Chapter 4

[KAELEN]

I move without thinking. Three long strides and I'm in front of her blocking the hallway. She almost crashes into my chest.

"Move," she says.

"No."

"Kaelen I swear to God…"

"He just melted steel with his MOUTH Elara. You can't walk out of here like that's normal."

"It IS normal. For him." She shifts Leo higher on her hip. The boy is watching us with those burning eyes, his head going back and forth between us like he's watching a tennis match. Mr. Whiskers has given up fighting and is hanging limp in Leo's arms like a furry hostage who has accepted his fate. "He's been doing it since he was two. I handle it."

"You handle it? He breathed FIRE."

"And I put out fires. That's what I do now. I put out fires and clean up messes and I do it alone because that's how you wanted it."

"I never wanted…"

"You SIGNED for it Kaelen. You threw the papers at me and told me I wasn't enough. So I left and I figured it out on my own. That's what not enough people do. We figure it out."

The words hit me so hard I almost step back. Almost. But I hold my ground because if she walks out of this building with that boy, I might never see either of them again. And worse than that, the things that will come hunting for them won't give her a chance to figure anything out.

"Mama," Leo tugs at her collar, "you're squeezing me again."

She loosens her grip immediately. The fury on her face cracks to show the softness under and it's like looking through a window into the woman I used to know. The real Elara behind all that armor.

"Sorry baby," she murmurs into his hair.

"I want to go back to the car. Mr. Whiskers is scared."

"I know baby. We're going."

"No you're not." The words come out harder than I mean them to and I watch her eyes flash with a warning that could peel paint off walls. I take a breath and force my voice to come out softer. "Elara please. Just listen to me for one minute."

"Why should I?"

"Because twelve wolves just saw your son breathe fire. Twelve wolves who have families and packs and loyalties that have nothing to do with me. I can silence them with non-disclosure oaths but that only works if I do it TONIGHT before they go home and tell their wives and their Alphas and their…"

"That's your problem not mine."

"It becomes YOUR problem when those Alphas send hunters after him."

She goes still. Just for a second, just a flash, but I see the fear break through her armor. Real fear. The kind that lives in your bones because you've been running from it for years.

She knows I'm right. She knows exactly what the Lycan world does to things it doesn't understand.

Before either of us can say another word, footsteps come rushing down the hallway behind Elara. Fast and panicked and very human.

"Ma'am! Ma'am I'm so sorry, the cat got out and the boy just bolted before I could…"

Her human assistant comes skidding around the corner looking like a man who just lost a child in a shopping mall, with a red face, crooked tie and completely out of breath. He stops short when he sees me standing in front of Elara like a wall and his eyes go wide.

"Ma'am is everything okay? Should I call someone?"

Elara doesn't take her eyes off me. "Everything's fine Marcus."

"The boy, I tried to catch him but he's incredibly fast for a four year old and the guards at the door just let him through, I don't understand how he got past…"

"Marcus." Her voice is calm but firm. "Take Leo back to the car."

"But ma'am…"

"Now. Please."

She lowers Leo to the ground and crouches in front of him, smoothing his wild hair with both hands. The transformation is immediate. The cold powerful CEO disappears and in her place is just a mom. Soft eyes, gentle hands, the kind of love on her face that makes my chest physically ache.

"Baby, go with Marcus to the car okay? Mama has to finish talking to the … to the man."

Leo looks over her shoulder at me. Those impossible lava eyes studying my face with an intensity that a four year old shouldn't be capable of. After a minute, he is still here, reluctant to leave me I hope.

"Leo. Car. Now."

He pouts but he hands Mr. Whiskers to Marcus who takes the cat with a confused expression, he’s probably thinking of how he did not sign up for animal control when he took this job. Leo reaches for Marcus's hand but stops and turns back to look at me one more time before leaving.

Marcus leads Leo around the corner and their footsteps fade down the hallway. I hear Leo asking Marcus if wolves like crackers and Marcus answering "I honestly don't know buddy" and then they're gone.

Silence.

Just me and Elara standing in a cold hallway with broken portraits watching us from the walls.

She turns back to me and the armor is on again in full force. Whatever softness she showed Leo is locked away behind steel and ice and five years of pain I put there.

"Say what you have to say," she tells me. "You have two minutes."

I don't even think, I just grab her face and crush my mouth on hers, tasting the heat and anger on her lips. My hands slide down her sides fast, pulling her body tight against me, feeling her soft tits press hard on my chest while my cock stiffens quick in my pants.

She freezes for a full minute then her fingers clutch my shirt, tugging me closer as her tongue brushes mine slow and shy, like she can't help it. Heat floods me, every inch of her warm skin is making my head spin with want, her hips shifting just a bit so I feel the warmth between her legs rub my thigh.

A soft sound slips from her throat, her breath mixing with mine, and I slide one hand lower to squeeze her ass, craving more.

Then she pushes back suddenly, eyes wild. "your two minutes is up" she mutters, stepping away as the words from before hang heavy again.

I don’t know why I just did that, I wanted to ask about my son but my wolf and my body had other interests and I cant help but feel much more relaxed after having Elara back In my life.

"Stay."

"No."

"Three days. That's all I'm asking. You came here for a business deal, fine. Stay three days and close the deal. Let me handle the council and make sure nobody talks about what they saw. And let me…" my voice catches and I hate it, I hate that she can hear me breaking "let me see him. Under your rules. Your terms. Whatever you want."

"Why would I trust you."

"Because whatever I am and whatever I did, I would burn this entire territory to ashes before I let anyone touch that boy. I don't care what he is or what he can do. He's mine Elara. I can smell it. My wolf can feel it. And I will protect him with everything I have even if you never let me be anything more than the wolf man he waves goodbye to."

She stares at me for a long time. I can hear her heartbeat and it's fast, way faster than she wants it to be. She's not as calm as she looks. She's terrified. Not of me, I don't think. Of this. Of letting me close. Of trusting someone who already proved he can't be trusted.

"Three days," she says finally. Quiet and controlled. "For the business deal. Not for you."

"Fine."

"My rules. My terms. My schedule."

"Whatever you want."

"And Kaelen." She steps closer and her voice drops low enough that only I can hear it. "If you try anything, if you pull rank or play Alpha or try to take him from me even for a second, I will disappear so completely that God himself couldn't find us. Are we clear."

"Crystal."

She holds my gaze for three more seconds like she's searching for the lie. Then she turns and walks down the hallway toward the exit, her heels clicking against stone, every step controlled and deliberate.

I watch her go.

Three days.

She gave me three days to fix five years of damage.

My wolf howls inside my chest. One word over and over and over.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

I press my back against the cold stone wall and close my eyes and I try to remember how to breathe.

Down the hall I hear a car door slam and a child's voice asking if wolves like juice boxes.

My son.

I have a son.

And I have three days to make sure I don't lose him again.