Chapter 154
+25 BONUS:
es, watching Aiden throw his head back in joy as he sped around the rose bushes, hair flying behind him and
“helmet finally strapped tight—I couldn’t deny the truth of what I’d said.
Derek had done something for him today that I never could have.
And it mattered.
Derek stayed quiet, the gravity of our conversation sinking in
I turned to look at him fully. “I was thinking maybe you’d like to take him for a weekend.”
His eyes widened, hope flashing through them so fast it made my stomach twist.
“You mean it?”
“Yes.”
The word had barely left my mouth before he stepped forward, instinctively reaching for me like he might pull me into a hug.
I stepped back.
Not far. But enough.
His arms dropped to his sides again.
He cleared his throat. “Thank you. Really. That means more than I can-”
“It’s not about you,” I said, more harshly than I meant. “It’s about him. And what he deserves.”
He nodded, chastened. “Understood.”
We stood there for a moment, watching Aiden circle the yard with the kind of joy only a six–year–old boy could
muster.
“I’ll come pick him a week from Friday,” Derek said. “After school?”
“That’s fine.”
He smiled again, just a little. “We’ll get meatballs. Maybe go camping.”
I snorted. “Don’t spoil him.”
“No promises.”
After he left, I found Aiden in the packhouse, a juice box in one hand and his helmet still half–strapped to his head.
“Wear it properly or you there will be pieces of little werewolf all over the lawn,” I muttered, tightening the strap before he could run off again.
As he took off down the hall, we nearly collided with Logan.
Aiden lit up. “Logan! Did you see me on my bike?”
Logan grinned. “Your bike?”
“Yeah! Derek taught me how!”
Chapter 14
+25 BONUS
I saw it then. Just a flicker. A tightening of the law, a tenslot in the eyes
Bukto Alden, he was all smiles.
“That’s amazing, dudel Congratulations!”
Aiden beamed. “Thanks!” He ran off again, yelling something about needing to do a “ramp jump” off the curb.
I rubbed my temples. “Helmet!”
I turned back to Logan, who was still staring after him.
“So,” he said slowly, “that’s going well, huh?”
I gave a little shrug. “Derek’s been… trying. And he’s good with him. Better than I expected.”
We stood quietly for a moment. “I’m letting him take him for a weekend.”
Logan’s brow creased “Joint custody?
I glanced at him. “Eventually, maybe. It’s not off the table.”
He didn’t say anything for a second.
Then: “You know the rogue attacks lately have only been hitting Moonstone, right?”
I frowned. “What are you implying?”
He hesitated, eyes scanning the corridor like he wasn’t sure how loud he should speak.
“Just
that… you should be careful. You think Silverclaw’s completely innocent in all this? That after generations of animosity,
one treaty at the Alliance Summit was enough to wipe the slate clean?”
He crossed his arms. “You think there aren’t people in that pack who hate Moonstone? Who remember the blood feuds, the territory wars, the betrayals?”
My chest tightened. “You’re saying Derek’s lying to me?”
“I’m saying maybe he doesn’t know what’s happening under his own roof,” Logan said. “Or maybe he does Either way….if you send Aiden to Silverclaw you may not get him back.”
My blood went cold.
He wasn’t wrong about the history. Silverclaw and Moonstone had been at each other’s throats for generations. The Summit hadn’t erased that it had just buried it under the illusion of progress.
Derek would never hurt Alden. But would he keep him? Keep him from me like all those years I’d done the same to him?
Doubt bloomed in my gut like rot.
“Thanks,” I said quietly. “I’ll think about it.”
Logan nodded, then turned and walked away, leaving me standing in the hallway, heart thudding in my ears.
