The Alpha's Dark Solstice Claim

Chapter 6 - Terms

Marybeth

I knew the conversation was coming long before Rowan asked for it. I had rehearsed it for seven years. Every possible version. Every possible threat. Every angle where he might try to outmanoeuvre me under the guise of protection.

I didn’t return to Alder Ridge naïve enough to believe acknowledgment would be gentle. But I also hadn’t expected him to look at Eli the way he had. That look complicated everything. Rowan didn’t ask to meet at the lodge or his office.

He didn’t summon me formally. He came to the Calloway boundary line and waited. That mattered. I walked down the gravel path alone, leaving Eli inside with my father. The air between Calloway and Blackridge territory always felt thinner, as if the land itself remembered older disputes.

Rowan stood with his hands in his coat pockets, posture calm but tightly held as always.

“He’s mine,” he said the moment I stopped in front of him. No accusation. No anger. Just fact.

“Yes,” I replied, fighting off the sudden rush of emotions that I wasn’t expecting.

“You didn’t tell me.” He exhaled slowly, like the confirmation hurt and relieved him at the same time.

“You told me to forget,” I said evenly. Images of that night flood my mind as if it happened just yesterday. His jaw tightened. Not in denial. In recognition.

“I thought it would protect you,” he said.

“It protected you,” I corrected, forcing the memories to the back of my mind. “From scandal. From war. From having to choose. Oh, no, wait … Your choice was made even before we …” My voice trailed off. I couldn’t even say it.

The silence stretched. Neither of us broke eye contact. He looked different up close. Older. Harder around the edges. But there was something unsettled beneath it now. Something I hadn’t seen before.

“I ran confirmation,” he said.

“I assumed you would.” I shrugged. He probably didn’t even realize that I left the DNA sample of Eli on purpose.

“You expected this.” He nodded once, almost impressed by the lack of surprise.

“I prepared for it.” I crossed my arms over my chest. That shifted the balance. He stepped slightly closer. Not invading. Testing distance.

“You think I’m here to take him,” he said quietly.

“I think you’re Alpha,” I replied. “And Alphas secure their heirs.” I raised my brow knowing my words would hit a nerve since I was also about to become Alpha of our pack.

“He’s not leverage.” His gaze sharpened.

“Everything is leverage between Calloway and Blackridge,” I said. “Don’t insult me by pretending otherwise.” That landed. For a moment, I was eighteen again. Firelight. Whiskey. Tension sharpened into inevitability.

The pull between us hadn’t dulled with time. It had compressed. Concentrated.

“I won’t take him from you,” Rowan’s eyes softened for a moment. “But I won’t leave him unacknowledged either.” There it was. The line.

“If you claim him publicly,” I said, “you do it with terms.”

“Name them.” He didn’t hesitate. Did he even speak to her? Of course, he did.

“No relocation without my consent. No forced integration. No decisions about his training or visibility without me present.” I had been thinking about these from the day I found out I was pregnant.

“You’re negotiating like a leader.” Rowan studied me carefully.

“I am one,” I said. “Calloway blood didn’t disappear because I left.” A faint shift at the corner of his mouth. Not amusement. Recognition.

“And what about us?” he asked quietly. The question hit harder than I expected.

“There is no us, remember?” I said.

“That’s not what I meant.” He looked hurt, but only for a second.

“Then clarify.” I frowned.

“If I acknowledge him, the town will reopen that night.” His voice lowered slightly.

“That night doesn’t get rewritten.” My throat tightened despite myself.

“No,” he agreed. “But it changes context.”

“Context doesn’t change outcome,” I sighed. He was going to be outed as a cheater and I would be … I rolled my eyes.

“You left,” he said.

“You told me to.” The words fell between us again, heavier this time. Rowan dragged a hand through his hair, something raw flashing across his face before discipline sealed it back in.

“I didn’t know.” He sighed.

“I know,” I said quietly. That truth softened something in the air. Just slightly. “But you don’t get to fix it by taking control now,” I added.

“I’m not trying to fix it,” he said. “I’m trying to do right by him.”

“And by me?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate this time. The word settled deep. For seven years, I had convinced myself that what I felt had been youthful obsession. Heat amplified by rivalry. But standing here, close enough to feel the gravity between us, I knew that wasn’t true.

We had loved each other, even if neither of us wanted to admit it. We still might. And that made this infinitely more dangerous.

“Seraphina?” I frowned.

“She supports acknowledgment.” Rowan’s expression shifted slightly.

“She would,” I murmured. My father told me that they didn’t have an heir.

“You don’t trust her.” He caught the edge in my tone.

“I don’t trust optics,” I replied. “Nobody can be that perfect.”

“You won’t stand alone in this.” His gaze held mine for a long moment. He could have said anything. Anything to defend his mate, but he didn’t. I found that peculiar.

“I don’t need to,” I sighed. “I’ve done that already.” Silence pressed in again, but this time it wasn’t hostile. It was charged.

“You think I’d use him against Calloway,” he said.

“I think you’re capable of separating father from Alpha,” I replied. “The question is whether you’ll choose to.” That hit. He didn’t deny it.

“I’ll announce it at the Winter Assembly,” he said finally. “With you present.”

“And with boundaries,” I added. I needed him to say it.

“With boundaries,” he agreed. The negotiations had ended. But neither of us moved. He was close enough now that I could see the faint scar near his temple I didn’t remember. Close enough to feel the weight of years neither of us had resolved.

“You never stopped thinking about it,” he said quietly.

“The night?” I asked.

“Us.” I could see it in his eyes. He also never stopped thinking about it. Choosing a mate doesn’t necessarily break bonds with others. I didn’t answer. Because the truth was too sharp to say out loud. A branch snapped in the distance.

I stepped back first. Distance restored. When I turned, Seraphina stood at the edge of the yard, composed and immaculate as ever.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said warmly.

“You’re not,” I replied. Her gaze moved towards me, assessing without appearing to.

“I’m glad we’re all approaching this with maturity,” she continued. “The child deserves stability.” She was the same age as Rowan and was talking to me as though I was still a damn child. She also referred to Eli as “The child."

Not his name. Not son. Stability, I tried to remind myself. I wouldn’t want to be in her position.

“Of course,” I smiled politely. Seraphina’s eyes lingered on Rowan for half a second too long.

“I look forward to welcoming him properly,” she added. Something in her tone was rehearsed. And for the first time, I wondered if Rowan heard it too. As I walked back toward the house seconds later, I felt the shift.

This was no longer about whether Rowan would acknowledge Eli. It was about what that acknowledgment would cost. And whether the woman standing at his side truly meant what she said. Behind me, Rowan didn’t move for several seconds.

I could feel his gaze on my back. Heavy. Unfinished. And I knew this was only the first negotiation. The real battle would begin once the town understood what had changed. Because heirs didn’t just alter succession.

They altered loyalties. And I had just agreed to step back into the centre of a rivalry I once fled. This time, I wasn’t running. But I wasn’t surrendering either.

“Do I take it you are accepting the Alpha position?” My father’s voice carried easily from the porch. Of course, he had been listening. He didn’t move forward. He didn’t need to. Authority rarely did. I turned slowly, meeting his gaze.

The weight in his expression wasn’t surprise. It was an assessment. He had been waiting for this moment. Rowan went still behind me. I studied my father for only a second before nodding.

“Yes.” The word felt heavier than it should have. There was no ceremony. No applause. No formal declaration. Just acknowledgment that the line I had once run from had finally caught up with me. I had no other choice.

If I was going to protect Eli … not just as his mother, but as something larger … I couldn’t remain on the sidelines of Calloway politics while Blackridge recalibrated around an heir. My blood claimed him automatically.

Calloway heir. Blackridge heir. One child standing at the centre of two rival legacies. My father inclined his head once, approval without softness.

“Then we move accordingly.” Move accordingly. That meant strategy. That meant preparation. That meant war, if necessary. I glanced briefly toward Rowan. Something unreadable passed across his face. Not anger. Not approval.

Recognition. This had just shifted from a personal negotiation to a structural realignment. For years, I had tried to outrun destiny. Tried to carve out a life that didn’t revolve around territory lines and pack hierarchies.

But destiny, it seemed, had been patient. I had no idea what the future held for any of us. I didn’t know whether the Moon Goddess had a sense of irony when she tied rival bloodlines together under a truce sky.

I didn’t know whether she intended unity or destruction. All I knew was this: I was no longer simply a mother protecting her son. I was a Calloway Alpha stepping into power at the exact moment Blackridge’s heir had been revealed.

The next couple of days were going to be tough. And very interesting.