I watched as he struggled to speak. “But what Emile said. I didn’t understand at first. Until he… until Monroe was bleeding. The scent of his blood. I knew there was a connection.”

“He loved your mother.” My tears ran so hot I could have sworn they were scoring my cheeks. “He tried to help her escape. A group of the Banes wanted to rebel.”

“When I was one,” he said.

“Yes.”

Ren sat on the bed, his face buried in his hands.

“Monroe left a letter.” I knelt in front of him. “He wanted us to bring you back.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Ren said.

“How can you say that?”

He lifted his face. The ragged expression on his face felt like claws in my chest.

“Where would I belong, Calla?” he asked. “I don’t have a place in that world. Even if my mother tried to go there and my father used to be there. Both of them are gone. Dead. Dead because of the life I do belong to. There isn’t anything that links me to the Searchers. I’d only be an enemy to them.”

I understood his feelings too well. We’d both lost so much. Our pack had been torn apart. Our families broken. But there was still hope. The Searchers proved themselves to me when I fought beside them. They weren’t so different from Guardians. We were all warriors, and we’d shed blood for each other. Our enemies had become friends, and the wolves could find a new home among the Searchers. I believed that, but I needed to make Ren believe it too.

I grabbed his hands, squeezing his fingers tight. “You do have a link to the Searchers.”

“What?” He was startled by my fierce words.

“Monroe has a daughter,” I said. “Her name is Ariadne.”

“He has a daughter?” Ren asked.

“You have a sister. A half sister.”

“Who’s her mother?” He stood transfixed, a flurry of emotions racing through his eyes.