Chapter 2: The Past Catches Up

Kyra's hands wouldn't stop shaking as she locked the break room door behind them and pressed her forehead against the cold metal, trying to remember how to breathe.

Six years of running and hiding, six years of building a safe life for her son, and it had all just crumbled to dust because Kade had walked up to Ryker Thorne.

"Mom, you're scaring me," Kade said from behind her, his small voice breaking through the panic flooding her system.

"Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?"

Kyra turned and dropped to her knees, pulling Kade into her arms and holding him so tight he squirmed in protest.

"You didn't do anything wrong, baby," she whispered against his hair, breathing in his scent of honey and home. "I just got scared when I couldn't find you, that's all."

"But I was only in the garage and that man seemed nice," Kade said, pulling back to look at her with those too-intelligent eyes that saw more than any six-year-old should.

"He smelled right, Mom, like how Aunt Zara says family should smell, and I know you said my dad had to leave but maybe he came back?"

The hope in his voice shattered something inside Kyra's chest because how could she explain to her baby that his father hadn't left, that she'd run because Ryker had made it crystal clear she wasn't good enough to be his mate.

"It's complicated, Kade," she said, smoothing his messy hair back from his forehead. "That man is here for the racing championship and he's very busy, so I need you to promise me you won't bother him again, okay?"

"But Mom…" Kade started.

"Promise me, Kade Alaric," Kyra said firmly, using his full name so he'd know she was serious. "No more talking to strangers, especially not that man, do you understand?"

Kade's face fell and he nodded slowly, his disappointment so obvious it made Kyra want to scream. "I promise," he mumbled. "Can I go do my homework now?"

"Yes, baby, homework sounds perfect," Kyra said, kissing his forehead and watching him trudge over to the table where his backpack sat.

She waited until he pulled out his math workbook before she grabbed her phone with trembling fingers and texted her sister.

*He's here.

Ryker is here. I need you sis.*

The reply came back in seconds.

*OMG.

I'm leaving class now. Hold on, I'm coming.*

Kyra sank into a chair and buried her face in her hands, trying to think through the terror clouding her mind. Ryker had seen Kade, had heard him say the name Sedgwick, had probably already done the math and figured out the truth.

The mate bond that she'd suppressed for six years was screaming between them now, demanding she go back to the garage and submit to her alpha, but Kyra had learned to ignore her wolf's instincts a long time ago.

She thought about that night six years ago, the night that had changed everything and given her the greatest gift of her life.

Ryker had been drunk on expensive whiskey and bitter about the contract marriage he'd been forced into, and Kyra had been devastated because her mate had looked at her with disgust when he'd discovered their bond.

They'd torn at each other in his bedroom, anger and frustration and the mate bond burning between them, and for one night Kyra had pretended he actually wanted her.

Then she'd woken up before dawn with his arm heavy across her waist and reality had crashed down. He'd used her to secure his alpha title, paid her fifty thousand dollars to play pretend Luna, and made it clear she'd be dismissed the moment her usefulness ended. So she'd grabbed the money, woken Zara, and run before he could see the pathetic hope in her eyes.

She'd never expected to be pregnant. Her wolf had been so suppressed from living in the pack house as an omega servant that her heat cycles had been irregular and weak. When she'd started feeling sick three months after leaving, she'd assumed it was stress.

By the time she'd realized the truth, she was seven months along and Zara was finally healthy from the treatments the money had paid for.

Kade had been born in a human hospital with Zara holding her hand and no one asking questions about the single mother with no medical records.

Kyra had taken one look at her son's face and known she'd made the right choice running, because this perfect tiny person deserved better than a father who'd rejected his own mate for being poor.

"Mom?" Kade's voice pulled her back to the present. "Is that man really not my dad?"

Kyra's throat closed up because she couldn't lie to him, not directly, but she also couldn't tell him the truth. "Why do you think he is?" she asked carefully.

Kade chewed on his pencil, thinking hard. "Because he smelled like us," he said simply. "And because when I asked him, he looked like you do when I ask about my dad, like someone punched you in the stomach."

Kade was really a smart boy. Too smart. Kyra opened her mouth to deflect again when someone knocked on the break room door, she signed in relief thanking the moon goddess for bringing a saviour at this moment.

But when her wolf recognized the scent immediately and every instinct screamed at her to open the door, to let her alpha in, to submit, she wished there was never a knock.

"Kyra, I know you're in there," Ryker's voice came through the metal. "We need to talk, now."

Kade's head snapped up and his eyes went wide. "That's him," he whispered.

"Stay here," Kyra ordered, standing on shaking legs. She opened the door just enough to slip through and closed it firmly behind her, putting her body between Ryker and the room where her son sat.

"There's nothing to talk about," she said, keeping her voice steady even though her heart was trying to break through her ribs.

Ryker stood in the hallway with his arms crossed and his dark eyes fixed on her face like he could see straight through to her soul.

"That boy in there is mine," he said, and it wasn't a question. "You've been hiding my son from me for six years."

"You signed a contract," Kyra shot back, lifting her chin even though she wanted to run. "One year as your Luna, then I disappear, remember? You got your alpha title, I got my money, end of arrangement."

"The arrangement didn't include you being pregnant with my heir," Ryker growled, stepping closer until she could feel the heat radiating off his body. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't want me," Kyra said, and the words came out bitter.

"You made that very clear when you looked at me like I was dirt on your shoe, when you paid me to play pretend so you wouldn't lose face with the elders, when you made me sign away any claim to being your real mate."

Something flickered across Ryker's face, something that might have been regret, but Kyra didn't trust it. "That was six years ago," he said quietly. "Things are different now."

"Nothing is different," Kyra said. "You still have your alpha title, I still have my son, and that's how it's going to stay."

Ryker's eyes flashed gold and his wolf pushed forward. "That's my son too," he said. "And whether you like it or not, Kyra Sedgwick, you're still my mate.”