Chapter 2

Kaelan and I were fated mates.

His bloodline had been reaching for mine long before either of us made a choice. That kind of pull doesn't lie — it's written into the blood itself, older than anything either of us could claim.

But someone got there first.

A political enemy slipped a compulsion elixir into his drink at a gathering. The kind that strips away every wall and leaves nothing but instinct. He couldn't fight what his bloodline already wanted.

He came to my chamber that night without warning. He didn't knock.

He was already gone. Eyes bled full red, pupils blown wide, blood instincts running completely unchecked. He didn't speak. He didn't ask.

I was barely a year into my own turning. I didn't have the strength to push back a Prince running on pure instinct.

I recognized the signs immediately. I knew exactly what had been done to him, and by whom.

I also knew that if I called for help, whoever had dosed him would use the chaos to finish what they started. They wanted him dead or disgraced — either would do.

So I stayed. I let the bond complete. I kept him alive through the night.

By morning, the red had drained from his eyes.

He looked at me for a long moment without speaking.

Then his voice came out like something carved from stone.

"I'll take responsibility. We'll formalize the blood bond next week."

I thought that was just how he showed it. I thought our life together was finally starting.

But at the bonding ceremony, I overheard him talking to his most trusted men.

"You think this was an accident?" His voice was low and completely controlled. "A newly turned vampire, alone in a locked chamber with a Prince who'd just been dosed. She knew exactly what she was doing."

I heard one of them shift uncomfortably. "My lord, the fated bond—"

"The bond is real." He cut him off. "That's exactly what makes it worse. She knew it was there. She knew all she had to do was wait for the right night."

Then I heard him set his glass down.

"I'll honor the bond because I have to. But I will never love her. She is my responsibility. Nothing more."

Before I could say a single word in my own defense, Kaelan left for the old European territories.

And didn't come back.

I found out I was pregnant two months later.

I gave birth to Luka alone. Raised him alone for four years. Watched him take his first steps alone, heard his first words alone, held him through every fever and every nightmare alone. Every night Luka asked where his father was, I was the one who had to answer.

I kept waiting anyway.

Last month, Kaelan finally came back. But he came back with Vivienne at his side and Damian in his arms.

That evening, I reached through our blood bond trying to find him.

He had it blocked.

Then he walked into the residence.

I kept my voice steady. "Luka needs to go back to the healing chamber tomorrow morning to have his burns redressed. Can you take him?"

Kaelan barely looked up. "Can't. I'm taking Vivienne and Damian for their physicals tomorrow morning."

He was preparing to turn them. Before a human could survive the transition, their body had to be assessed — heart, blood pressure, organ function. You didn't bring someone across without knowing exactly what you were working with.

He was planning to make them permanent.

Then he added, "If you have to bring Luka, come in the afternoon. Damian lost his father. He doesn't need to hear another kid calling me that."

The rage I'd been holding down for four years finally broke loose.

"Are you serious right now? You left your own son in a UV zone today. He could have died."

Kaelan's eyes went hard. "Vivienne is human. She couldn't go in alone. Damian had no one else. What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to get your own son out first." My voice cracked.

Kaelan looked at me then. Really looked at me, for the first time in a long time.

"Vivienne saved my life before I ever knew you existed," he said. "If things had gone differently, she would've been my mate. Not you." His voice didn't waver. "What happened between us was manufactured. You are my obligation. Not my choice."

He said it like he was stating a fact.

"Don't pretend those are the same thing."

Each word landed like a blow.

The blood bond in my chest felt like ice running through my veins.

Four years ago, I carried Luka alone while Kaelan was gone.

Four years of raising our son by myself, holding onto the idea that he would come back and it would mean something.

Only to find out he'd spent those years playing father to someone else's child.

And now Luka was in the next room, covered in UV burns, whimpering in his sleep for a father who had walked right past him to pull out a human boy the light couldn't even touch.

The blood bond dissolution request was sitting on my desk, half-written, waiting.

If it were just me, I would've filed it already and never looked back.

But every time I got close, I thought about Luka.

The way he'd spent a month carving that blood-seal stone.

The way he'd asked, "Do you think Father will like it?"

So I kept waiting.

One more time. Maybe just one more time.