CHAPTER 5: THE CONNECTION

5 THE CONNECTION

Silas came back the next week.

And the following week.

And the following week.

The same ritual every visit. Dinner with Valentine. Questions: Answers: Then up to Aria. He'd read her a bedtime story. He would answer her continual questions. He listened as she told him about her day, her friends, her favorite toys. And every nite when he left, he promised to come back.

And every nite she would have him promise again.

"Swear?"

"Promise.

It was their thing. Their ceremony. Their link.

On the fifth visit Aria began to call him "Silas" instead of "Mommy's friend". By the seventh, she was starting to run to the door when she heard his car pull up. By ten, she was drawing pictures of him, stick figures with big smiles and wolf ears, and hanging them on her bedroom wall.

Silas had never been so happy.

But he knew it couldn’t last.

It was Tuesday nite when everything changed.

The house was deserted when Silas reached Valentina’s estate. No lights in the windows. No music from within. Only silence, thick and oppressive, broken by the sound of rain hammering against the roof.

Knock. No answer.

He knocked another time. Nothing.

His wolf was alert, restless. Something was off.

He tested the door. It was open. He pushed it open and went inside.

"Valentina?

Silence.

“Aria?”

Nothing.

His heart raced. He went through the house, looking into every room, every corner. The kitchen was deserted. The living room was dead. The dining-room was deserted.

He walked up the stairs. Aria’s door was wide. Her bed was bare.

He was gripped with panic. He whirled around ready to tear the house apart when he heard it.

A gentle noise. A whine. From the room of Valentina.

The door opened.

Valentina sat on the floor, her back to the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her face was white. Her eyes were red from the crying. And in her arms she cradled Aria.

The little girl was on fire. Her skin was red, her breathing ragged. Her body shivered under the fever. She looked so little. So delicate. Almost dead.

“She’s ill,” Valentina whispered. She has been ill for three days. I've done it all. Nothing helps.

Silas walked two paces across the room. He sank to a knee beside her. Put your hand on Aria’s forehead. The heat was awful.

"What ails her?"

“I don’t know,” Valentina’s voice broke. It’s a virus, doctors say. But she’s not improving. "She's going down hill.

"Did you try the pack healers?

"I can't." Valentina turned away. The pack healers remain loyal to the Alphas. They'll ask questions if I bring her to them. They'll want to see who she is. Who her dad is. “She’ll be turned against me.”

Silas's jaw hardened. He got it. The world of the pack was a wild one. A child of an Alpha, and a child, were weapons. A bargaining tool. A sign.

“I know a healer,” he said. Someone not in the pack. "Someone I trust."

Valentina stared at him. Her eyes were crazy.

“Please,” she murmured. “Please save her.”

Silas took out his phone. He dialed a number.

Marcus. I love you. Now.

A healer arrived within the hour.

An old man, grizzled and weathered, eyes that had seen too much, hands that had healed too many. He asked no questions. He didn't want explanations. He just walked over to Aria's side and placed his hands on her little chest and closed his eyes.

Silas and Valentina were at the corner. Observing. Waiting. Prayer.

Minutes ticked by. It seemed like hours.

Then the healer opened his eye.

He said, “She has been poisoned.”

Valentina’s face went white. What?

Wolfsbane. Refined. Distilled. It runs in her blood. The healer rose. Someone’s been feeding it to her. Small amounts. In time. It wouldn’t kill her right away. But that would weaken her Make her liable to sickness. “It would kill her in the end.”

Silas's blood froze. “Who’d do this?”

The healer shook his head. "That's not my business. It is important that I can heal her. But it will take a little while. And she's going to have to be watched. Closely."

“Do it,” said Valentina. Anything it takes. Just get her. (2)

The healer nodded his head. He rummaged in his bag and pulled out a tiny vial of clear liquid. He poured it into Aria’s mouth.

The little girl hacked. Moved. Then fell into deeper sleep.

The healer said, “She’ll sleep now. “The poison will work itself out in a few days. “Keep her hydrated. Keep her warm . 'And find out who did this.'

And he left as silently as he had come.

Silas looked at Valentina. Her face was streaming with tears. Her hands trembled.

"I know who did this," she said.

Who ?

” Adrian Blackwood

Silas’s wolf growled. 'How do you know?'

He messaged me. After the sale. He said if I didn't give him the Moonstone he would take something else that I loved. Valentina's voice was cold. 'Bluffing,' I thought. I thought he wouldn't touch a kid."

He won't get away with this.

He said, "Alpha. Valentina stared at him. He has an army. Friends he has. The Council is in his pocket. "What can we do?

Silas looked up at her. "We kill him.

They stayed by Aria's side for the next three days.

Valentina slept very little. Her intake was very limited. She sat there just holding her daughter's hand whispering words of love and comfort. Silas remained with her. He fed her. He gave her a drink. Beside her in the dark he sat and told her stories of the pack, of his childhood, of the mistakes he'd made.

And gradually, bit by bit, he told her the whole.

He told her of the nite she had gone away. Those months he'd been looking for her. About the years he spent swimming in regret. He told her of the deal he'd made with the rogues, the debt he owed the Council, the slow decay of his pack.

He talked of Nora to her.

He said, “She’s gone. Two years ago. She found a richer man. Someone stronger. "Someone who could give her the life she wanted."

Valentina said nothing. She kept holding Aria's hand.

"I never loved her," said Silas. "I never loved anybody but you. I was just too scared to say."

So far, nothing.

“I know you don’t believe me. I understand you don't trust me. But I want you to know the truth. You are the only woman I ever loved. And Aria is the only child I'll ever have. I wish I could undo what I did. In the blink of an eye."

Finally, Valentina looked up at him. Her silver eyes were weary. Tired. But they had something else in them. Something softer.

“I believe you,” she said.

Silas caught his breath. "Really?"

"I do," he said. She turned to Aria again. But to believe you doesn't mean I forgive you. I don't mean that I trust you. It just means I'm willing to try.

“That’s enough.” Silas held out his hand. Took her by the hand. “More than sufficient.

They sat together in the silence of the room. Aria was now breathing regularly. Her fever was broken. She would survive.

And Silas felt something he had forgotten for the first time in five years.

Hope.

Aria woke on the fourth day.

Her silver eyes blinked, she looked up, looked around the room and smiled.

“Silas,” she said. "You returned."

Silas bellowed. Tears ran down his face.

“Of course I came back,” he said. I said I would, didn't I?

Aria nodded. She looked at her mother then. “Mommy, why are you crying?”

Valentina dabbed her eyes. I'm just happy baby. “Just happy.”

Aria reached out her arms. Huggle?

Valentina pulled her up. Hugs her close. Silas threw his arms around both of them.

They stayed like that a long time. A family Smashed. Hurt. But united.

In the stillness of that moment, Silas swore silently.

He'd keep them safe. Both. At any price. Whatever the peril. Whatever it cost.

He would be the father Aria needed. He was the man Valentina needed.

And he would kill anyone who tried to hurt them.

Anybody.

That nite, after Aria had gone back to sleep, Silas and Valentina stood in the kitchen. The house was still. It stopped raining. Moonlight poured through the windows.

“You better go,” said Valentina. It is late.

I know.” Silas didn’t move. I don't want to.

Valentina stared at him. Her face was blank.

She said, "Adrian Blackwood will be on our trail again. He won't quit. Not until he gets the Moonstone. Not until he has the packs under control.”

"I know it."

I can handle him. I've been dealing with men like that for five years.

“I know.” Silas stepped forward. But you don't have to handle him alone anymore.

Valentina caught her breath. " Silas--

I don’t want you to forgive me. I don’t want a second chance. I just want a place in her life. And yours. Even if it's only as a friend. Even if it's only as an ally."

Valentina fell silent for a long moment. Then she nodded slowly.

“Okay,” she replied. "Okay.

Silas smiled. It was a little smile. A slight smile. But it was genuine.

He said: “Thank you.

Valentina accompanied him to the door. He stepped out into the cold of the nite.

"Silas."

He wheeled.

“Careful,” she said. "Adrian is dangerous.

"I know it."

“And Silas?

"Yes?"

“Come back tomorrow.

Silas’s heart swelled.

"I will," he replied. “I swear.”

And he was serious about it.