it with pale gold. I cut the engine and sat for a moment, my hands tight around the steering wheel. My brothers were restless as well, both Oscar and Draven still buzzing with the remnants of violence, anger, and unanswered questions. I could feel their tension like sparks in the air.


    But when my eyes lifted toward the windows of the new house, my chest loosened just a fraction. Behind those curtains, Evaline and our pup were still sleeping. Kieran too, no doubt curled close to them. That sight alone made everything worth enduring - the blood on our hands, the questions left gnawing at me, the restraint it had taken not to end Ethan’s life tonight.


    "Go get some rest," I told Oscar and Draven once we stepped out.


    They both looked at me, reluctant, their hands flexing at their sides as if they still wanted to spill more blood. I understood the feeling too well. But right now, exhaustion threatened to weigh them down, and thest thing I wanted was for Evaline to sense the storm raging inside them.


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    After a beat, Oscar rubbed the back of his neck and muttered, "Fine." Draven only grumbled under his breath but followed him upstairs.


    I didn’t follow. My blood was still running too hot for sleep. My head too full. Instead, I crossed the hallway and made for the study, shutting the heavy door behind me. The silence that followed was thick, grounding. It gave me the space I needed to breathe, to think.


    Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through my contacts until my thumb hovered over a familiar number. ndor. The old healer had long retired from the Council and now spent his days with family, far from the chaos of our world. I had promised I would never bother him again. And yet... here I was.


    I hit dial.


    It only rang twice before his warm, aged voice answered. "Alpha River Thorne? Now this is a surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure, my lord?"


    A corner of my mouth lifted. Even now, he teased. "It’s been a while, old man. I wouldn’t have disturbed your retirement if it wasn’t important."


    He chuckled softly. "Ah, so it’s not a courtesy call. Good. My grandchildren already think I’m losing my mind. Tell me, then. What’s troubling you?"


    I leaned against the desk, staring at the floorboards as I chose my words carefully. "I need your thoughts on a case. Hypothetical."


    "I’m listening."


    I inhaled slowly. "If... a girl felt the mate bond with a man on their first chance encounter... and when they met again, she never felt it again. What could cause that?"


    Silence.


    I could almost hear the frown on his face through the line. Finally, he spoke. "That is unusual. The mate bond doesn’t simply vanish. Once it reveals itself, it lingers. Sometimes softer, sometimes overwhelming, but always present. Unless..."


    My chest tightened. "Unless what?"


    "Unless something is wrong with either wolf. Do both parties have their wolves intact?"


    The question caught me off guard. I froze for a second, then forced myself to answer. "The girl... doesn’t have a wolf."


    There was a pause. Then, in a low, steady voice, ndor said, "That exins it. A wolfless one cannot sustain the bond in the same way others can. Without a wolf, she can only experience that overwhelming, magical connection once - the very first time fate reveals her mate. After that, what remains is the pull, the attraction, the undeniable tether... but never again that first spark."


    His wordsnded like stones in my chest. Heavy. Irrefutable.


    "You are certain?" My voice came out softer than I intended.


    "As certain as one can be with something so rare," he replied. "I have only heard of it through ancient ounts, healers older than me. But it matches what you have described exactly."


    My grip on the phone tightened. Evaline’s voice echoed in my memory, her quiet confessions that she only felt the bond once with each of us. How she had med herself, as if something in her was broken. How she had wondered if it made her less.


    All this time... it wasn’t her fault. It was the fate.


    As if sensing my silence, ndor’s tone softened. "River, whoever she is... she is not less. Fate doesn’t waste bonds on the unworthy. If she bears such a condition and still has a bond? That only proves how extraordinary she is."


    My throat burned. I shut my eyes, forcing my voice to steady. "She is," I admitted. "More than extraordinary."


    "Then don’t let her forget it," he said firmly. "Others will doubt her. She will doubt herself. But you... you cannot. Remember that, River."


    The call ended soon after, but I didn’t move. I stayed leaning against the desk, the phone heavy in my hand, staring at nothing.


    ndor was right. My mate was extraordinary. Every damn day, she carried the weight of being wolfless in a world that worshiped wolves as life itself, and yet she survived. She fought. She built her life from nothing. And still, she smiled. Still, she loved.


    I thought I knew strength. I thought I embodied it. But next to Evaline Greystone, my kind of strength felt shallow. She bore scars I couldn’t even begin toprehend. And now, with this answer... I understood her better. Her fears. Her hesitations. Her silence when Kieran turned out to be our pup’s father.


    I let out a long breath, raking a hand over my face before straightening. It was still early. The house was quiet. And for the first time in hours, so was I.


    I left the study and walked up the stairs and down the hall until I reached her room. I didn’t go inside. I only stood there, hand brushing the doorframe.


    Inside, I could hear her soft breaths, the tiny sound of the pup shifting, the faint rustle of nkets. My wolf pressed hard against me, wanting me to open the door, to look at her, to touch her, to assure myself she was safe.


    Not yet. She needed her rest. They both did.


    I turned and walked away, heading to my own room. Even the strongest needed rest. Iy down, and though my body resisted sleep, when it came, it carried with it images of amber eyes and the softugh of a pup.