It was… something.
“This is the plan?” I muttered, more to myself than to Jacob. “This is how I get to see my son?”
Jacob shrugged, arms folded like he was presiding over my downfall. He was still leaning against the doorframe like he’d just delivered a eulogy and was taking a moment to admire his own performance. Smug bastard.
I didn’t look at him again. If I did, I might say something I’d regret–or worse, something he’d find entertaining.
I had been Alpha since I was twenty–five. I’d negotiated ceasefires between packs that hadn’t spoken in two generations. Led soldiers into battle against rogue units twice our size. Stared down wolves with blood on their hands and murder in their eyes, and walked away without flinching.
Now I was being asked to supervise snack time.
And for what?
Because the woman I loved–the mother of my child, the mate the Moon Goddess chose for me–didn’t remember who I was. Couldn’t remember. Not without the risk of her entire mind collapsing under the weight of it.
Because some bastard with a God complex had tampered with the deepest, most sacred parts of her mind–rewriting what she loved, erasing what mattered most. Because Logan had sunk his claws into her consciousness and left it splintered.
Because I had failed her.
Hadn’t seen it soon enough. Fought hard enough. Believed in her the way she’d always deserved.
The bond was still there–alive and unrelenting. I could feel it thrumming beneath my skin, steady and magnetic, like a second heartbeat. When she was nearby, it was like the air changed. Like everything in me aligned to her–heartbeat, breath, wolf.
When I stood in the same building as her, it was like standing too close to a bonfire. Heat curled under my skin, pulled at my ribs, dragged me forward no matter how I tried to stay still.
But she didn’t know me.
She’d looked at me from her hospital bed with bright, curious eyes like I was a stranger in the hallway.
And smiled.
Like we were meeting for the first time.
And even through the pain–Godess, the crushing weight of it–even through the horror of what had been taken from us, part of me had clung to that smile like it was the first light after winter. She didn’t know me. But she liked me.
And maybe, just maybe, I could make her love me again.
If this was the way back to her, I’d take it.
Even if it meant putting on a volunteer badge.
some
Even if it meant being elbowed in the stomach by a five–year–old in a cape who thought he was Alpha of the foam block pik Even if it meant Jacob Stormvale watching from the sidelines, arms folded, eyes full of smug amusement like he was waiting for me to cry over spilled juice.
Let him.
He thought this would humiliate me.
He thought putting me in a room full of rogue toddlers would break me down.
Chapter 273
What he didn’t understand was that I’d scrub toilets. I’d tie shoe tag games in the hallways and pass out banana slices like they w
If it meant seeing my son smile-
If it meant being close to Elena, even for a moment-
Then I would do whatever it took.
Up to and including proving Jacob wrong.
Let him watch.
Let him laugh.
I was staying.
And I was going to earn all of it back, one juice box at a time.
Chapter 273
+25 BONUS
What he didn’t understand was that I’d scrub toilets. I’d tie shoelaces with my teeth if I had to. I’d build LEGO castles and referee tag games in the hallways and pass out banana slices like they were gold coins.
If it meant seeing my son smile-
If it meant being close to Elena, even for a moment-
Then I would do whatever it took.
Up to and including proving Jacob wrong.
Let him watch.
Let him laugh.
I was staying.
And I was going to earn all of it back, one juice box at a time.
