Chapter 2: HIS CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART

“Father!”

The word seemed to hang in the room long after the boy had spoken.

I stood near the doorway, unable to look away as he clung to Kael’s neck. My mate had gone completely still. The wooden wolf remained trapped in one hand while the other rested against the child’s back, as if he had forgotten what to do with it.

“Elara.”

Kael rose slowly.

He usually called me love when we were alone or around people he trusted. The absence of that one small word should not have mattered, yet I noticed it immediately.

His expression was not guilty. I knew Kael well enough to recognize guilt. What I saw was confusion and something close to shock.

The boy stepped back and looked between us.

“Who is she?”

Before Kael could answer, the woman near the fireplace moved forward.

“You must be Elara.”

Something about the greeting unsettled me. Everyone in Blackridge knew who I was. More importantly, this woman had been standing inside my home with my mate. She knew exactly who I was.

Kael’s jaw tightened. “Elara, this is Selene.”

The name struck before the memory did.

I had seen her face once in an old photograph Kael thought he had thrown away. He had been younger, smiling in a way I rarely saw in public, with one arm around a fair-haired girl.

His first love.

The woman who had disappeared from his life years before I met him.

I looked at Kael. “Selene?”

“Yes.”

The answer came quietly.

My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag. Inside it were a silver bracelet and a folded report that had made me the happiest woman in Blackridge less than an hour ago.

Selene gave me a careful smile. “I know this must be difficult.”

“I don’t know what this is yet.”

Her smile faded.

Good.

I turned toward the boy. He had moved closer to her now, though his attention remained fixed on Kael.

“What did he call you?”

Kael rubbed a hand over his face. “Elara, I only learned about this today.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“I know.”

Selene stepped in before he could continue. “His name is Noah.”

The boy looked up when he heard his name.

“He’s five,” she added. “And I believe Kael is his father.”

The room became painfully quiet.

I waited for Kael to deny it.

He didn’t.

A cold feeling spread through my chest. “Explain.”

Selene glanced at Noah. “Perhaps we shouldn’t do this in front of him.”

“You came into my home with a child calling my mate Father. I think we passed the point where silence protects anyone.”

“Elara,” Kael warned softly.

I looked at him. “Am I wrong?”

His mouth closed.

Selene guided Noah toward a chair and asked him to play with the wooden wolf. Then she faced me again.

“I left Blackridge six years ago. A few weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant.”

“Then why didn’t Kael know?”

Her eyes lowered. “My family hated our relationship. When they moved away, they made it clear I was not to contact him. I was young and frightened.”

“For six years?”

Pain crossed her face so neatly that I could not tell whether it was real.

“I made mistakes,” she said. “I won’t pretend otherwise.”

I studied her. “Why now?”

That question seemed to trouble her more than the others.

Then she looked toward Noah.

“Because he started asking who his father was.”

The answer sounded reasonable. Perhaps that was why I disliked how quickly it came.

I turned to Kael. “Is it possible?”

His eyes met mine.

I wanted him to laugh at the idea. I wanted one firm answer that would return the room to what it had been before I entered.

Instead, he said, “The dates are possible.”

My stomach tightened.

“You think he could be yours?”

Kael did not answer immediately.

That silence hurt more than the words that followed.

“I don’t know.”

My hand moved toward my bag.

For one desperate moment, I wanted to pull out the report and place it between us. I wanted to tell him that I was carrying his child, that this morning had been ours before I came home and found another family waiting.

My fingers touched the folded paper through the fabric.

Then Noah spoke.

“Are you really my father?”

Kael looked at him.

The boy was no longer smiling. He held the wooden wolf against his chest with both hands, his small face tense as he waited.

I let go of my bag.

I could not do it. Not here. Not while a five-year-old child waited to learn whether he belonged to someone. Announcing my pregnancy now would feel like placing one child against another.

Tonight, I decided.

I would tell Kael privately tonight.

Kael crossed the room and crouched before Noah. “I don’t know yet.”

Noah’s shoulders dropped.

“But we’ll find out,” Kael added.

Selene drew in a breath.

Kael stood and faced her. “We need a blood test.”

For the first time since I entered the room, Selene became completely still.

Then she reached for the leather bag beside her chair.

“I already had one.”

I stared at her.

Kael frowned. “What?”

She opened the bag and removed a sealed envelope.

“I knew you would want proof.”

Kael took it but did not open it. “Which clinic?”

“The Westmoor Inter-Pack Medical Centre.”

I knew the name. So did Kael. The clinic handled disputes involving bloodlines and succession claims between major packs.

Before either of us could speak, footsteps approached the hall.

Elder Cassian Thorne entered with his usual calm expression. His gaze moved briefly over Selene, Noah, and the envelope in Kael’s hand.

“The clinic is reliable,” he said. “I can personally confirm that.”

A strange unease settled over me.

I looked from the sealed blood report to the elder’s calm face and wondered why everyone except Kael and me seemed prepared for this moment.