Chapter 113
+25 BONUS
Chapter 113
1 never felt this helpless before,” I said.
“I know,” she replied. Her voice was soll. “But even when he’s healy, It’s not easy
Inmed to look at her.
They say that to have a child is to take your heart from your body and watch it walk away.
Her words hung in the air, quiet and full of ache.
I didn’t respond. Icouldn’t
Because that was exactly what it felt like.
And I had only just realized it was my heart I’d been watching all along
to protect someone,” Immured. “I thought I understood what I was willing to fight
“I always thought I knew what it meant to pe for. KM for. Die for.”
I looked back down at my hands. Still faintly stained with his blood
“But this-”
Before I could continue, the pediatric doctor came back out, looked at me. “You ready to donate a little more blood for your son?
He didn’t need to ask twice
I was already pulling up my sleeve.
The walk back to the lab was a blur. The nurse from before greeted me with a relieved smile and offered another bottle of water and a different protein bar. I downed both without protest.
The second draw felt slower–my veins a little more sluggish, my body slightly fatigued. A dull ache settled in my arm where the needle sat. But none of it mattered.
All I could think about was Aiden.
That boy who I’d carried into this hospital. The boy who smiled up at me whenever I crossed onto Moonstone packland. The one who asked questions about wolves and territory and honor.
Who challenged me to a game of basketball and told me I was wearing the wrong shoes.
My son
The realization hadn’t dulled. It only sharpened.
Every drop of blood sliding out of my body carried the weight of that truth.
My son.
As the blood trickled steadily down the line, I let my eyes close and gave myself over to the memories. Every grin. Every ridiculous question. Every little moment that had burrowed into me without me even knowing it.
He’d already changed me. Before I knew the truth. Before I ever had the right to claim him.
And Thadn’t known.
Thadn’t been there when he was born. I hadn’t held him on his first night or kissed his scraped knees or taught him how to tie his shoes.
I hadn’t been there the first time he got sick. Or scared.
Chapter 13.
And yet he’d found me anyway.
Tes pricked at the corners of iny eyes. I blinked them away.
+25 BONUS
There was griet in that realization–griet for the time I’d lost, for the memories I would never get back. For the birthdays and bedtimes and everything in between.
But there was gratitude, too. Deep and reverent.
I had him now.
And there was fury, yes–berning hot and white at the thought of what had been kept from me. The lies. The silence. The ache of
it all
But none of that mattered as much as the vow rising in my chest.
I wasn’t going to lose him again.
The nurse reappeared, her eyes kind. She clamped off the line and wrapped my arm with steady hands, then checked my vitals, her fingers cool against my wrist.
“Still doing okay?” she asked.
Inodded, though my voice was gone.
Stay seated for just a few more minutes, alright? Let your body catch up.
I nodded again, but I barely heard her. My thoughts were a thousand miles away.
When I finally stood, the world tilted slightly–just a little. But I caught myself on the edge of the chair, breathed through it, and found my balance.
I stepped back into the waiting room, ready to contront Elena about all that had been kept from me.
But she was gone.
Chapter 114
