CHAPTER FIVE: THE PHOTOGRAPH

CASSIAN POV 

My head felt like it was splitting by the time my driver pulled over two miles down the mountain road.

I gripped the head rest of the seat in front of me until my knuckles turned white, trying to breathe through the pain.

"Sir, are you alright?" my driver asked from the front seat.

Marcus Jr, my uncle's nephew, has been driving me for three years now.

"I'm fine," I said, even though I wasn't, "just give me a minute."

"Did you get what you came for?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, "Elena agreed to the contract."

"Did she seem different to you?" he asked.

I thought about Elena standing at that gate, hatred burning in her eyes.

"She's hiding something," I said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Just a feeling," I rubbed my temples,

Marcus Jr was quiet for a moment.

"You know, you really should look at that photo again," he said, "the one you took last week when you drove up here."

My blood went cold.

"I wasn't here last week," I said.

"Yes, you were," Marcus Jr insisted, "Thursday night, you told me to drive you to this exact location, you got out for about an hour, came back looking confused."

"I don't remember that," I said, panic rising.

"I know," he said quietly, "you never remember the blackouts."

I stared at the back of his head.

"How many?" I asked.

"At least a dozen in the past two months," he said, "always at night, always driving north toward the mountains."

I wanted to call him a liar, but the photo on my phone said otherwise.

"Take me home," I said.

The rest of the drive passed in silence. By the time we reached the Vandenberg mansion, my head was pounding worse.

Uncle Marcus was waiting in the foyer when I walked in.

"Cassian," he said with that warm smile, "how was your trip?"

"Fine," I said, trying to move past him.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked.

"I found Elena," I said, "she agreed to the contract."

Something flickered across his face.

"That's wonderful news," he said, "when does she move in?"

"Three days."

"And how did she seem?" Marcus asked, "healthy, settled, alone?"

The question felt pointed somehow.

"She runs a wildlife sanctuary," I said, "seems busy, why?"

"No reason," Marcus said quickly, "just making conversation."

He'd raised me since my parents died when I was twelve; I owed him everything.

"I'm fine," I said, "just tired."

"Of course," he patted my shoulder, "get some rest."

I went upstairs to my office and sank into the chair behind my desk.

A knock on the door made me look up.

Victoria stood in the doorway, elegant as always, holding a cup of tea.

"I heard you were back," she said, walking in, "thought you might need this."

She set the tea on my desk, the same evening blend she'd been bringing me for years.

We had been engaged once, before I met Elena.

"Thank you," I said.

"So it's true then?" she asked, "you're bringing her here?"

"Elena moves in three days," I confirmed.

Victoria's smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Are you sure that's wise?" she asked, "after everything that happened?"

"It's business," I said, "nothing more."

"Of course," she said, "I just want you to be careful, the mate bond makes people do irrational things."

"The bond is dead," I said, even though I'd felt it spark yesterday.

"If you say so," Victoria said, heading for the door, "drink your tea while it's hot."

I was too tired to drink it, so I pushed it aside and put my head in my hands.

That night, the dreams came again, worse than ever.

A little girl with dark hair and eyes that looked exactly like mine, she was laughing, reaching for me, calling me daddy.

I tried to reach back, but my hands wouldn't move.

The dream shifted, and I was running through woods on four legs, heading toward a small house where the little girl waited.

She saw me and smiled.

"Night wolf," she said, "you came back."

I woke up screaming, my wolf clawing at my insides.

My bedroom smelled wrong, like wildflowers and fresh air.

The same scent from the sanctuary.

I got up and walked to the window, my whole body shaking.

What was happening to me?

The next morning, I found an envelope on my desk, no return address, no note.

My hands trembled as I opened it.

Inside was a hospital bracelet.

Patient name: Elena Hartwood.

Date: five years ago, three months after I rejected her.

Reason for visit: Prenatal care, first trimester.

The bracelet fell from my fingers.

Prenatal care, first trimester, three months after the rejection.

The timeline clicked into place like pieces of a puzzle.

The dreams of a child, the missing time visits to the sanctuary, that little girl's laugh I'd heard through the intercom yesterday.

My wolf howled inside my head, finally understanding what I'd been too blind to see.

I grabbed my phone with shaking hands, called my private investigator.

"I need you to find out everything about Elena Hartwood from the past five years," I said, my voice deadly calm, "especially if she has a child."

"Right away, sir," he said.

I hung up, still staring at the hospital bracelet.

Someone had left this for me to find, someone who knew the truth.

A knock on my office door made me look up.

Uncle Marcus stood there, that warm, familiar smile on his face.

"Ready for our morning meeting?" he asked, stepping inside.

I looked at him, the man who'd raised me, the man I trusted more than anyone.

Then I looked down at the hospital bracelet in my hand, at Victoria's untouched teacup still sitting on my desk.

My wolf stirred inside me, restless and angry, trying to tell me something I couldn't quite hear.

"Uncle Marcus," I said slowly, "what really happened the night my parents died?"

His smile froze.