Wystan called them together privately the next morning, looking like a man who’d spent most of the night buried in old records.
He confirmed what Aldrien had already suspected.
They couldn’t simply announce they were traveling to search for a legendary figure connected to a failed wedding ritual.
Questions would follow that trail faster than either of them could outrun.
“What do you suggest, Beta?” Aldrien asked.
Wystan thought about it for a moment.
“A pilgrimage.”
Both of them stared at him.
He explained it carefully.
Their wedding had used the old moonstone tradition, the very same one that had apparently torn their bodies apart and swapped them without asking permission.
A newly married Alpha and Luna making a private pilgrimage to an old moonstone shrine would be completely believable to anyone watching.
It would make the marriage look stronger, not suspicious, exactly the kind of gesture two packs eager for peace would want to see.
Aldrien approved without hesitation.
“Arrange it.”
Wystan bowed slightly.
“Yes, Alpha.”
Before they could work through the details any further, Evangeline appeared in the doorway looking for Hazel, and Wystan excused himself with the kind of speed that told Aldrien exactly how little he wanted to be present for whatever came next.
“Can I steal Hazel for a minute?” Evangeline asked.
Aldrien didn’t have much choice in the matter.
She led him somewhere private, and the moment the door shut behind them, she launched into whatever had clearly been sitting on her mind.
She’d noticed, apparently, that Aldrien had been more attentive toward Hazel since the wedding, and because she believed she was speaking directly to Hazel, she’d drawn her own conclusions about exactly what that attentiveness might mean.
“I’m serious,” she said.
“If he gets handsy, don’t just stand there.”
Aldrien froze completely.
“Handsy?”
“You know what I mean,” Evangeline said, entirely serious, and then launched into a detailed explanation of how to twist someone’s wrist out of a grip, where to plant a foot for leverage, how to put distance between herself and anyone who made her uncomfortable.
Aldrien listened to the entire thing in stunned silence, watching her demonstrate the motion on her own wrist like she’d practiced it a hundred times before.
“Evangeline,” he finally said.
“What?”
“Why are you telling me this?”
She gave him a look that suggested the answer should have been obvious.
He very nearly lost his composure entirely.
The conversation shifted after that, though, and it stopped being quite so funny.
Evangeline’s voice softened, and something in her expression made it clear she wasn’t just teasing him anymore.
“I know everyone expects this marriage to work because of the alliance,” she said.
“But that doesn’t mean you owe him anything. Not affection, not patience, none of it. Not if he doesn’t earn it.”
That landed somewhere Aldrien hadn’t expected it to.
He’d never once considered Hazel’s position from that particular angle, the weight of an entire alliance sitting on her shoulders the same way it sat on his, except nobody had ever asked whether she wanted to carry it.
“I know,” he said quietly.
Evangeline relaxed slightly at that.
“Good.”
Then she added one final warning, fierce in a way that made her whole posture change.
“And if he ever makes you uncomfortable, you tell me. I mean it.”
He looked at her for a long moment, understanding for the first time exactly how protective she was over Hazel, the kind of loyalty that had clearly been built over years of friendship he’d never bothered to notice from the outside.
“I will,” he said.
The absurdity of it wasn’t lost on him even as he said it.
She was protecting Hazel from him, standing directly in front of him while she did it.
Wystan found him not long after Evangeline had gone, and took one look at his face before asking what had happened.
“Your Luna’s best friend just taught me how to defend myself against you,” Aldrien said flatly.
Wystan paused, glancing toward the door Evangeline had disappeared through.
“She doesn’t know.”
“Obviously.”
Wystan’s mouth twitched, the closest thing to a smile Aldrien had seen from him all week.
“Don’t,” Aldrien warned.
Wystan straightened immediately, schooling his expression back into something appropriately neutral.
“Of course, Alpha.”
They finally sat down to work through the pilgrimage properly once Hazel joined them.
Wystan explained the announcement he intended to make.
Alpha Aldrien Black and Luna Hazel Pinecrest would undertake a private pilgrimage to the ancient Moonstone Shrine as part of the traditional blessing following their marriage.
It accomplished exactly what they needed.
It gave them a legitimate reason to leave the pack. Get faster updates on g.com.
It made their absence look romantic rather than suspicious, exactly the kind of political gesture both sides would welcome.
And it gave them the cover they needed to actually search for anything connected to the old moonstone rituals without anyone asking uncomfortable questions.
Hazel liked the plan.
Aldrien did too.
Then Wystan added something that hadn’t occurred to either of them.
“You’ll need to leave alone.”
Hazel looked at him.
“You’re not coming?”
“Someone needs to run the pack while the Alpha is away,” Wystan said, and there was something steady in the way he said it, the same quiet competence Aldrien had come to rely on more than he usually admitted out loud.
It mattered more than Aldrien expected it to, knowing Wystan would be the one holding everything together behind them while they searched.
It meant they wouldn’t be leaving the pack unattended, and it meant, whether either of them said it aloud, that they’d be making this particular journey entirely on their own.
“When do we announce it?” Hazel asked.
“Tomorrow,” Wystan said.
Aldrien nodded, and for a moment the plan felt settled, solid enough to actually hold.
Then Evangeline appeared in the doorway again, apparently having circled back for something she’d forgotten.
“Announce what?” she asked.
Everyone in the room went still for a beat too long.
“The pilgrimage,” Wystan said, entirely calm, like he hadn’t been discussing a magical body swap ten minutes earlier.
Evangeline’s face lit up immediately.
“Oh. That’s actually romantic.”
She turned to look directly at Aldrien, still very much wearing Hazel’s face.
“You two might finally start acting like newlyweds.”
Aldrien said absolutely nothing.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was fairly certain Hazel’s wolf was howling with laughter.
Evangeline left after that, satisfied with whatever conclusions she’d drawn, and once the door closed behind her, Aldrien turned to Hazel with something between exhaustion and disbelief written across his face.
“Your friend is terrifying,” he said.
Hazel smiled, entirely too pleased with herself.
“Now you understand.”