LOGINDo you think this is the right call from Benjamin?
DAMIAN’S POV“What flowers?”Benjamin was still on one knee in the middle of my front hall. His son held onto my sister’s sleeve. He asked the question again. No one spoke until I did.I had practiced this a hundred times. In the car. While I shaved. Lying awake at three in the morning when the house was quiet. Not one of those times had me kneeling in front of my sister with forty people listening.“Every year we took Lucian somewhere on his birthday,” I said.Lucian lifted his head from Alice’s shoulder.“I always picked the flowers myself.”Alice kept running her hand through his hair. She never looked at him. She looked at me.“We never took him to a grave,” I said. “He wasn’t dead, so there was no grave. There’s a hill above the compound, on the far side of the east road. One big oak tree stands on it. We started going there on his first birthday. It became our thing.”“And the flowers.”“He puts them under the tree. Then he closes his eyes and makes one wish.”“What wish?” Alice
ALICE’S POVNobody in the hall made a sound.He was taller. That was the first thing I noticed. He had color in his face now. He had put on healthy weight. The last time I held my son he was light enough to carry up a flight of stairs without stopping. His hair had grown out. It curled over his forehead.His eyes were the same striking blue. Those were mine.“Lucian,” I said. “My baby.”He blinked at me a few times. Then his eyes filled with tears and his voice came out very small.“…Mom?”“It’s me.” I nodded and could not stop. “I’m right here, baby.”He ran across the hall.My bag hit the floor. I was on my knees before I decided to drop. He crashed into me hard enough to push me back on my heels. I wrapped both arms around him and held on.His hair smelled the same. Three years later and it smelled exactly the same.“My baby. My little wolf. You’re alive.”His arms locked around my neck.“I knew you’d come back.”“You knew?”He nodded against my shoulder.“Uncle Damian said you wer
DAMIAN’S POVI checked my watch. Four minutes since the last time I looked.The sun was going down behind the western hills. The whole compound turned gold. Guards walked the perimeter. Staff came in and out of the main doors with papers under their arms. Just a normal evening at Shadow Moon.My sister hung up on me eleven hours ago. The secret I kept for three years came out this morning. I haven’t touched the reports on my desk since. I put off two meetings. I canceled a third.Drake leaned against the front porch with his arms folded. David stood a few feet away. His face had no color. His eyes stayed on the gate. We spent all day in my office trying to figure out what to say to her. We found nothing. There was nothing to find.“You’ve been pacing for twenty minutes,” Drake said.“I know.”“You’ll wear a hole in the pavement.”“I’m not worried about her yelling at me.”“I know you’re not.”“I’m worried she’ll never call me big brother again.”Drake had nothing to say. He’s had an a
BENJAMIN’S POVShadow Moon was less than an hour away. I kept my eyes on the road the whole drive, but I didn’t really see any of it.The trees, the sky, the gray asphalt stretching out in front of the car — none of it registered. The only thing I could see was a small face I’d spent three years trying to forget.The last time I saw my son, he was four years old. Small. Scared. About to find out exactly what his father thought of him.He wasn’t sick yet. He’d been healthy right up until that night. A loud kid who laughed too much, asked too many questions, and followed his mother around the house like a shadow.I destroyed him with four words.I never wanted him.I didn’t know he was in the hallway. I didn’t see him standing there in his pajamas, holding that wooden wolf, listening to every word. I didn’t see his face fall apart or watch him turn and run.Alice saw all of it.She was looking past me before I even finished talking. When I turned to see what she was looking at, her face
ALICE’S POVThe phone slipped out of my hand and hit the desk. I didn’t hear it land. All I heard was my brother’s voice on the other end.“Yes. Lucian is alive. He’s safe. He’s here and he’s fine. He’s been fine this whole time—”My legs gave out. Benjamin caught me before I hit the floor. He held on tight. I could feel his hands, but nothing else.He got me into the chair by the window and crouched in front of me.“Alice.”“He said yes,” I said. My voice didn’t sound like mine. “I asked him straight out and he said yes.”“I heard him.”“He said Lucian is alive.”“I know. I heard the whole thing.”I still had the file clutched against my chest. The clock on his desk ticked loud in the quiet room.Then the crying hit me all at once. I couldn’t get a full breath.“My son,” I managed. “My baby is alive.”I laughed in the middle of the sobs. The sound scared me. It didn’t sound human. Then the laugh broke into more crying and I just let it happen.“Three years, Benjamin. Three birthdays.
Damian’s POVI had the phone to my ear before the second ring. I was smiling, because for two days I’ve known my sister is finally coming home.“Alice—” I started but her voice caught me off.She didn’t say hello. Her voice was low and breaking at the edges.“Is my son Lucian alive?”Everything in me stopped. Three years of keeping one secret, gone in five words. I couldn’t find a lie anywhere in my head to put in front of it. I wouldn’t have used one even if I could.“Yes.” The word came out too fast, rougher than I meant. “Lucian is alive. He’s safe. He’s here and he’s fine and he’s been fine for—”The line went dead. I took the phone away from my ear and looked at it for a minute more, trying to figure out what just happened “Damn,” I said, to nobody. Not because I was angry. I never once wanted her to find out like that. I wanted her to come home so we can finally talk but I guess that’s not happening again.There was a knock. The door opened before I answered it. Drake came in a
ALICE’S POVThe Blue Moon Festival was Lucian’s idea of heaven and my four-year plan of endurance.He’d been talking about it for weeks—the lanterns, the fireworks, the honey cakes from the booth near the stage. When he’d asked, he’d pressed both hands together like he was praying, eyes wide, and I
ALICE’S POVThe days that followed had a rhythm I didn’t trust.Benjamin came every morning. He actually sat at the table — something I still hadn’t gotten used to — and ate whatever I put in front of him. He returned every evening and stayed until Lucian’s eyes drifted shut.Four mornings in a row
ALICE’S POVBy the time I walked into the hospital room, I had composed myself completely. My face was set.Lucian was awake, sitting up in bed. His face brightened the moment he saw me."Mommy. You came back.""I came back." I lifted him into my arms. He smelled like baby shampoo, antiseptic, and
Alice’s POV"What?""Is this your new plan? To trap me again?" Benjamin’s voice dripped with contempt. "Did you run out of tricks, Alice? Is faking our son’s terminal illness really the best you could come up with?"I couldn’t breathe. The hospital hallway seemed to close in around me, the walls pr







