Chapter 3 / Exposure / Elara

We didn’t unpack and went straight to the store after taking everything out of the car. Kael spent the drive looking around the town. I was happy to see a new park had been built. It had a playground, a small baseball field, and, to Kael’s excitement, four basketball courts.

“I can walk here,” Kael said. “It’s only about a mile from the house. Is that okay?”

Pinecrest Valley was a small, safe town, at least it used to be. Nothing I saw made me think that had changed.

“That should be fine. Do you want to go play basketball later?”

He shrugged in a casual way, like most teenagers do. I understood it as, “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.”

The grocery store was near the center of town. It was small, but it had everything we needed. Once inside, Kael grabbed a cart and started filling it with chips, cookies, and other junk food.

“You know we also need fruits and vegetables, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

We turned into the canned food aisle, and that’s when my day got even worse. A woman stood in front of me, her eyes wide with shock.

“Elara?”

“Hello, Selene,” I said flatly.

Kael looked confused, glancing between me and the woman. He had every reason to be. This was his aunt, someone he had never met or even heard about. Orion’s sister was the last person I ever wanted to see again.

When I found out I was pregnant after Orion left, I went to her, hoping she would help me reach him. She never liked me and always thought her brother could do better. When I told her I was carrying Orion’s baby, she acted cold and uninterested. In her own way, she accused me of sleeping around and said she didn’t believe the baby was Orion’s.

Even then, I begged her to tell Orion. I thought if he knew he was going to have a child, he might come back. But three days later, Selene came back and told me Orion wanted nothing to do with me or the baby. She said he didn’t want me contacting him or his family again.

She left me there, crying and heartbroken. Less than three months later, my grandmother—the only family I had—died.

It was the worst year of my life. Without her, I left Pinecrest Valley before Kael was born and never came back.

Selene looked at Kael, her eyes growing even wider. Any features from me were hidden deep inside him because he looked exactly like his father, and she could see it now.

Anger rose inside me as I saw her reaction. Had she really never believed me? Maybe Orion didn’t believe me either. If he had, he would have reached out at some point in the last fifteen years.

My anger softened a little when I saw how shaken Selene looked, like she had seen a ghost.

“Wh… what are you doing here?” she finally asked, looking away from Kael.

Her eyes moved to the bruise on my cheek. I felt a sudden wave of shame, but my anger quickly pushed it aside.

“I came back home,” I said, then looked at Kael. There was no reason to hide it. “This is Kael. He’s… he’s starting puberty. He needs a pack to guide him. I was hoping maybe your father could—”

“I don’t see that happening,” Selene said, her eyes still moving back to Kael every few seconds.

A deep tiredness settled over me. After everything that had happened in the last few days, I started to feel like nothing in my life would ever be easy again. But I had to try. I would do anything to help Kael, even if it meant begging the Pinecrest Valley alpha.

“Look, Selene, can you at least tell me if you’ve spoken to Orion recently? Maybe he could talk to your father.”

Selene’s face became more serious and thoughtful when I mentioned her brother.

Kael quickly looked up. I hadn’t hidden everything from him. He knew his father’s name. From the look in his eyes, I could tell he was starting to understand who this woman was.

After a moment, Selene said, “Orion left this place, just like I did… just like I thought you did too. I don’t…” She stopped, looked at Kael again, then continued, “I don’t think anything has changed with my family since you left.”

I hadn’t seen her in fifteen years, and in less than three minutes, I already felt like slapping her. I didn’t come back for her, or even for myself. I came back for my son, to get him the help I couldn’t give.

“That’s fine, Selene, but I’m still going to try to contact Lance. You can tell him, or let it surprise him. Your choice,” I said. Then I turned away, pushing my cart harder than needed and hitting a pretzel display. The packets fell to the floor.

“Mom?” Kael said. “Am I related to this lady—”

“Kael Quinn, get over here,” I said sharply.

We picked up a few more things and quickly went to the register. I didn’t want to see Selene again. Kael stayed quiet, though I could see so many questions in his eyes.

As I drove away from the store, I felt more tired than ever before. All I wanted was to sleep, and maybe get a chance to redo the last fifteen years. A time machine would be even better. Then I could go back to before Orion left and tell him everything face to face. Even now, I still believed that if I had told him myself, he would have believed me. He would have stayed.

Maybe that was just foolish thinking. His family told him he had a child, but he never tried to contact me.

That told me everything I needed to know about Orion Blackthorne.