10. Twin

Elle

For one long second, nobody moved.

Dad still pinned Soren to the wall. The nurse froze beside the monitor. I held the stranger’s cold fingers while his words settled over us.

I’m your son.

My stomach dropped.

"My brother died," I said.

He flinched and loosened his grip. I held tighter.

"That’s what I was told," I added. "I was told he died as a baby."

"Because he did." Soren laughed. "He’s a rogue using an old pack rumor. Look at him, Mason."

Dad slammed him back into the wall.

"Silence."

Alpha power struck the room, forcing the nurse’s eyes down and locking Soren’s jaw. He tried to speak. Nothing came.

Dad leaned close to him. His eyes had turned gold.

"You touched him twice after I ordered you away. Wait in the hall for my judgment. If you run, every Moonlight warrior will know."

He released him.

Soren glared at me, then left. The door shut.

Dad faced the bed again. The gold faded, but he was still the Alpha, shoulders straight and voice steady.

"What is your name?"

"Franz."

"Franz what?"

His throat worked. "Just Franz."

The answer hurt. I had a family name, a pack, and parents who made sure I belonged. Franz sounded like a man who had learned not to claim anything that could be taken.

Dad came to the other side of the bed. "Why do you believe you’re my son?"

Franz glanced at the door. "The woman who raised me hid a phone. I found it after she got sick."

"Your mother?" I asked.

His mouth twisted. "She called herself that."

I remembered his scars and regretted asking.

"There were messages about me. Alpha Mason. Luna Juliet. Moonlight Pack." His breath roughened. "She wrote that I was taken from a birthing room. That there were two babies."

I looked at Dad.

He had gone pale.

"Tell me he’s lying," I said.

Dad did not answer.

"Dad."

Dad pulled up a chair. For the first time, he looked old.

"Your mother gave birth to twins," he said. "A girl and a boy."

The monitor beeped three times before I breathed.

"You told me the boy died."

"We told you he did."

"That is not the same fucking thing."

The nurse glanced at me. I didn’t care.

Dad took my anger. "He vanished from the nursery before sunrise. Cameras went dark, the guard was unconscious, and his scent ended at the southern road. We searched packs, hired trackers, offered rewards. Every rumor sent us running."

His gaze dropped to Franz’s ruined leg and blind eye.

"Your mother never stopped hoping," he said. "I did."

I wanted to scream at him for lying and ask how long Mom had waited for a son they could not find.

Then Franz shifted, his gown slipping below his collarbone.

I forgot every question.

A small brown birthmark curved against his skin like a crescent pulled too thin.

My hand went to the same place on my own chest.

Dad saw it. His breath caught.

I pulled the neckline of my dress aside just enough to expose my mark. Same shape. Same size. Same place.

It wasn’t proof, but Franz stared as if I had handed him a missing piece of himself.

"She said my sister had it too," he whispered.

My wolf moved beneath my skin.

No magic confirmed it. Only a sick certainty that the man I pulled from the road belonged here more than Soren ever had.

Dad reached toward Franz, then stopped. "May I?"

Franz gave a small nod.

Dad touched two fingers beside the mark. His hand was steady until Franz turned his face toward him. Then it trembled.

"When you reached our boundary, who did you speak to?" Dad asked.

Franz looked toward the door. "Him. Soren."

Dad’s hand dropped to his side.

"I told him why I came. I told him I was your son." Franz touched his ribs. "He said no one would believe me. Then he stopped me from following him inside."

Alpha power rolled off Dad, cold and lethal. Soren would answer for every bruise Franz carried.

"Why did you come now?" Dad asked.

Franz swallowed. "Because I’m dying."

The words were quiet. They still hit like a fist.

"The healers at Silver Claw wouldn’t treat me," he said. "The messages said I had blood here. I thought..." His good eye filled, but he refused to look away from Dad. "I thought if it was true, you might give me a chance."

"You should never have had to ask," Dad said.

Franz pressed his lips together. A tear slipped into his hair.

"I don’t want to die."

I bent over our joined hands. I had grown up at our parents’ table while my twin was beaten until one eye went blind and a broken leg healed crooked.

I had been a baby too. The guilt made no sense, but it hurt.

"You’re not dying here," I said. "Do you understand me? You made it home."

Franz tried to answer. A cough tore through him instead.

His whole body folded. Blood splattered across the white sheet and warmed the back of my hand.

"Doctor!" I shouted.

The nurse hit the alarm. Dad was already moving, clearing the chair from the bed and opening the door.

"Intensive care," the nurse called into the hall. "Now."

Franz coughed again. More blood ran over his lips. His fingers locked around mine with panicked strength while the monitor screamed above us.

"Elle." Dad caught my shoulders. "Let them work."

"He won’t let go."

"Then tell him you’re staying."

I leaned close until Franz’s frightened eye found mine.

"I’m right outside," I said. "I’m not leaving you."

His grip loosened.

The medical team pushed me back and rolled him out. Dad followed the bed, issuing orders through the pack link as we ran. I felt his Alpha command sweep across Moonlight, calling Kevin, clearing the infirmary entrance, and putting two warriors on Soren.

The intensive-care doors stood open at the end of the hall.

Mom reached them at the same time we did, with Kevin, Robin, and Valerie behind her. Her hair was loose, and she had thrown a coat over her nightclothes. She saw the blood on Franz’s mouth and stopped so suddenly Robin nearly struck her from behind.

"Mason?"

Dad caught both her hands.

"His name is Franz," he said. "He says he’s ours. He has the mark."

Mom stared at the man on the bed. The doors began to close between them.

"Wait." She tore one hand free. "Please. I need to see him."

The doctor blocked her gently. "Luna, we need to stabilize him."

"I lost him once."

Her voice cracked on the last word.

Dad pulled her against his chest as the doors sealed. Mom did not cry at first. She stood rigid in his arms, staring through the narrow glass until the staff drew the curtain.

Then her knees gave out.

Kevin caught her on one side while Dad held the other. Robin dragged a chair beneath her, and Mom sat with both hands pressed over her mouth.

"He has a name," she whispered. "All these years, and he had a name."

No one knew what to say.

I looked down the hall.

Soren stood between two Moonlight warriors. Valerie had moved to his side, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was watching the intensive-care doors with the expression of a man waiting to learn whether a problem had survived.

Something cold settled inside me.

I walked toward him.

"You were the first person he met here," I said.

Soren’s eyes flicked to Dad. "Elle, this is not the time."

"It is exactly the fucking time."

The hall went quiet.

"He reached our boundary looking for my father," I continued. "He told you he was Mason’s son."

"He claimed he was Mason’s son. Any rogue could say that."

"So you beat him?"

"He was trespassing."

"He could barely stand."

Soren’s mouth tightened. "You don’t know what happened."

I knew enough.

Moonlight’s succession had always followed Alpha blood before an outside nominee. I was still Dad’s legal heir, but everyone knew I had spent years refusing the title. When Franz reached the boundary, Soren still believed the Crown was about to approve his transfer. A living son would give the old council exactly what it wanted: another blood heir, and a male one at that.

Franz didn’t need to want the Alpha title to destroy Soren’s path to it. He only needed to breathe.

And Soren had done everything he could to stop that.

"You knew he might be my brother," I said. "You knew what his existence would mean for the succession. Then you threw a dying man onto the road and tried to strangle him when I brought him back."

Soren reached for me. "Elle-"

My palm cracked across his face.

His head snapped sideways. Valerie gasped. The warriors didn’t move.

I stepped close enough for Soren to see there was nothing left in me for him but hate.

"That was for leaving my brother to die."