Broken By Love, Healed By Fate

Chapter 4

Diana's POV

"Get him out of here. Now."

I kept my voice level despite the storm raging inside me. The two guards flanking the doorway exchanged nervous glances before one stepped forward.

"Healer, the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack insists—"

"I don't care what he insists," I said.

Five years. Five years I'd spent building this sanctuary, developing my healing powers, becoming someone new. Someone stronger. Someone who wasn't defined by Ryan Stewart's betrayal.

And now, with one careless moment—a veil caught on a doorframe—it was all in jeopardy.

"He claims to know you," the guard continued hesitantly. "Says you're someone called Diana."

"That person is dead," I replied coldly. "She died in a forest five years ago."

The guard nodded, clearly unsure what to make of this exchange but unwilling to question me further. "Should we use force if necessary?"

I considered the question. Ryan was still an Alpha, and a powerful one. Forcing him to leave could lead to violence, endangering my staff and patients.

"No," I decided. "Tell him I refuse to see him. Give him a comfortable room for the night if necessary, but make it clear he leaves at dawn. With or without an audience with me."

The guard bowed and left to deliver my message. I turned to the window, gazing out at the compound I'd built from nothing. A haven of healing in a world being consumed by plague. My legacy—mine, not Ryan's.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Mira's voice came from the doorway.

I didn't turn around. "What would you have me do? Welcome him with open arms? After what he did?"

Mira sighed, stepping into the room. "No. But ignoring him won't make him disappear. Especially now that he's seen you."

She was right, of course. Ryan was nothing if not persistent. Once he set his mind to something, he pursued it with single-minded determination. It was one of the qualities I'd once admired about him.

"What about Damian?" Mira asked gently.

My heart clenched at the mention of my son. "What about him?"

"You've always said someday you'd have to tell him about his father."

I whirled to face her. "Not like this. Not with Ryan barging into our lives without warning."

"Perhaps the Moon Goddess has her reasons for bringing him here now."

I scoffed. "The Goddess blessed me with a second chance at life. She wouldn't be so cruel as to throw Ryan back into it."

Before Mira could respond, another guard appeared at the door. "Healer, I'm sorry to disturb you, but the Alpha is refusing to leave the entrance hall. He says he'll wait there until you agree to speak with him."

I closed my eyes briefly, fighting for patience. "Fine. Tell him I'll send written instructions for the medicine. That should satisfy him."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then he can spend the night on the stone floor for all I care."

The guard nodded and left to deliver my message. Mira remained, her expression troubled.

"You can't avoid him forever," she said softly. "Especially now that he knows you're alive."

"I don't need forever," I replied. "Just until he gives up and returns to his pack."

"And Damian? What if they cross paths?"

The thought sent a chill through me. "Keep Damian in the children's wing until Ryan leaves. He's not to go anywhere near the entrance hall or guest quarters."

Mira nodded, though her expression suggested she thought my plan was flawed. "I'll tell the tutors to keep him occupied."

Left alone, I paced my chambers, mind racing. Ryan believing I was dead had been the perfect protection. I'd been able to rebuild my life, raise my son, develop my healing powers all without interference. Without having to face the man who had betrayed me so completely.

Now that was gone. Even if I refused to see him now, he knew I was alive. Knew I was the healer everyone was talking about. How long before that information spread?

A soft knock at my door interrupted my thoughts.

"Enter," I called, expecting another update about Ryan's stubbornness.

Instead, Elara, my head of security, stepped in. "The Alpha has agreed to leave, Healer. He says he understands your desire for privacy."

I blinked in surprise. "He's leaving? Just like that?"

Elara nodded, though she looked somewhat perplexed. "He asked only that we ensure the written instructions for the medicine are detailed, as his pack's survival depends on it."

This easy capitulation wasn't like the Ryan I remembered. He had never been one to give up without a fight, especially when something mattered to him.

"When will he depart?" I asked.

"He and his companion are preparing to leave now. I've assigned guards to escort them to the gates."

Relief washed over me. "Good. Make sure they actually leave the compound."

Elara bowed and withdrew, leaving me to wonder at Ryan's unexpected compliance. Perhaps five years had changed him as much as they had changed me.

I moved to my workbench, where dozens of vials of the plague treatment waited to be sorted and distributed. I had work to do—important work that couldn't wait for emotional entanglements from the past.

For the next hour, I lost myself in the familiar routine of preparing medicine packages for various packs that had requested help. The plague had spread to nearly every territory now, and the demand for my treatment far outpaced my ability to produce it.

**

As I worked, I gradually relaxed, believing the crisis had passed. Ryan was leaving. My secret—or at least the most important part of it—was still safe. Damian remained unaware of his father's brief presence in our lives.

When I finally finished my work, I decided to check on Damian before dinner. The children's wing was on the opposite side of the compound from the entrance, which should have kept him well away from Ryan's path.

I walked briskly through the corridors, nodding to staff members who stepped aside respectfully. The power I wielded here was earned, not inherited or stolen. Every life saved—these were my accomplishments, born from my suffering and rebirth.

I was nearly to the children's wing when Mira came rushing toward me, her face pale with alarm.

"Diana! I can't find Damian!" she exclaimed.

My blood went cold. "What do you mean you can't find him? He's supposed to be with his tutors."

"He was, but then Master Thorn needed to prepare for tomorrow's lessons, and he asked one of the novice healers to watch Damian, but when I went to check on them—"

"Where?" I demanded, cutting through her rambling explanation. "Where was he last seen?"

"The herb garden," Mira admitted. "But that was almost half an hour ago."

I broke into a run. The herb garden wasn't far from the entrance hall—precisely where Ryan had been waiting.

"Sound the alert," I called over my shoulder. "Have every available guard search the compound. Now!"

My heart pounded as I raced through the corridors, my mind conjuring terrible scenarios. What if Ryan had found Damian? What if he'd recognized the resemblance instantly, as anyone would? What if he'd decided to take my son, to claim what he believed was his?

I burst into the entrance hall, prepared for the worst.

It was empty.

"The Alpha has already left, Healer," a guard informed me, noticing my frantic appearance. "His companion as well. They departed through the main gates just minutes ago."

I couldn't decide whether to feel relief or heightened panic. "Did you see them speak to anyone before they left? A child, perhaps?"

The guard shook his head. "No, Healer. They spoke only to their escort."

I pushed past him, heading for the main gates. I needed to be certain Damian wasn't with them. Needed to see with my own eyes that Ryan hadn't taken my son.

As I approached the gates, I spotted Elara returning with the escort guards.

"Did the Alpha leave alone?" I demanded without preamble.

Elara looked startled by my intensity. "Yes, Healer. He and his companion rode out together, no one else."

Some of the tension eased from my shoulders. If Ryan hadn't taken Damian, then my son was still somewhere in the compound. Lost, perhaps, or hiding as part of some game, but safe.

I turned to head back inside, to coordinate the search, when a small figure came barreling around the corner from the direction of the gardens.

"Mummy! Mummy!" Damian's voice rang out, high and excited. "I found a new flower in the far garden! One that's not in my book!"

Relief washed over me in a dizzying wave. I knelt, opening my arms as he ran toward me, his small face flushed with excitement.

He never reached me.

In his haste, running full tilt with his eyes fixed on me, Damian didn't see the tall figure rounding the corner from the stables. They collided, Damian bouncing off the man's legs and landing on his bottom with a surprised "Oof!"

The man reached down automatically to help him up, and I froze in horror.

Ryan.

For a suspended moment, time seemed to stop. Ryan's hand extended toward my son, his expression shifting from surprise to confusion to dawning realization as he took in Damian's features.

Features that mirrored his own with uncanny precision—the same straight nose, the same determined jaw, the same steel-gray eyes.

"Sorry!" Damian chirped, accepting the hand up without any idea of the significance of the moment. "I was running too fast. Mummy always says to look where I'm going."

"Damian," I called, my voice strained. "Come here, please."

My son turned at the sound of my voice, his face lighting up again. "Mummy! Look what I found!" He held up a small purple flower, oblivious to the tension crackling in the air.

Ryan stood frozen, staring at Damian with growing comprehension. His gaze moved from my son to me and back again, the calculation evident in his eyes as he processed what he was seeing. What it meant.

"Mummy, can the visitor stay for dinner?" Damian asked, tugging at my hand. "I want to show him my flower collection."

Ryan's eyes met mine over Damian's head, and I saw the question in them. The shock. The disbelief.

"Diana," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "He's—"

"My son," I finished firmly, pulling Damian closer to my side. "And we have to go now. Goodbye, Alpha Stewart."

I turned.