There was silence in the jungle.
Silent too much.
Elara's breath was slow, under control as she bent next to the thick underbrush and her pulse hammered. She was quite familiar with this quiet. Not peace at all. That was the kind of silence preceding a storm.
Prior to the expedition.
Beside her, Kieran had his golden eyes fixed on the tree line. His body was tight, his shoulders stiff with the kind of expectation she too often knew.
There seemed to be something outside. observing.
And Elara's instincts cried out that this was not merely another foe.
This was something far worse.
Something that would fundamentally alter everything.
Her first smell was this one.
Though buried under the moist ground and fir, it was faint buried. Blood, Anxiety.
And anything known as also familiar.
Kieran followed first.
Though Elara could feel his desperation, his actions were under control.
He was not only following a foe.
From his past he was following a ghost.
A far-off wail tore through the air.
The heart stopped for Elara.
That was not the cry of a wolf.
It was a young child.
They turned up him in a clearing.
No older than five, a small boy was clutching a handmade cloak across his skinny shoulders and his form shook. His face had traces of dried tears; his dark hair was matted with filth.
And his golden eyes.
Elara staggered back, astonishment drowning in her like a tidal wave.
Kieran freezes.
Looking up at him, the lad said, "Dad?"
Elara breathed in brief, quick bursts.
Turning to Kieran, he was not staring at her.
He had his eye on the youngster.
The identical golden eyes the lad had inherited were locked in shocked amazement.
Elara had assumed she had seen every expression he used before.
But this is what I mean.
This was unusual.
This was dread.
"Kieran," she murmured gently.
He replied nothing.
His hands closed at his sides; his whole body locked with strain.
Then, at last—his voice came, broken, harsh.
"Luca?"?
The lad stared; his mouth parted. "You remember me?"
Elara's stomach turned.
Because in those few words she heard everything.
He had been watching for Kieran.
Holding out for his father to return.
And Kieran never possessed as well.
In Elara's thoughts, the fragments clicked together too quickly and too forcefully.
Lucia.
sons of Kieran.
The offspring of Alpha.
This indicated Elara's mother was—jaw tightened.
Serena.
The former mate of Kieran.
The woman who had turned down another Alpha decided on another Alpha.
Elara had despised her back then—not for Kieran but for what she had done afterward.
for what she aimed to absorb from him.
Now standing in this area, Elara saw—Serena had lied—the tear-streaked face of the kid she had kept from Kieran.
She had told Kieran his child had passed away.
The reality crept over them like a stifling mist.
Elara had no idea what to say.
She had spent years fighting by Kieran, hated him, saved him, wanted to murder him, then wanted to save him once more.
But never, not once—had she considered this?
a toddler.
a live, breathing lost piece of him.
Luca pointed up Kieran, his small fists shaking.
"I waited," he said in whispers.
Kieran inhaled shakily, his body slinking slightly as though the weight of this moment was too much.
"I didn't know," he murmured, and his voice—Elara had never heard it like that before.
Fragile.
Fractured.
Luca sneezed. "Mom told me you were dead."
Kieran flinched.
Elara closed her hands into fists. Serena had followed through on this.
She had taken Kieran's entitlement to be a father.
Worse still, she had taken Luca's right to knowledge of the truth.
Elara was blinded by the fury she experienced.
She forced it down though, since this had nothing to do with her.
It focused on them.
And next.
Kieran bent slowly, his eyes never leaving Luca's.
"I swear to you," he replied, voice raw, unvarnished, "I was uninformed."
Luca blink fast, his small body shaking.
Elara could see the turmoil in his small frame—that of a youngster forced to survive alone.
Who had lied to?
To whom had they lost everything?
And then he advanced forward.
Still another.
And before Elara could even start to understand it—Luca slammed into Kieran's arms.
The lad sobbed from his throat. "You showed up."
Kieran's arms encircled him, pressing, desperate.
And Elara knew when she heard the low, shaking breath Kieran produced.
The first thing he had ever battled for that really counted was this.
Elara gasped sharply, everything weighing her all at once slamming on her.
Kieran had battled for his pack, for survival, for power all his life.
But now?
He would fight for something else as well.
For another person.
She also lacked clarity about where it left her.
Kieran had always been to her a warrior, an Alpha, an opponent, an ally.
Today, though.
She was now seeing him evolve into something quite different.
A dad.
She also experienced something she never would have predicted in her first lifetime.
not envy.
Not enrage.
Fear, though.
For Kieran had something to lose.
She then went as well.
And far more dangerous than any battle was that.
Kieran will deal with the truth about his son in what way?
Serena disappeared from sight and why did she lie?
Is the harm too great or will Luca accept his father?
The past wasn't finished with them yet, one thing was abundantly evident.
Nor was the battle to come.