Chapter 3

Valentine

I stood frozen, my eyes fixed on her across the bar. There she was. Vivian. The last person I expected to see when I followed that scent through the bar doors. The years had changed her, but not enough to erase the memories.

The noise around me faded, and all I could focus on was the scent.

I couldn’t be more shocked. Not only because Vivian suddenly appeared in front of me, but also because of my complicated feelings

I am a werewolf. Smell is essential to us. At this moment, two scents hang in the air. Two scents that touch me deeply.

Her scent. That familiar, gentle pull I thought I’d buried years ago. Lavender to be precise, and something sweet, something uniquely her-even after six years, I recognized it instantly.

But the difference is, for the same scent, after six years, the Moon Goddess gave me a different answer : it’s the scent of my mate.

Yes, Vivian is my mate. I am the Alpha among werewolves, so she will be Luna, my Luna.

The second scent nearly knocked the air out of me. It was smaller, sharper, like sun-warmed pine and wind. Even stranger, I seemed to have smelled it before in the hospital during the day. It was quite unique, but I didn’t think much of it.

Unmistakable. That belonged to the little boy standing beside her. The boy with her. His scent was mine. Holy shit. A child. Could he be ours? No, he is ours, without a doubt.

It didn’t seem real.

My heart thudded. A rush of emotion slammed into me shock, wonder, panic. My heart thundered in my chest as I watched the boy standing next to her. Same dark hair. Same eyes. A spitting image of what I must’ve looked like at his age.

How had I not known?

And yet, deep down, I had always feared there was something I left behind when I lost Vivian. Some part of me that never fully moved on. Now I knew what it was.

I just stood there for a full ten seconds like an idiot, staring. The little boy was sitting at the bar beside her, sipping on juice, looking up at her like she’d just hung the stars. He had my eyes. My damn dimple. My exact scowl. I had a son.

No. No way. My heart twisted. I’d thought about Vivian every year since she disappeared. Wondered where she’d gone. Why she never answered my messages. Never came back. But I knew why. I’d hurt her.

The Moon Goddess played a huge joke on me.

With that realization came something darker. A memory I’d buried. How will I explain it to her. She wouldn’t believe me that’s for sure let alone forgive me.

I fell in love with Vivian the first time I saw her, madly in love with her. I was only eighteen, wild with love and foolish with hope. After prom, I took her to the woods, kissed her, and foolishly promised her a future. It wasn’t just a fling. I loved her. I truly wanted to give it to her, but I forgot I couldn’t do it at the time.

‘I’ve never felt like this before Valentine, I remember the way she smiled when she said she trusted me. How warm her hands were against my chest. How whole I felt, just being next to her. She didn't resist my touch. My hands slid over every inch of her fair skin, behind her ears, over her breasts, up her waist, and finally into her thighs. Together, we experienced the most wonderful first orgasm of our lives.

I have made up my mind and will tell my dad when I get home. But fate had other plans. I’d forgotten that I was a werewolf and I’d have a mate. And I didn’t expect to meet her that night. A girl from the same grade, also a werewolf.

But I didn’t want her. I wanted Vivian.

I don’t love her, I’ll reject her dad, please I only want to be with Vivian and Vivian alone. I said I’d say but Alpha Ken had other plans.

He used his Alpha command to force me to end things with her. The command wasn’t just verbal it ran through my blood, a binding order that paralyzed me if I disobeyed. I couldn’t even see her to explain. I had to send a stupid text. I hated myself for it. But the Alpha’s command couldn’t be broken until I took the title myself.

She disappeared after that. And I let her go. I told myself it was for the best, that it was what I had to do. But the truth is… I’ve been living like a ghost ever since.

The funny thing is, a few months later, my so-called mate left me. Cheated. Ran off with some human. I never trusted the bond again. Never dated seriously. Never cared to try. Because no one was Vivian.

I’d searched, quietly, carefully. But she’d disappeared like a ghost, and I hadn’t dared make it a public thing. My father was watching. Always watching.

Six years.

I spent six goddamn years building a life, waiting for the day I could be free of Alpha Ken’s chains, hoping Vivian was okay, wherever she was. And now… here she was. With a child.

Now the Moon Goddess tells me I have a second chance, and it’s Vivian.

Seriously? If it was destined to be Vivian, why did she have to torture me once? Why torture Vivian, she’s so innocent!

It’s easy for me to imagine the struggle she’s been through these past six years. Leaving her familiar home and raising our child all by herself, completely unaware of me. She hates me, she has to.

She looked right through me. Like I was nothing more than her worst nightmare. The next second she turned her head, grabbed the boy’s hand, and started to leave, she was a little bit tipsy by her walking.

I couldn’t have a second choice.

“Vivian!” I called after her. It came out more desperate than I meant, but I didn’t care anymore. She stopped and turned. Her expression nearly knocked the wind out of me. Cold. Detached. She looked at me like I was just a stranger she couldn’t seem to remember.

The boy looked up at me with wide eyes full of curiosity. I took a careful step forward.

“Hey… long time.” I forced a smile

Vivian looked me dead in the eye. Her mouth was a hard line. “Yeah. A lifetime.”

 “You.. uh …you look good,” I said, feeling like a total idiot.

 She raised an eyebrow. “Thanks. So do you, I guess.”

“Who’s the kid?” I blurted, even though I already knew what to expect.

 “He’s me and someone else’s son Valentine, my ex-husband’s.” She said to me but.. No. It can’t be. Lie. I knew it was a lie, and yet I couldn’t call her out. Not here. Not in front of him.

The boy looked between us with quiet curiosity but said nothing. He didn’t recognize me, of course. Why would he? I wasn’t part of his life. But there was something in his stare that twisted something deep in my chest. He didn’t know.

I wanted to scream. To tell her I never stopped thinking about her. That I wanted answers. That I wanted to know my son.

“What’s his name?” I swallowed hard.

“Marvel.” She didn’t blink. “His name’s Marvel.”

Marvel. It hit me like thunder. “That’s a cool name,” I said, crouching a bit to look at him. “Hi, Marvel. I’m Valentine.”

Marvel tilted his head like a cat studying a fly. “Hi, moms classmate.” He said, but didn’t smile. So he knew me.

But Vivian didn’t want to give me more time. She stepped between us. “Marvel, let’s go.”

I looked up at her. “Vivian, wait. Can we talk? Please. Just, five minutes.”

She crossed her arms. “There’s nothing to talk about. I have a child from my previous marriage. You have a life life. We’re not friends. We’re barely classmates.”

But I just stood there. Swallowing years of regret like bitter medicine.

“Come on, let’s go!.” And just like that, they were gone. Out the door. No explanations. No second chances. I stood there, stunned.

Back at the hospital, I couldn’t think straight. I went through rounds like a damn robot. My wolf was clawing at me, trying to tear through my skin and run after them. Vivian. And Marvel. He had to be my son. There was no other explanation. The timeline matched. His scent part wolf, part human was proof enough.

Vivian, that’s our son, our son! I know! But I can’t even explain to her why I know.

She wasn’t ready to hear it. And maybe I wasn’t ready to say it.

I had no outlet for my rage, just had to keep it bottled up. Only after Vivian and Marvel left did I let out a roar.

I knocked over the wine glasses around me, but I didn’t care. I was simply lost in the double whammy of losing and regaining, yet unable to hold on, letting out the pain I’d accumulated over the past six years.

But nothing could make up for me