Jace
I had imagined this moment so many times—seeing my mother without the shadow of my uncle standing over her, without the façade of a Luna bound to him. But the reality gutted me. She looked smaller, wearier than I remembered. Years of silence had carved into her the way a river carves stone.
And yet, when she touched my face, I was a boy again. A son. Not the Alpha the pack was waiting for, not the mate Cara needed me to be. Just her child.
“My son,” she whispered again, and the ache in her voice was worse than any wound.
I held her tighter, afraid she would vanish like smoke. But Maeve’s circle had worked—she was here, in Morris’s home, away from him. For now.
When I finally pulled back, the questions tore out of me raw. “Mother, I need to know the truth. That day—when Father fou
