THE ALPHA'S SECRET BABY

CHAPTER THREE:Father and Sons

*Kieran’s POV*

_My son._

The words weren’t real until I heard his voice. Small. Curious. Unafraid.

_“Mommy? Was that the door?”_

Every war I’d fought, every Alpha I’d killed, every night I’d spent on that throne dreaming of Aria’s scent — nothing prepared me for the sound of _my pup_ calling her.

Aria went white. She ripped her wrist from my grip and stepped between me and the stairs like she could block a King from his heirs.

“Stay upstairs, Kai!” she shouted. Too late.

Little feet appeared first. Bare, dirty. Then skinny legs in Spider-Man pajama pants. Then him.

Kai.

He stopped halfway down, one hand on the railing. Black hair sticking up. Ice-blue eyes — _my_ eyes — wide and assessing. Not scared. _Calculating_. At five.

He looked at me. Then at the door hanging off its hinges. Then at the scalpel on the floor. Then back to me.

“You broke Mommy’s door,” he said. Not a question. An accusation.

My wolf wanted to howl. _Mine. Pup. Pack._ I dropped to one knee without thinking. Kings don’t kneel. Except for this.

“I did,” I said. My voice came out rough. Wrong. “I was in a hurry to see your mom.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed. He looked at Aria. “Is he bad, Mommy?”

The question gutted me.

Aria’s hand found his shoulder. Protective. “Go get your brother, baby. Now.”

“But—”

“_Now_, Kai.”

He didn’t move. He looked me dead in the eye instead. “Are you the soldier daddy?”

The air left the room. Aria flinched like I’d struck her.

I couldn’t breathe. _Soldier daddy._ The lie she told them. The lie she had to tell because I’d told her to _handle it_.

“No,” I said. Truth first. Always, with pups. “I’m not dead, Kai. I’m—”

“Don’t,” Aria cut in, sharp. “Don’t you dare say it.”

“Don’t say what?” A smaller voice. Kade appeared at the top of the stairs, rubbing his eyes, clutching a stuffed wolf. Softer than Kai. _My_ gentleness, from before the crown. “Why is the door broken? Is it a monster?”

Kade saw me and froze. His little lip trembled. Then his eyes _flashed_. Silver. Alpha silver. At five years old.

The Lycan Grid hadn’t lied.

He was terrified, and his wolf was already trying to surface to protect him.

“Hey,” I said, keeping my voice low. Submissive. I’d never used that tone in my life. “No monsters. I’m... I’m a friend of your mom’s. From a long time ago.”

Kade scrambled backward until he hit the wall. “You smell like us. Like Kai and me. But bigger. Scarier.”

_He can scent me._ At five. Gods.

Aria was there in an instant, gathering Kade against her, putting herself between me and both boys. Her eyes blazed. Not omega. Not scared. _Mama bear_.

“You need to leave,” she hissed at me. “Right now. Before—”

Too late.

Three things happened at once:

1. The air in the apartment went _cold_. Not AC cold. Grave cold.

2. The lights flickered once, twice, then died.

3. My phone buzzed in my pocket. One word from my Beta: _Volkov._

Roman Volkov. Here. In Chicago.

He’d tracked the Grid surge too. He’d come for my sons.

“He’s here,” I said, standing. All softness gone. Alpha back. King back. “Roman’s in the city. He felt Kade’s shift on the Grid.”

Aria’s face lost the last of its color. “No. No, we’re warded. I paid—”

“Wards don’t work on Betas marked by a King,” I snarled. “He followed _me_.”

I’d led death right to her door.

Kai was suddenly in front of Kade, tiny hands fisted. “You brought the bad man? To our house?”

The accusation in his voice — my voice — broke something in my chest.

“Yes,” I said. Because lies get pups killed. “I did. And I’m the only one who can stop him.”

A crash sounded from the fire escape. Metal on metal.

Aria shoved both boys behind her. “Closet. Now. Both of you. Don’t come out until I say.”

“Mom—” Kai started.

“NOW!”

They ran.

She turned on me, wild. “You get them out of here. You take them and you run, and I swear to the Moon if you—”

I grabbed her shoulders. “Listen to me. Roman doesn’t want me. He wants _them_. Heirs invalidate his claim to the throne. Dead heirs make him King.”

“So take them!” She was crying now. Angry tears. “That’s what you’re good at, right? Taking?”

“I didn’t come to take,” I growled. “I came to _claim_. There’s a difference.”

“What difference, Kieran? You rejected me! You left me—”

“And I’ve regretted it every second for 1,827 days!” I roared it. The windows rattled. From the closet, Kade whimpered.

I forced my voice down. “I was twenty-two. My father had a knife to the Council’s throat. He said claim an Alpha daughter or watch the packs burn. I chose the packs. I was a coward.”

She stared at me. “And now?”

“Now I’m King.” I let my eyes go silver. Let her see it. “And the Council bows to _me_. And any Alpha who calls you unworthy will do it with my teeth in his throat.”

Glass shattered in the kitchen.

Roman’s voice, amused. “Well, well. Isn’t this domestic. Hello again, little omega. I see you _didn’t_ handle it.”

He stepped through the broken window. Six-foot-five. Scarred. Volkov Beta turned rogue King. And behind him, two more shadows.

He looked at Aria. Then at me. Then his eyes cut to the closet where two small scents were hiding.

“Twins,” he purred. “Kieran, you naughty boy. The Council’s going to _love_ this.”

I put Aria behind me and let my claws out.

“You want a throne, Roman?” My voice was death. “You’ll have to go through me.”

He smiled. “I was counting on it.”

From the closet, Kai’s voice, tiny but steady: “Mommy? Is that the bad man?”

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