Chapter 13
May 15, 2025
Rowan had gone to Ravelwood to seek answers, find out more about Ace Ravelwood but he got little bit of information. Everyone said the same thing. Ace was the Alpha’s son and he was a strong warrior. No one knew anything else about him and it heightened Rowan’s curiosity about Ace.
Kane wouldn’t stop questioning him either, asking why he was curious about Ace, till they got back to Blue Moon Pack.
“You haven’t shut up since we left,” Rowan grumbled as he strode into his pack’s territory, Kane right at his heels.
“Because you refuse to answer my questions.”
Rowan exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples. “Kane, drop it.”
Kane raised a brow. “No.”
Before they could reach the Alpha’s quarters, a guard rushed toward them, his expression tense. “Alpha! The man who was declared dead—he’s alive!”
Rowan halted mid-step, his brows shooting up. “What?”
“He’s awake in the prisoner’s clinic.”
Rowan didn’t wait for more. He pivoted sharply and strode toward the clinic, his mind racing. How the hell was that man still breathing?
He remembered how Ace had insisted he had only hit him to make him lose consciousness and not to kill him, but he didn’t believe her.
When Rowan arrived at the clinic, Donovan was truly alive, sitting upright on the bed, his arms crossed over his chest as if he wasn’t nearly killed two nights ago.
Rowan’s gaze darkened as he stepped closer. “How do you feel?”
The man cracked his neck and gave a humorless chuckle. “Like I died and came back.”
Rowan’s eyes flicked to the doctor, who nodded. “He was unconscious for a long time, but he pulled through.”
The doctor bowed and left immediately. As soon as she was out, the prisoner grunted, his face twisted into something darker. “But that little rat who hit me—oh, when I see her, I’m going to kill her.”
Rowan stilled.
His pulse slammed against his ribs.
Her?
Rowan’s expression didn’t change, but inside, his mind was spiraling. “A girl?” he asked, voice eerily calm.
The man nodded and sat up straighter. “Yeah. I knew something was off the moment I fought her. She was strong, but there was something different. Then I felt it.”
Rowan clenched his jaw. “Felt what?”
The man smirked. “Curves. Her breasts.”
A sudden silence filled the clinic.
The prisoner continued, oblivious to the tension in the room. “I slapped her first, just to piss her off. I wanted a fight. And when I went in to punch her—” he let out a dark chuckle—”I felt it. Soft. Curved. And her breathing—lighter than a man’s. That’s when I knew.”
Rowan’s stomach twisted.
No.
It couldn’t be.
Ace was a warrior. Ace was strong. Ace was—
“She realized I knew,” Donovan added, grinning. “And she tried to kill me for it.”
The truth hit Rowan like a fist to the gut.
Ace wasn’t just hiding something.
Ace was a woman.
Rowan took a slow step backward.
The man continued, but Rowan wasn’t listening anymore. His heart was hammering against his ribs, his mind flashing through every interaction he had with Ace. The way Ace never changed clothes in front of others, the way he—she—never let anyone too close. The way she didn’t change into a wolf form last night even after he had told her and Cain to change into their wolf form.
She had remained in her human form.
The signs were there.
He just never saw them.
Without another word, Rowan turned and bolted.
Kane, who was about to come in, barely had time to step aside before Rowan stormed past him. “Alpha? What’s the matter?”
Rowan didn’t stop.
His feet pounded against the ground as he raced toward Ace’s room. His mind was a mess, tangled between shock, anger, and something dangerously close to betrayal.
Had she been laughing at him this whole time? Deceiving him?
He reached her door and grabbed the sword from the belt of one of the guards stationed outside.
The guards barely had time to react before Rowan kicked the door open.
Ace, who had been lying on her back, shot up instantly.
Her sharp gaze met his, but before she could speak, Rowan shoved the sword at her, his grip tight, unwavering.
“Strip.”
Ace froze.
Her breath hitched, and for the first time since Rowan had met her, he saw fear flicker in her eyes.
