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If I agree to say I’m his former lover, my son will be protected, and I will never again have to worry about Cedric or Bella or even Vivian harming him.

“You don’t have to make a decision today,” Erik says gently. “Come to the palace in a week. Bring Finn. I’ll explain everything more clearly. But if you accept, then you have to join the investigative team as its leader.”

I place a cup of coffee in front of him, trying to organize my thoughts.

On the one hand, it is my son’s guaranteed safety. But on the other hand, I will have to get involved in the wolf shifter society. Something I’ve been very reluctant to do.

My heart tightens in my chest, anxiety budding up within me. “If—If I say yes, you’ll have to swear to keep Finn safe if anything happens to me. No matter what.”

Erik’s eyes turn warm. “Of course. But nothing is going to happen to you.”

“And what if I ask you to keep my identity a secret?”

He stares at me and then bursts into laughter. “I never took you to be a negotiator.”

I’m silent.

When his laughter fades, he gives me a considering look. “Do you want your identity to be kept secret?”

I nod.

“Then it can be done.”

My shoulders relax. “Okay. Okay, I’ll think about it.”

He picks up the coffee and sips it before scowling. “This is disgusting.”

“It’s black coffee.”

“Why is it bitter?”

“Because it’s coffee, Erik!” I make a face.

He clicks his tongue. “I don’t like it. I liked the other one.”

“That was hot chocolate! You asked for coffee!” I protest, following him out of the kitchen.

“I’ve never had coffee before. Everybody keeps raving about it, so I thought I should give it a try. Nasty shit.” He walks over to the door. “I’ll see you in a week. Nice doing business with you, as always.”

His grin has me blinking.

Wait, what?

As he leaves through the front door, I stare at it, dazed.

What did I just get manipulated into doing?

Chapter 13

Leanna Avery

Maya Sorin is a researcher at heart.

The Human Wolf Kingdom strives to keep its presence secret from humans, but every now and then, a human comes along who discovers the existence of the beasts residing among them. Their first reaction is generally to panic and freak out. But that wasn’t Maya’s.

I never intended to tell her what I was. I thought it would be easy to keep my true identity as a wolf shifter secret from her. After all, it wasn’t like I was going to shift forms in front of her.

Throughout my pregnancy, I craved meat. Very rare meat. Maya was more than accommodating, grilling me rare steaks when I didn’t have the strength to. I would often see the curiosity in her eyes, but she never asked.

Erik had already told me to reach out to him when it was time for me to give birth. But the pregnancy was hard enough on me, and I didn’t really trust the king of the Human Wolf Kingdom all that much. A part of me was terrified that all his kindness up till then had simply been so that he could take my baby from me and give it to Cedric. During the last few months of my pregnancy, my wolf became even more paranoid, desperate to protect our child.

When the time came, Maya was in the apartment with me. One thing about wolf shifters, a fact I never knew before, is that we cannot give birth in our human forms. When my body began to undergo the change, I panicked and tried to tell my roommate to leave.

She didn’t.

Not only did she stay, she helped me deliver Finn. My wolf had begun to trust her at that point, and when I woke up in my human form, there was my friend Maya, holding in her arms a dark, little wolf club, swaddled in a blanket.

Her first question was not “What are you?” but “Are you alright?”

She looked after me without asking questions. Not until I fully recovered did the dam break. Finn shifted into his human form a week after he was born. Maya counted his ten fingers and ten toes and gave him a bottle of my breast milk, which I had already begun to pump. Then, she finally looked at me and asked, “So, what are you, a werewolf?”

Over seven years later, I still smile at the memory.

Later, I had to tell her very clearly not to run experiments on Finn. It’s not that I don’t trust Maya. It’s just that I know she’s very analytical, and sometimes she doesn’t understand where the line is. She wasn’t doing anything dangerous to my child, simply measuring how quickly he could shift, how fast he could run, how strong his bite was. None of her data-gathering was harmful to him, or even invasive, but it troubled me to see her studying my child like that. However, I know she loves Finn dearly.

Which is why I’m sitting in this café, discussing Erik’s proposal with her.

“I think it’s the practical decision to make,” Maya says, her gray eyes glinting seriously behind her round, rimless glasses. “Besides, this is all you’ve ever worried about: Finn being safe. Your ex won’t be able to touch him, right?”

Her referring to Cedric as my ex is such a human thing to do. It tells me that she doesn’t really understand the concept of fated mates. Neither does Erik, it seems. He doesn’t have a fated mate, which is why it was easy for him to make me the offer he did.

Whatever Cedric did to me, whatever he put me through, it doesn’t change the fact that our souls are bound. His actions shattered my wolf’s pride and confidence. They shattered my confidence in myself. Even now, there are times when I can’t sleep at night, wondering why I wasn’t enough.

Logically, I understand the why of it. If I think about it practically, he had to do what he did. But all the justification in the world won’t do away with the pain that still claws at my throat, bringing me back to the same point over and over again, the one my wolf reiterates.

Why weren’t we enough?

“I would prefer to have my identity concealed,” I tell Maya. “I don’t want to act as his mate. I don’t want to touch Erik physically. My wolf is a sentient being within me. Despite what we went through, the idea of touching another male is difficult for us.”

“So, you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life?” Maya looks displeased by the idea. “If your ex is so comfortable being with another woman, why can’t you be with another man?”

“I don’t know. I can’t make decisions for my physical body when my wolf is in denial. And honestly, Maya, I have no desire to be with anybody.” I sigh. “I have my son. I have everything I ever wanted.”

“Are you still in love with him?” she asks slowly.

Her question takes me aback. In love with Cedric?

“It’s been eight years,” I whisper, my eyes drifting to the top of the wooden table. I fiddle with my coffee cup, the sounds of the café fading away. “I don’t think I love him. I don’t know what this feeling is. Can you love someone who betrays you? You would be foolish if you did, wouldn’t you?”