Chapter 2

Aria POV

Six years later the fluorescent lights of the hospital consultation room hummed above my head like a headache given form. Leo sat on my lap, small and warm, his head tucked under my chin. He was five now almost six and still too thin, still too pale, with those same strange golden flecks that sometimes appeared in his eyes when he was in pain.

The doctor folded his hands on the desk and gave me the look I’d grown to hate: careful, pitying, professional.

“Aria, your son Leo’s vitals are all within the normal range. But his symptoms are indeed very strange. With current medical technology, we still can’t find the cause. You don’t need to worry too much, the hospital recently introduced a new type of medicine. It might be able to control Leo’s abnormal hormone growth and relieve the symptoms. But the cost of these injections is about one hundred thousand dollars.”

One hundred thousand.

The number hit me like a physical blow. I stared at the edge of the desk, throat tight. Years of dragging Leo from specialist to specialist, of sleepless nights and drained savings and maxed-out cards, had already left us broke. I was a doctor myself and had studied for years and I still couldn’t fix my own child.

Leo’s small hand came up and touched my cheek.

“Mummy, it doesn’t hurt. I don’t want treatment anymore.”

Something inside me cracked. I pulled him closer, burying my face in his soft hair, and sobbed once quiet and broken.

“Mummy is useless,” I whispered against his temple. “After studying medicine for so many years I still can’t cure your illness. For your injection…”

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, trying to pull myself together. The doctor cleared his throat gently.

“Aria… actually, I can help.”

I looked up, eyes burning.

“Senior, we’ll do it. I will definitely raise the money.”

He shook his head and slid a folded piece of paper across the desk.

“It just so happens that my friend’s boss is hiring a family doctor. You can go and take a look.”

I unfolded the paper with numb fingers. An address. A name. And at the bottom stamped in dark ink a familiar swirling crescent of wolf and thorn.

The exact same pattern that had burned itself into my shoulder six years ago and then vanished like smoke.

My eyes widened. My heart stopped.

The mark from that night.

The night I still sometimes dreamed about when the moon was full.

The night I had never been able to forget.

How could there be a coincidence this perfect?

I stared down at the folded paper in my hand, the dark ink of that swirling crescent wolf and thorn burning into my eyes. The exact same mark that had bloomed on my shoulder six years ago and then vanished like smoke at dawn. My pulse hammered in my throat. Could this be… Leo’s father? The man from that night? The one whose golden eyes still haunted the edges of my dreams whenever the moon was full?

“The salary they offer is quite generous,” the doctor said, pulling my attention back. “One hundred thousand dollars a month.”

My head snapped up. “One hundred thousand?” The words came out breathless, almost giddy. Relief crashed through me so hard my knees nearly gave out. That kind of money could cover Leo’s treatments for years. It could buy us time. Hope. A future that didn’t end in hospital corridors and empty bank accounts.

I stood quickly, shifting Leo higher on my hip. He clung to my neck, small fingers curled in my hair, and I pressed a fierce kiss to his temple.

“Thank you, Senior Brother,” I said, voice thick with emotion. “I’ll go right away.”

He nodded, already reaching for the next patient’s file. I didn’t wait. I walked out of the consultation room with my son in my arms and the address paper clenched tight in my fist, the mark on it searing against my skin like a brand I had never truly escaped.

--

Kael’s POV

The dining hall of the Thorne mansion was too quiet for the storm about to break.

I sat at the long black table with my eyes closed, fingers steepled, the familiar weight of my mother’s glare pressing against the side of my face like a blade. She had been building up to this lecture for weeks. Tonight she had finally decided to drag every last brother into the line of fire.

“Second,” she said, voice sharp enough to cut glass. “I will ask you one last time. Are you going to have a child or not?”

I didn’t open my eyes. “Not even a dog would have one with me. I am the Grandmaster of Thorny Ruthlessness. Women only affect the speed at which I draw my sword.”

A long, suffering silence.

My mother turned with theatrical despair to the brother sitting two seats down Third, still in his monk’s robes, brown prayer beads sliding endlessly through his fingers.

“Third. You do it. Return to secular life and have a child.”

Third’s hands never paused. “No. I cannot. This humble monk has transcended the three realms. Women will only make me chant the wrong sutras.” He closed his eyes tighter and kept counting.

Mother stared at him for a full ten seconds, then pivoted to Fourth.

“Mic.”

My fourth brother leaned back in his chair with that easy, infuriating smile of his, one arm draped over the backrest. “Mum, I just want to live freely in this world happy and unrestrained. I walk through the valley of flowers without a single petal touching me.”

“Scumbag,” Mother snapped. “You walk through the field of flowers, but your mum hasn’t even seen the shadow of a grandson!”

She didn’t even bother looking hopeful when her gaze landed on Fifth. Her voice softened into something almost pitying.

“Fifth… forget about you. You went out once, got treated like a stray dog, and came back neutered. You can’t have children. Mum doesn’t blame you.”

Fifth immediately burst into dramatic sobs, burying his face in his hands. “Why must you remind me…”

Last came Sixth. Mother’s eye twitched the moment she looked at him.

“You are a wolf, not a dog. Why are you barking?”

Sixth sat up straighter, ears twitching. “Mum, Lily likes me looking like a dog. She says big dogs are handsomer than wolves. For the rest of my life I will live as a dog.”

Mother’s palm slammed down on the table hard enough to make the crystal glasses jump.

“The thousand-year foundation of our wolf clan is it going to end in your hands?!” Her voice rose until it echoed off the high ceilings. “Every single one of you! Doesn’t anyone want to branch out and continue the bloodline?!”

Fourth, I raised a lazy hand. “Mom, the few of us are hopeless. Why don’t you urge Eldest Brother? Let the Elder Brother have a child.”

Every head turned toward me.

I finally opened my eyes. The room felt colder under their collective stare.

“A werewolf only recognizes one mate in life,” I said quietly. “Loyal to death. If I cannot find her, I will never accept any other woman.”

Sixth tilted his head. “Brother, if human women don’t work, what about female wolves?”

Mother’s breathing grew heavier. She pointed a trembling finger at each of us in turn.

“Every moon night is mating season for adult wolves. If you do not mate, you will suffer bone-piercing pain. Are you going to endure it for the rest of your lives?”

I met her gaze without flinching. “I’m looking for a doctor who can cure me.”

The heavy double doors at the end of the hall opened. Our head servant stepped in, bowing low.

“My lord. The family doctor who applied for the position has arrived.”

I lifted one hand.

In the space of a single heartbeat the room emptied. My brothers, my mother, the servants all of them vanished as though the air itself had swallowed them. The long dining table shimmered, silverware rearranging, fresh white roses appearing in crystal vases, the entire space transforming into something elegant and welcoming instead of a battlefield of filial disappointment.

I remained seated, alone, golden eyes fixed on the entrance.

Waiting.

Aria’s POV

The mansion rose out of the forest like something that had grown there instead of being built with dark stone and glass, clean lines, the same impossible luxury I had stumbled into six years ago. My heart slammed against my ribs as I stepped through the tall front doors, Leo’s small hand clutched tightly in mine.

A servant led us down a wide hallway lined with old paintings and soft golden light. My heels clicked too loudly on the marble. Every step felt like walking back into a dream I had spent years trying to forget.

We stopped in front of a set of double doors. The servant opened them and gestured for me to enter.

I walked in slowly.

The dining hall was enormous, quiet, and beautiful. White roses sat in tall vases along a long table set for two. And at the far end of that table sat a man.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair falling loosely over his forehead. The same sharp jaw. The same mouth. The same impossible golden eyes that had looked at me like I was both a trespasser and something he wanted to keep.

He rose to his feet as I approached.

My breath caught.

I felt Leo shift beside me, but I couldn’t look away from the man. Six years had not dulled a single edge of him. If anything, he looked more dangerous now, more refined, more in control, the wildness I remembered banked behind a calm, almost lazy smile.

His gaze dropped.

I had worn a simple blouse today, the collar slightly open because of the summer heat. The edge of my shoulder was visible. And there faint but unmistakable under the soft light was the outline of a mark that should not have existed anymore. The same swirling crescent. The same wolf-and-thorn pattern that had burned itself into my skin that night and then disappeared at dawn.

His eyes locked onto it.

The smile that curved his mouth was slow, sharp, and deeply satisfied.

“I caught you,” he said, voice low and rough with something that sounded a lot like victory.

The paper with the job offer crumpled in my fist.

Leo’s small fingers tightened around mine.

And for the first time in six years, I understood that the night I had tried so hard to leave behind had never truly ended.