Chapter 2 / No Way Back / Elara

I threw my engagement ring into the toilet, and then we left. Before getting into the car, I blocked Travis’s number. In less than a day, my life had completely changed.

Now we were on the worst road trip ever, heading toward a future I never planned. Kael, however, was trying to stay positive.

“Is Aunt Aria going to be there when we arrive?” he asked as we took the exit to Pinecrest Valley.

She wasn’t really his aunt, but he had called her that since he was a baby, and Aria and I both loved it.

“She’ll be at work, but she’ll come over as soon as she can,” I said.

“Cool. I miss playing with Lila,” he said, resting his head against the window.

Lila was Aria’s one-year-old daughter. My best friend had gone through a lot. Losing her husband in a car accident just six months after having a baby was one of the hardest things she had faced. Compared to that, my problem with Travis felt smaller. She had moved back home to be close to her mother, who wanted to help with the baby.

I hadn’t been to Pinecrest Valley in over fifteen years. A company I sometimes kept in touch with had been taking care of the house. Even after all that time, I started to recognize some places. An old, broken farm by the roadside was still there, though the house had now fallen apart into rotten wood. There was a new Dollar General store at the entrance of Pinecrest Valley. Other than that, everything looked almost the same, like time had stopped. It felt like a memory from my younger days.

“Are there other shifters here?” Kael asked.

The question surprised me so much that I almost moved the car into the wrong lane. That wasn’t really what he wanted to ask, was it? We had never talked about his real father, but he must have always wondered. Kael was born an alpha, and I had made sure he understood what that meant from a young age. But as a human, I couldn’t fully guide him through the changes happening in his body.

He had started puberty a few months ago, maybe earlier than I expected. I didn’t think he was too far along yet. If he was, he would have broken Travis’s jaw, not just his nose, when he punched him.

“There are,” I said. “Pinecrest Valley has a small pack. Your father’s family leads it. Your grandfather is the alpha. The last time I was here, there were about two hundred members. It might still be the same.”

Kael nodded like he already knew. Then, trying to sound casual, he asked, “Does my dad still live here?”

There it was. The real question. Maybe that was why he didn’t argue about moving. Leaving his friends was hard, but the chance to meet his real father might have been more important.

My first love. Orion Blackthorne. A tall, strong alpha wolf. He had swept me off my feet, and I fell deeply in love with him. Then, after some serious issue with his family, he left me. I didn’t know I was pregnant when he broke my heart and disappeared.

“No, sweetie,” I said softly. “He doesn’t live here anymore.”

Kael didn’t reply. He just kept looking out the window as we drove into my grandmother’s old neighborhood. What I didn’t tell him yet—but would soon—was that his grandfather still lived here.

One reason I agreed so quickly to Aria’s idea was because I hoped the old man would accept his grandson. Maybe he could even help Kael through puberty and his first shift. Things hadn’t ended well between me and Orion’s family, so it was a long shot. But I was willing to try anything for my son.

My grandmother’s house looked the same, though the grass needed cutting. Aside from that, the maintenance company had kept it in good condition all these years. Since I didn’t have the remote, I parked in the driveway and entered the garage code by hand.

After parking inside, Kael stepped out and looked around. “It’s kind of small, don’t you think? There’s not even a bathroom.”

“It’s the garage, smartass.”

“Oh,” he said dramatically. “Got it.”

“Come on. We can unpack after we settle in.”

“Great. I need to pee.”

The house smelled a bit old and unused. It was still decorated the same way my grandmother had left it, and stepping inside brought back a lot of memories.

“Your room is down there. You have your own bathroom,” I said, pointing down the hallway.

“Nice. I’ll be right back,” he said, quickly going to check it out—and use the bathroom.

The house was smaller than what we were used to, but it was more than enough for the two of us. I walked around, turning on some lights, and smiled when I saw the old tube TV on the cabinet in front of the couch. Grandma never cared much about modern things. At least the house had central heating and air.

“Hey, Mom?” Kael called from the hallway. “The toilet won’t flush.”

“What?”

“It flushed once, but it won’t fill back up.”

Frowning, I went to the kitchen sink and turned on the tap. Nothing came out. Just a faint noise in the pipes.

“Shit,” I muttered.

The trip to Pinecrest Valley took us two days, and on the morning we left, I had called the local utilities company to make sure everything was turned back on. The electricity was working, but they clearly forgot to turn the water back on.

“No water?” Kael said, his eyes wide. “We’re really in the middle of nowhere. Do we have to hunt for food too?”

“Very funny. Wait, let me call them.”

I called the water company to find out what was going on. They said we were “on the list” and someone was already assigned to come that same day to fix it. I told her I expected them soon, and she promised we would be their next stop.

After the call, I felt a small wave of irritation. Things were not going as smoothly as I wanted, especially in the first fifteen minutes of being back in Pinecrest Valley.

“Let’s bring the bags inside, then we can go to the grocery store. We need to fill the pantry and fridge anyway. We can do that while we wait for the water guy.”

Kael carried his two suitcases and backpack to his room, after then, he came back to help me with mine. When we were rushing to leave, it felt like we packed too much. But now, it looked like we barely brought anything, like people running away from something bad with only what they could carry. It made me feel really down.