Chapter 3: THE BLOOD TEST

Kael broke the seal.

No one spoke as he unfolded the report. I watched his eyes move across the page, then stop. His face changed so slightly that another person might have missed it.

I did not.

“What does it say?” Selene asked.

Kael remained silent.

I stepped closer and read the line beneath his hand.

Probability of biological paternity: 99.8 percent.

The words blurred.

That morning, I had sat in Maeve’s clinic with my hand over my stomach, afraid to breathe too loudly because I was finally carrying Kael’s child. Now I stood beside another woman while a medical report declared that my mate already had a son.

Kael lowered the paper. “Why did you wait?”

Selene’s face tightened. “I told you. I was afraid.”

“For six years?”

“My parents controlled everything after we left. By the time I could make my own choices, too much time had passed.” Her voice weakened. “Then Noah began asking questions. I couldn’t keep lying to him.”

Kael looked away, but not before I saw the anger in his eyes.

“You should have told me.”

“I know.”

“No, Selene. You don’t.” His grip tightened around the report. “If this is true, you kept my son from me for five years.”

Noah flinched.

The small movement pulled my attention toward him. He sat with the wooden wolf pressed against his chest, watching the adults argue over his life. Whatever I felt toward his mother, the child had done nothing wrong.

Kael noticed too.

His anger disappeared beneath something more controlled. He crossed the room and crouched before the boy.

“Noah.”

The child looked at him cautiously.

“None of this is your fault.”

“Are you angry with me?”

The question was so quiet that something inside me softened despite the pain in my chest.

“No.” Kael rested his hands on his knees. “I’m not angry with you.”

Noah glanced at the report. “So you are my father?”

Kael hesitated. “The paper says I am.”

A small smile appeared on the boy’s face.

Kael did not return it immediately, but his expression changed. I knew that look. Responsibility had already taken hold of him.

“We’ll figure everything out,” he promised.

A strange fear moved through me. Kael never gave his word lightly.

“Then this matter requires discretion,” Cassian said.

I had almost forgotten he was there.

The elder stood near the doorway, calm as ever. His gaze settled briefly on Noah before returning to Kael.

“If the report is accurate, the boy may be the Alpha’s firstborn son. Rumors about succession could spread quickly.”

My stomach tightened.

Firstborn.

Not child. Not son.

Firstborn.

Kael rose at once. “This is not a council matter tonight.”

Cassian inclined his head. “Of course.”

“Then leave succession out of it.”

“I only meant to protect the boy from rumors.” His tone remained respectful. “Blackridge watches everything its Alpha does. We should be prepared.”

There was nothing openly threatening in his words. That made my unease harder to explain.

Kael folded the report. “Tomorrow. Not tonight.”

Cassian bowed slightly. “As you wish, Alpha.”

His eyes passed over me before he left.

I wondered why a senior elder had arrived at the exact moment Selene produced the report. Perhaps she had contacted him before coming. Perhaps the clinic had. There were reasonable explanations.

Still, the question stayed with me.

Later, I found Kael alone in his office.

He stood beside the window with both hands resting on the desk. The report lay open before him.

I closed the door.

“Did you know?”

He turned immediately. “No.”

I searched his face.

“Not even a suspicion?”

“None.”

I believed him. Kael could hide fear from an entire council, but he had never been good at lying to me.

He came closer. “Selene disappeared before I met you. I tried to find out where she went, but her family had already left the region.”

“You never told me that part.”

“I told you we were together.”

“You told me she left.”

His jaw tightened. “I didn’t know she was pregnant.”

I looked toward the report. “Do you still love her?”

“No.”

The answer came without hesitation.

Some of the pressure in my chest eased.

Then Kael continued.

“But if Noah is mine, I won’t abandon him.”

I closed my eyes briefly.

Of course he wouldn’t. It was one of the reasons I loved him. Kael protected people who depended on him, sometimes long after it became painful.

“I wouldn’t ask you to abandon a child.”

“I know.”

He reached for my hand. “Elara—”

A knock interrupted us.

I pulled away as the door opened. One of the senior servants stood outside.

“Forgive me, Alpha. We need to prepare rooms for Lady Selene and the boy.”

I frowned. “The eastern guest house is ready.”

The servant looked at Kael.

“They’ll stay here,” he said.

I turned to him. “Here?”

“Temporarily. Until I confirm everything and understand why they returned now.”

“Cassian suggested it would be safer,” the servant added.

Again.

Cassian.

Kael seemed not to notice my reaction. “Give Noah the blue room. Selene can take the room beside it.”

My chest tightened.

Those rooms were near the private Alpha wing.

Near us.

The servant bowed and left.

My hand brushed against my bag. The pregnancy report was still inside, beside the tiny silver bracelet I had bought that morning.

I had wanted to tell Kael tonight.

Instead, another woman and her child were moving into our home.

That morning, I had walked into the clinic believing I was finally giving Kael the family we had prayed for. By nightfall, another woman’s son had been named his firstborn heir.