7
1800 Words
Chapter 7: The DNA of a Lie
I drove fast.
The speedometer on the Aston Martin climbed past eighty as I tore up the winding road toward the cottage.
"Mommy, you are driving crazy," Leo whispered from the back seat. He was still clutching his stuffed tiger, his eyes red and puffy from crying.
"I am driving with purpose," I corrected, though my hands were white-knuckled on the leather steering wheel. "Dorian, call the jet. Tell the pilot to prep for takeoff."
Dorian sat in the passenger seat. He was not looking at his phone. He was looking at the side mirror.
"We cannot leave, Elara," Dorian said calmly.
"Watch me," I snapped. "He saw the eyes, Dorian. He heard the growl. Kael is not stupid. He knows Leo is his. If we stay, he will file for custody by sunset. He will lock down the borders."
"He already has," Dorian said.
I slammed on the brakes. The car skidded slightly on the gravel before coming to a halt in the middle of the road.
"What?"
"Look," Dorian pointed ahead.
Through the trees, I could see the main gate of the cottage. Two black SUVs were parked horizontally across the driveway, blocking the exit. Four pack enforcers stood guard with arms crossed.
I looked in the rearview mirror. Two more SUVs were coming up the road behind us, boxing us in.
"He moved fast," Dorian muttered. "Impressive tactical response. He mobilized his elite guard in under ten minutes."
My heart hammered against my ribs, but the panic that had fueled my escape from the school suddenly crystallized into ice cold rage.
This was exactly what I had feared. Kael was using his Alpha authority to trap me.
"He thinks he can keep me here?" I whispered. "He thinks he can hold the CEO of Vance Global hostage on a dirt road?"
"He thinks he is keeping his son from running away," Dorian corrected. He looked at me. "Elara, if you run now, you look guilty. If you fight, you look dangerous. You have to play this smart."
I looked at Leo in the backseat. He looked terrified. He sensed the tension, the aggression of the wolves surrounding us.
I could not let him see me afraid.
I took a deep breath. I smoothed my hair. I checked my lipstick in the mirror.
"You are right," I said. "Running is for prey. I am not prey."
I turned to Leo.
"Leo, put your headphones on," I ordered softly. "Watch your tablet. Do not take them off until I open the door. Do you understand?"
Leo nodded and pulled his oversized headphones over his ears. He was a good soldier.
"Dorian," I said. "Stay in the car with him. Lock the doors. If anyone tries to break the glass, you have my permission to break their arms."
Dorian cracked his knuckles. A wicked grin spread across his face. "With pleasure."
I opened the driver's side door and stepped out onto the road.
The air was thick with the scent of pine and aggression. The enforcers watched me warily. They knew who I was now. They knew I was the woman who owned their mortgages.
A moment later, Kael's black truck roared up the road. He bypassed the blockade, driving on the grass, and slammed on his brakes ten feet from where I stood.
He jumped out of the truck before the engine even died.
He looked wild. His hair was windblown, his chest heaving. He marched toward me, his boots crunching heavily on the gravel.
"Where is he?" Kael demanded. He did not yell, but his voice vibrated with a terrifying intensity.
I stood my ground. I crossed my arms over my silk blouse.
"He is in the car," I said calmly. "Listening to Baby Shark and ignoring your dramatic entrance."
Kael stopped three feet from me. He tried to look past me, toward the tinted windows of the Aston Martin.
"I want to see him," Kael said.
"No," I replied.
"Elara, do not play games with me!" Kael roared. The sound echoed through the trees. "I saw his eyes! I heard his growl! No four year old wolf has an Alpha growl unless he comes from an Alpha bloodline!"
He took a step closer, invading my space.
"He is mine," Kael whispered harshly. "Isn't he? Tell me the truth."
I looked him dead in the eye. I had practiced this lie for years. I had rehearsed it in the shower, in the car, in the boardroom.
"He is adopted," I said.
Kael blinked. "What?"
"I adopted him," I lied smoothly. "From a distant cousin in the Northern Territories. A cousin who had... Lycan ancestry. That explains the eyes. That explains the strength."
Kael stared at me. He was searching for a tic, a tremor, anything that would give me away.
"You are lying," Kael said. "He looks exactly like me. The jaw. The nose."
"He looks like a generic dark haired wolf," I countered. "You are projecting, Kael. You are desperate for an heir because your relationship with Siena is a failure, so you are seeing what you want to see."
It was a low blow. I saw it land. Kael flinched.
"I am not projecting," Kael insisted. "I felt the pull. When I touched him... my wolf howled. It was the same pull I feel toward you."
"The pull you feel toward me is a biological mistake," I snapped. "And the pull toward him is just your instinct recognizing a strong pup."
I took a step forward, forcing him to step back.
"Now move your trucks," I ordered. "You are blocking my driveway. And technically, this is a private road. I could have you arrested for trespassing."
Kael laughed. It was a dry, humorless sound.
"Arrested?" Kael shook his head. "Elara, we are on pack lands. My word is law here. If I say you do not leave, you do not leave."
"Is that a threat?" I asked softly. "Are you threatening the woman who controls your entire financial future?"
"I am protecting my blood!" Kael yelled. He lost his composure. "I know he is my son! I can feel it in my bones! Why are you hiding him? Why are you keeping him from me?"
"Because you rejected us!"
The scream tore out of my throat before I could stop it.
The silence that followed was deafening.
My chest heaved. The mask had slipped. Just for a second.
Kael went still. His eyes widened.
"Us?" he whispered.
I froze. I realized my mistake instantly.
I tried to backtrack. "I meant... you rejected me. You rejected my family."
"No," Kael said. He shook his head slowly. He took a step toward me. His expression changed from anger to a dawning, horrified realization. "You said 'us'. You said 'You rejected us'."
He did the math.
Five years ago. The rejection. The immediate departure. The age of the boy.
He looked at my stomach, then back at my face.
"You were pregnant," Kael whispered. The color drained from his face, leaving him ashen. "That night. At the Mating Ball. When I rejected you... you were already pregnant."
I looked away. I could not look at the pain in his eyes. It was too raw.
"Answer me!" Kael begged. His voice broke. "Elara, please. Was I... did I reject my own pup?"
I closed my eyes. There was no point in lying anymore. He had the pieces.
"Yes," I hissed.
Kael staggered back. He looked like he had been shot. He grabbed the hood of his truck to steady himself.
"Oh Goddess," he choked out. "I sent you away. You had nothing. You were alone."
"I survived," I said coldly. "No thanks to you."
Kael looked up. There were tears in his eyes. Actual tears.
"I didn't know," he pleaded. "Elara, I swear on my life. If I had known..."
"If you had known, what?" I interrupted. "You would have kept me? You would have locked me in the nursery while you played house with Siena? You would have taken my son and raised him to be just like you: arrogant and cruel?"
"I would have claimed you!" Kael shouted. "I would have torn up the rejection! I would have made you Luna!"
"Because of the baby!" I yelled back. "Not because of me! You wanted the heir, Kael. You never wanted Elara."
He opened his mouth to argue, but he closed it. He knew I was right. Five years ago, he had only cared about status.
"I have changed," Kael whispered. "I am not that man anymore."
"Prove it," I said.
I pointed to the blockade of cars.
"If you are really a different man. If you really care about what is best for Leo. Then you will move those cars. You will let us go into that house. And you will leave us alone."
Kael looked at the cars. He looked at me.
He was warring with his wolf. His wolf wanted to grab me, bite me, mark me, and drag me back to his den. His wolf wanted to claim the pup.
But the man... the man was looking at the fear and anger in my eyes.
"If I let you go," Kael said hoarsely. "Will you run again?"
"I have a contract," I reminded him. "I am not going anywhere. But if you try to take him from me... if you try to use your Alpha authority to steal my son... I will destroy this pack. I will burn it to the ground and salt the earth. Do you understand me?"
Kael looked at me. He saw the violet flash in my eyes. He saw the mother wolf protecting her cub.
He nodded slowly.
"I understand," he said.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his radio.
"Stand down," Kael ordered his men. "Clear the road."
The enforcers looked confused, but they obeyed. The SUVs reversed. The blockade dissolved.
Kael stepped aside.
"Go," he said. He did not look at me. He looked at the ground. He looked broken.
I walked back to the Aston Martin. My legs were shaking, but I held my head high.
I opened the door and slid into the driver's seat.
"Everything okay?" Dorian asked quietly.
"He knows," I said. I put the car in gear. "But he let us go."
"For now," Dorian noted.
"Yes," I said as I drove past Kael. I saw him standing alone in the dust, watching us. "For now."
But as we drove up the driveway to the cottage, I knew the dynamic had shifted.
Kael wasn't just my debtor anymore. He wasn't just the man who rejected me.
He was a father who had just discovered his son.
And he would not stay away for long.
- Writer
