Chapter 26: Truths That Burn 

MAEVE

I don't know how or when we ended up back on the couch, but I was too far gone to even think about it. Thinking was not possible at that moment, anyway. We were in a bubble where there was nothing but just the two of us. It was like the outside world didn't exist anymore and all it was left was his touch, his lips, the heat between us.

And I didn't want it to stop.

"You two are fast. I must give you that."

That brought me back like a thunder. We were not alone anymore. I jerked back as if I had been caught doing something I shouldn't — but have I, really? I was in too much haze to think straight.

Before I could even comprehend what was going on, I could see Ronan's face change in an instant. Softness and admiration were gone, and its place took his usual hard and controlled version. A fortress more than ready for an attack.

As I looked up for the source of commotion, my eyes snapped at the sound of slamming the door. And there he was — Liam. His face twisted with a tangled mess of emotions that burned right through me.

Shock flitted across his face for a fraction of a second before it changed into something closer to rage. His gaze flicked from me to Ronan and back, and there was a bitterness I had never seen there before. It wasn't there even when we met last time; something dark and accusing.

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" Ronan fired.

"Seriously?" he snapped, ignoring Ronan completely. His voice was laced with a venom I had never heard directed at me before. "You went from one brother to another in record time!"

The words hit like a slap, cutting right through me. My jaw dropped as I tried to process it, caught somewhere between shock and indignation.

Did he really think I'd broken up with him just to throw myself at Ronan?

The accusation was so far off the mark it almost didn't deserve a response.

Almost.

But even as I tried to summon some semblance of calm, a quiet voice in my head muttered, Oh, here we go — the green-eyed monster emerges. I closed my mouth and squared my shoulders, forcing myself to speak with as much control as I could muster.

"Liam, it's not—" I began, but he wasn't listening.

"And you," he closed the distance between us all "You we're supposed to be my brother! How could you do this to me? You knew she was mine!"

Ronan's face twitched for a second with a sigh of remorse as Liam continued, "I can't believe it. My own brother and girlfriend. How could you? And after all what I have done to get you back, Maeve…"

"Again - what the hell are you doing in my apartment?" Ronan tried to interrupt Liam's rant, but again unsuccessfully.

"Are you serious right now? No wonder Isabelle left you —"

"What did you just say?" Ronan erupted. It was like Liam tried to challenge him, and successfully so. He knew which buttons to push. And he was not afraid to push them all.

"You heard me! Have you ever really cared about her? I'm the one searching for any sign of her while you're here, working on building your new cozy life with my girlfriend!"

"I BROKE UP WITH YOU LIAM!" Enough was enough. I had to do something as they were seconds away from tearing each other apart.

Now all the eyes were on me. An almost unnoticeable shock flashed for a moment on Ronan face and eased a bit the remorse, but not entirely.

I forgot I haven't told him that yet. I know I should have. But I haven't really got time to deal with it yet. And to be honest — really admit it to myself. That was the first time I said straight and out loud.

And the worst part — It didn't hurt to say it.

"You don't mean it Maeve." Liam started to plead with me. "It's just the rituals talking, I know it." He tried to approach me, but I took a step back. "You know you belong with me, not him." He tried softly, and for a moment, he felt like old Liam. The one I've fallen for a long time ago. The one I could trust with everything.

But that wasn't the case anymore.

"I thought that once," I started slowly, looking intently in his eyes, "but after what you have done, I could never trust you…"

"Maeve, all I did was to keep us together…"

"I know you think that. You might actually believe that, but in reality, it only puts a bigger target on my back."

"You know I didn't mean that to happen, Maeve. You have to forgive me! I really thought that letting the press know that we were together will…"

"You did what?!" Ronan bursted. I almost forgot he was there. "You're the one who leaked the information to the press?!"

"Yes, he did, but you and I managed it as well as it was possible, so I haven't mentioned it. At this point, it affects only me as my every step will be followed by the press for some time. And I didn't want this situation to get even messier than it already was." I answered to Ronan and went back to Liam. "As of you, I forgive you. But it doesn't change the fact that this situation finally showed me who you really are." I took a deep breath as I wanted him to understand what I was about to say next. "And it's not the rituals or anything else speaking — it's me. We're done Liam. We are never going back together"

I knew it wasn't easy for him to hear. Well it wasn't easy to say it either but he had to understand it.

"And now please answer Ronan's question — why are you here?" I added after a while.

"I went out into the woods. We, at the compound, heard a scream in the forest." He swallowed, looking anywhere but at us. "I thought… I thought maybe I'd find something, a clue. Anything that might help find Isabelle."

The mention of Isabelle's name made my stomach twist. I glanced at Ronan, who had gone completely still, his gaze fixed on Liam with an intensity that sent a shiver down my spine.

"What did you find?" Ronan asked, his voice low and controlled, but I could hear the tension laced beneath the calm.

Liam looked up, his eyes dark and haunted. "I found… something. Or maybe… someone." He hesitated, as if the memory itself was too disturbing to recall. "It wasn't… it wasn't like anything I've ever seen. It looked almost human, but there was something wrong about it, something that felt… unnatural." He shuddered, as if trying to shake off the memory. "And then it… it spoke to me."

A chill crept up my spine. Ronan's posture stiffened beside me, his focus on Liam absolute, like he was bracing himself for whatever came next.

"What did it say?" Ronan's voice was low, a murmur that carried a command so undeniable it seemed to grip Liam and hold him in place.

Liam's face twisted, his mouth opening and closing as if he could barely believe the words he was about to say. "It said that we don't really know anything about Isabelle. It insinuated that… Isabelle left willingly."

The silence that followed his confession was heavy, thick with confusion and sorrow, with the unspoken fear that Isabelle's disappearance was not what any of us had thought.

But then Liam's face shifted, his gaze hardening with something darker. He swallowed, and for a moment, he looked almost haunted, his eyes glistening with an emotion that made my stomach twist. "But… that wasn't all."

Ronan's eyes narrowed, a storm gathering in his gaze as he waited, silent, unyielding.

"Darius is dead."

Darius — one of their own, a pack brother. I felt my breath catch in my throat, the shock rippling through me like ice water.

For a moment, I thought Ronan hadn't heard him. He was so still, his face an unreadable mask, his entire body tense. But then I saw it — a flicker of something raw and pained in his eyes, something he masked so quickly that I almost missed it.

"How?" Ronan's voice was barely a whisper, the single word sharp, demanding.

Liam's gaze dropped, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"I'm not really sure. There were no signs of a struggle. Nothing to suggest he fought back. I didn't feel his bond snap. You didn't either, did you?"

Ronan shook his head slowly, his face grim, a deep, unsettling understanding dawning in his eyes. "No," he murmured, his voice barely audible. "If Darius had died, we should have felt it — the bond should have snapped. But I felt nothing."

A silence settled between them, thick with the unspoken horror of that realization. A pack bond was more than just an emotional connection; it was something deeper, almost primal, a link that bound them together in life and in death. The thought that Darius could be gone without them feeling it was unnatural, wrong.

"That kind of silence… it only happens with dark magic," Ronan said, his voice laced with anger and a quiet, steely resolve. "Whoever, or whatever, killed him knew what they were doing. They wanted to sever him from us without a trace."

Liam nodded, his face etched with anger and a flicker of fear. "I don't know what that creature was, but the way it moved, the way it spoke—it never said that it killed him, but spoke so vaguely, almost like in riddles. But the strangest thing—" He broke off, his voice trembling, before he forced himself to continue. "I… I found something."

"What?" Ronan's jaw tightened.

"Isabelle's faint scent was lingering near Darius's body."