Chapter Three

The cold breeze blew past me as I made my way out of the hospital, pulling my coat tighter around my shoulders. 

"Mum! Mum!"

I heard him before I saw him. Across the narrow street, Eli jumped on his toes beside his daycare teacher, waving his arms like I’d been gone for years instead of hours. 

A smile cut through my fatigue. I waited for a yellow taxi to move past, then jogged across the pavement and scooped him into my arms. 

"My sweet boy," I murmured, pressing my nose against his cheek. 

"Mummyyy!" He giggled, wrapping his small arms tightly around my neck. 

I thanked his teacher, took his backpack, and held his hand as we walked the three blocks to our apartment building. 

"I love his eyes," an elderly woman smiled as she passed us, pausing on the sidewalk. "Such a unique silver."

I offered a quick, fake smile. "Thank you."

The moment she walked past, the smile faded immediately. 

Eli had silver eyes, his father's eyes and that was what got me every single time. Every stranger who noticed them, every compliment, every innocent remark. It always pulled me back to a place I had spent three years trying to leave behind.

A sharp gust of wind blew, I felt Eli shiver. I immediately unzipped my trench coat and wrapped it over his shoulders. He was only three, but he ran hot the way wolf pups do as their internal fires awakened. 

"Run!" I laughed, grabbing his hand as the drizzle turned into a downpour. We sprinted the last half block, bursting through the front doors of our building.

"Finally." I breathed, shaking the rain from my hair.

Inside our apartment, the air smelled like cedarwood oil, hot tea, and the quiet safety of a home built for two. I lit a small fire in the fireplace, stripped Eli out of his damp clothes, and tucked him into bed. 

"Mum?" he asked as I reached for the lamp. 

"Yes, my love?"

He looked up at me, his wide silver eyes completely serious. "Why am I different from the kids at daycare?"

My hand froze on the switch. "What do you mean?"

"I'm bigger than them. Taller. My eyes are silver and brighter while others are dark" He chewed his lower lip. "And everyone else has a dad. Where is mine?"

The last question hit my chest like cold lead. 

I sat on the edge of his mattress, brushing a blonde curl from his forehead. "You are a special boy, Eli. A very strong, special boy. That's all you need to know for right now."

He looked at me for a moment like he wasn't entirely satisfied with that answer then settled back into his pillow.

"Goodnight, Mum."

"Goodnight, my love."

Later that evening, I sat by the fireplace with a mug of chamomile tea, listening to the rain hit the windows. It was a cold night even the warmth from the flames didn't quite reach the parts of me that had been cold for three years now.

Three years. Three years since I left Ashwood territory. Something in my chest loosened slightly. I had built something real here. A job in one of the best hospitals, a quiet household and a steady income.  

Yet, as I stared into the fire, five words still echoed in the quiet room: I reject you as mine.

I set my mug down, walked into my bedroom, and knelt beside the bed. I pulled out a small wooden box from beneath the frame and lifted the lid. 

The silver necklace lay coiled inside. It still sparkled. 

The shrill, violent ring of the hallway phone disengaged me from my thoughts, making me jump.

I shoved the box back under the frame, stepped into the hallway, and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Sera? Seraphina?"

Aiden. His voice was breathless, heavy with a tight urgency that made my stomach drop. 

"Aiden? What's wrong?” I said sharply, my heart skipping a beat. 

“It's Dad....." He said. 

"What's going on? What's wrong with dad?" I said with a panicked voice. 

A long, agonizing pause stretched over the line. 

"He's worse, Sera," Aiden said softly. "The fever hasn't broken in four days. He didn't want me to call you, but..." He swallowed hard, his voice cracking. "Can you come home?"

My knees stiffened. "Aiden... you know I can't go back."

"He just wants to see you, Sera," Aiden pleaded quietly. "Please."

My wolf sensed someone tiptoeing in the hallway. I turned to see Eli standing in the doorway in his pajamas, rubbing his sleepy eyes. 

"Mum?" he mumbled. "Who are you talking to?"

I looked at my son, at those silver eyes that answered every question I had tried to run from. 

"I'll be there," I whispered into the phone. "I'm coming."

"Thank you, Sera," Aiden breathed. "Call me when your train gets in."

"And Sera….” Aiden whispered. 

“Uh huh?”

His voice filled with panic. "You need to be careful. Something is wrong at the border. Ironveil guards are everywhere. Caelum has gone completely wild.”

I hung up, knelt before Eli, pulling him close. 

"Sweet boy, what's wrong?" I asked, rushing to his side and pulling him into my arms. 

"I had the bad dream again," he whimpered, burying his face into my shoulder.

"The same one?"

He nodded against my neck, his little hands clutching my shirt. "The man with the silver eyes like mine. He was locked in a cold, dark room under the rocks. There were chains on his arms, Mum. He was bleeding and screaming for you."

A sharp, icy chill ran down my spine.

For months, Eli had been waking up talking about the "man in the dark." I had brushed it off as childhood imagination, but hearing him describe silver eyes and iron chains made my blood run cold. I don't even know if what he saw was real. I didn't care, because the man in question broke me. 

"It was just a dream, Eli," I lied softly, my voice trembling as I stroked his hair. "You're safe here. Nobody is locked in the dark."

I rocked him until his breathing slowed and his eyes drifted shut again. But as I laid him back onto his pillow, my hands were shaking.

Silver eyes, chained under the rocks.

Before I could imagine the terror, my mind registered I was going back. Back to the territory that broke me.  

I didn't wait for morning. I threw our clothes into a single bag, scooped up my sleeping son, and fled into the dark New York rain toward the midnight train.

Eight hours later, the train screeched to a halt at the edge of the mountain line.

I stepped off the platform, holding Eli tight against my chest as the damp breeze of the northern wilderness hit my face.

I took one step past the rusted border sign into Ashwood territory.

BANG. An electric shock tore through my chest so hard my knees buckled.

The dormant mate bond didn't just wake up, it exploded into a roaring, suffocating fire, searing straight through my lungs.

And then the howl came tearing through the mountain furiously, rattling the branches above my head, sending a flock of birds erupting from the trees.

My knees locked. Eli's arms tightened around my neck. 

Then the leaves started rustling. I could hear it but couldn't see it. It came from deep in the dark between the trees. It came closer, closer again. Heavy but slowly.

My chest stopped moving. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I just held my son tighter and listened. 

Suddenly, the forest went completely silent.

Dead Silent.