Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack novel Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Evelyn pov

Damon eased himself down onto the couch across from me, moving carefully, favoring the side where I could see fresh stitches peeking out from beneath his shirt, and I felt a fresh wave of worry looking at him despite his insistence over the phone that he was fine.

“You look exhausted,” I said, reaching over to adjust the pillow behind him before he waved me off gently, insisting he was alright.

“I’ll heal,” he said, echoing what I imagined his father had told him earlier, judging by the brief version of events he’d already relayed. “I want to hear about this call you mentioned. The allied pack.”

I settled back into my own chair, Willow sleeping soundly in the bassinet beside me, and told him everything- Charlotte’s unexpected call, her own story of fleeing a pack years earlier, the sanctuary offer from Ashford’s Alpha, the careful, layered motivations Callum had helped me untangle afterward.

Damon listened quietly, his expression shifting through surprise, careful consideration, and finally something more guarded by the time I finished.

“Could be a trap,” he said slowly. “Or it could be legitimate. Both are genuinely possible, and I don’t like that I can’t immediately tell which.”

“That’s exactly what Callum said too,” I admitted. “Genuine solidarity and useful political positioning, both at once. It doesn’t necessarily make it less real, just more complicated.”

“I don’t like the idea of you and Willow relying on a pack we’ve had zero prior contact with,” Damon said, some old protective tension audible in his voice despite the exhaustion still evident in every line of his face. “Even if the offer’s genuine, we don’t actually know their internal politics, their stability, what conditions might eventually attach themselves to something that starts out sounding unconditional.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m not planning to just pack up and go the moment things feel uncertain here. I just wanted you to know the option exists, in case things ever escalate beyond what we can handle within the pack itself.”

He nodded slowly, processing that, some of the tension easing slightly though not fully disappearing. “I appreciate you telling me. I mean that. I don’t want us keeping things like this from each other anymore, even when they’re complicated.”

A soft knock interrupted us before I could respond, and Callum let himself in a moment later, carrying a tray loaded with food-soup, bread, something that smelled like roasted vegetables, clearly intended for both of us given the exhausting day we’d each separately had.

“Figured neither of you had eaten properly,” he said, setting the tray down on the low table between us. “And I wanted to check on you both directly, given everything.”

“Thank you,” I said, genuinely grateful, realizing as the smell hit me that I hadn’t actually eaten anything substantial since breakfast.

Callum settled into the third chair, apparently intending to stay for a while, and we ate together in companionable, if tired, silence for a few minutes, the domestic normalcy of the moment a welcome contrast against everything else weighing on all of us.

“How’s your father doing,” Callum asked eventually, glancing toward Damon’s bandaged side. “The healers said his shoulder wound was fairly deep too.”

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Chapter 69

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“Resting, last I heard,” Damon said. “I haven’t spoken with him again since the medical room, but Marcus is keeping an eye on things.”

“Strange turn of events,” Callum said carefully, “him showing up to fight alongside you like that.”

“Strange doesn’t begin to cover it,” Damon admitted. “I still don’t fully know what to make of it. Gratitude and suspicion, both at once, and I don’t think either one is going away particularly soon.”

I reached over, resting my hand gently on his arm, understanding exactly the complicated tangle he was describing, having felt something similar myself since the doorstep apology days earlier. “You don’t have to resolve it tonight. You can just let it sit as complicated for now.”

He gave me a tired, grateful smile at that, and we continued eating, the conversation drifting toward lighter things, -Willow’s growing alertness, small updates about the diner from a call I’d had with Pete earlier that afternoon Callum sharing a story about one of the younger pack warriors that pulled a genuine, exhausted laugh out of both of us.

Damon’s phone rang partway through, cutting through the fragile, comfortable moment, and I watched his expression shift immediately to alertness as he checked the screen.

“My mother,” he said, already answering. “Mom? Is everything okay?”

I watched his face carefully as he listened, some old, familiar dread building in my chest as his expression shifted from concern to something sharper, more alarmed. ⚫

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