CHAPTER 2

Keith

The fear in her eyes should have satisfied me. I was meant to take satisfaction in the fact that I was finally getting my revenge. I would kill her and avenge myself, our love, everything we had ever been, we could have been, I would end it all by snuffing the life out of her.

After nine years of searching for her across realms, after years of anger and humiliation, I had finally found Maisie Cranwood again. I should have crushed her throat without hesitation and ended everything between us once and for all.

Instead, my wolf paced restlessly inside me.

“Who are you?” she asked weakly as my hand tightened around her neck.

The question caught me off guard. Slowly, I loosened my grip and stared into her eyes.

“You’re pretending not to know me now?” I asked bitterly. The fact that she would deny knowledge of me was even more painful than her betrayal at leaving me in the first place. It felt like she had dipped her hands right into my chest, and had ripped my heart out and torn it into shreds.

Her breathing was uneven as she staggered backwards cautiously, trying to create distance between us.

“Who the hell are you?” she demanded again. “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

I laughed harshly.

If she had denied everything else, perhaps I might have entertained the possibility for a second. But no ordinary human could stand before a room full of Alphas and tremble the way she did.

I closed the distance between us again and grabbed her arm before she could retreat farther.

“You almost convinced me,” I murmured, “until you claimed to be human.”

Fear flashed briefly across her face before disappearing again.

There she was.

My Maisie.

“So tell me, Maisie,” I said quietly. “Or should I call you May now?”

“Get away from me, Keith,” she snapped, pulling against my grip. “I want nothing to do with you.”

A cold smile crossed my lips because no one else could say that to my face and live a second longer.

“You don’t get to make that decision.”

“I’m not your slave.”

“No,” I agreed calmly, leaning closer to her. “But you are mine.”

Hatred burned in her blue eyes. She eyed me like I was a monster. One would think that it was my fault that we were the we were now.

“You sound exactly like your father.”

Rage exploded inside me immediately. Maisie knew exactly what to say to make me lose my temper completely.

My fingers dug painfully into her arm.

“How dare you compare me to him?”

She sneered at me as though she enjoyed provoking my anger.

Before I could lose control completely, Cassian my beta stepped into the restaurant.

“Alpha,” he said carefully, “we should leave.”

“Bind her,” I ordered immediately.

Maisie’s eyes widened with panic.

For one foolish second, she actually tried to run. Cassian caught her easily and restrained her wrists behind her back.

As he secured the ropes around her hands, he spoke quietly.

“What about the child?”

Everything inside me went still.

I turned sharply toward him.

“What child?”

Cassian frowned slightly.

“The report mentioned it. Maisie has a son.”

The words settled heavily in my chest.

A son?

For one humiliating second, hope stirred inside me before I crushed it instantly.

No.

If she had been carrying my child, she would never have disappeared without a word.

I crouched in front of her slowly and noticed the colour draining from her face.

“You have a son?” I asked softly.

“No,” she answered too quickly.

You’re a liar.

“You’re trembling, Maisie.”

Her breathing became uneven.

“It’s me you want,” she whispered desperately. “Leave my son out of this.”

The desperation in her voice only confirmed everything.

So she truly had built another life after abandoning me.

I rose slowly to my feet.

“Where is the boy?” I asked Cassian.

“Should we search her apartment?”

Maisie struggled harder against the restraints immediately.

“No!”

A dark smile crossed my lips.

That reaction alone was enough.

***

I kicked the fragile door open, ripping the door from its weak frame, and looked around the small space in disgust.

“This is where you’ve been living?”

Cassian dragged Maisie inside behind me while I surveyed the apartment carefully.

The scent of rose petals and berries lingered heavily in the air. Her scent clung to every corner of the room as though she had tried desperately to build warmth inside this miserable little place.

Then my eyes caught something else.

A small blanket was folded neatly on the couch.

Children’s books are stacked beside a chair.

Tiny shoes were abandoned near the doorway.

My gaze darkened.

There were signs of a child everywhere.

Maisie noticed where I was looking and immediately stepped into the hallway behind her.

“He isn’t here,” she said quickly.

“Move,” I ordered.

“No.”

I grabbed her collar roughly and pulled her toward me.

“Do not test my patience.”

Her eyes were filled with hatred.

“Just take me and leave him alone.”

There was no denial, only an urge to protect her son.

I should have felt victorious seeing her reduced to begging for another man’s child, but instead something bitter settled heavily inside my chest.

“I was willing to forgive you once,” I said quietly.

She spat directly in my face.

“I would rather die.”

My jaw clenched tightly.

Even now, after everything she had done, my heart still reacted to her voice, her face, the scent of her skin.

By the goddess, she was still beautiful.

I tore my gaze away from her before my resolve weakened further.

“Search the apartment,” I ordered Cassian.

But before he could move, a soft cough came from deeper inside the apartment.

The room fell silent.

A moment later, small footsteps echoed softly through the hallway.

Maisie went completely pale.

“Lance…” she whispered under her breath.

A little boy stepped into the living room rubbing sleep from his eyes. He looked weak and pale, his small face flushed as his confused gaze moved around the room.

“Mom?” he asked quietly.

Maisie immediately rushed toward him protectively, placing herself between him and us.

Fear filled her eyes as she held the boy tightly against her chest.

My gaze remained fixed on the top of the child’s head which bobbed over Maisie's shoulders. She shielded the child like she was protecting him from my gaze.

Then slowly, very slowly, anger twisted inside me again.

This was the child she had chosen over me.

She had hidden this child for years and she was willing to throw her pride away to beg that his life be spared.

I looked away from the boy coldly.

“Off with the child’s head.”