Chapter 7: Shadows Watching

•Lisa•

The red light above the operating room door remained on.

I didn’t know how much time had passed.

The clock hanging across the corridor ticked steadily, but I had stopped looking at it. Every minute felt exactly the same. I sat for a while, then stood, then walked a few steps before returning to the same spot outside the operating room. My hands refused to stay still. Sometimes they twisted together. Sometimes they rubbed against each other until my palms turned red.

The nurse at the reception desk looked at me more than once.

I knew why.

Parents waiting outside an operating room all looked the same. They tried to stay calm, but every time the doors moved, they jumped to their feet, hoping someone would call their name.

I had become one of them.

A little girl was wheeled past me with her father walking beside her. He bent down and kissed her forehead before she disappeared through another set of doors. A few seats away, an elderly woman quietly prayed with a rosary wrapped around her fingers.

Everyone was waiting for someone.

Everyone was hoping for good news.

I lowered my head and closed my eyes for a moment.

Please…

Just let him be safe.

That was all I wanted.

Nothing else mattered.

A soft vibration pulled me from my thoughts.

My phone.

For one terrifying second, I thought it was the hospital calling again.

Instead, Sasha’s name appeared on the screen.

I answered quietly.

“Lisa…”

Her voice sounded weak.

“I heard you left the club.”

“I did.”

“I’m sorry.”

I leaned back against the wall.

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“If I hadn’t asked you to cover my shift…”

“You didn’t force me.”

Silence stretched between us.

“I hope your little boy will be okay,” she whispered.

“So do I.”

After ending the call, I slipped my phone back into my bag and rested my head against the wall. My body was exhausted, but my mind refused to rest.

The image of Ronan’s face kept forcing its way back into my thoughts.

His anger.

His disbelief.

The way his eyes changed the moment I mentioned my son.

He thought I had betrayed him.

He thought I had built a new family while he mourned me.

If only he knew…

I quickly stopped myself.

No.

He could never know.

Not yet.

Across the corridor, the elevator doors opened.

A man wearing a dark hoodie stepped out.

His face remained hidden beneath the shadow of the hood as he walked slowly through the hallway. He didn’t seem to be looking for a patient or asking anyone for directions. Instead, he stopped beside a vending machine with a clear view of the operating room.

I never looked in his direction.

My attention remained fixed on the closed doors ahead of me.

The stranger glanced toward me only once before taking a phone from his pocket.

He turned slightly away from the corridor and spoke so quietly that no one nearby noticed.

“She’s been found.”

A pause followed.

“And so has the child.”

He listened without saying another word.

His free hand slipped into his coat pocket as he nodded once.

“No. She doesn’t suspect anything.”

Another pause.

“I’ll continue watching.”

The call ended.

The phone disappeared back into his pocket as if it had never been there.

Moments later, he walked toward the stairwell and vanished without leaving a trace.

I never noticed him.

Several miles away, another phone rang.

Desmond glanced at the screen before stepping away from the other guards.

“Alpha.”

Ronan stood beside the large window of his office, looking over the Blackthorn Pack grounds. His expression remained unreadable.

“Report.”

“We followed her exactly as ordered.”

“Did she meet him?”

Desmond hesitated.

“No.”

Ronan slowly turned around.

“No?”

“She went straight to the hospital.”

“And?”

“There really is a child.”

Silence filled the room.

Ronan’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

“The boy was taken into surgery not long ago.”

Still no response.

Desmond waited.

Finally, Ronan spoke.

“Did you see the father?”

“No.”

“Did anyone visit her?”

“No.”

“Was she alone?”

“Yes.”

Another heavy silence settled between them.

Desmond had known Ronan long enough to recognize the thoughts hidden behind that calm expression. The report wasn’t what Ronan had expected.

He had expected lies.

An excuse.

A lover waiting somewhere.

Instead, Lisa had spent every moment beside a hospital bed.

“Keep watching,” Ronan said at last.

“Alpha…”

“What?”

Desmond chose his words carefully.

“Maybe there’s more to this than we understand.”

Ronan’s eyes hardened immediately.

“There isn’t.”

“But…”

“I don’t care if the child is sick.”

His voice was flat.

“The boy is another man’s son.”

Desmond lowered his head.

“Yes, Alpha.”

The call ended.

Ronan remained standing by the window long after the screen went dark.

His wolf paced restlessly inside him.

Something about the report refused to leave his mind.

Lisa had looked terrified.

Not for herself.

For the child.

He closed his eyes briefly before forcing the thought away.

It changed nothing.

Whatever happened five years ago, she had still left him.

She had still chosen another life.

Somewhere inside a hospital, she was now protecting another man’s child.

His hands slowly curled into fists.

“So that’s the life you chose.”

Back at the hospital, I looked up as the operating room doors moved.

Every muscle in my body tensed.

A doctor stepped outside, removed his mask, and slowly looked around the waiting area.

Then his eyes stopped on me.