Chapter 3
969 Words
The scent of blood and wolf clung stubbornly to her clinic, even after she’d scrubbed the floors and sterilized every surface twice. Selene stood in the doorway of the recovery room, arms crossed over her chest, watching Kael sleep. His wolf had shifted back in the early hours of the morning, leaving behind a man who looked achingly familiar—and heartbreakingly different.
The Kael she remembered had always exuded control. This version—unshaven, bandaged, vulnerable—was a ghost of that man. And yet, even now, even like this, he stirred something in her chest she wanted to throttle. Her fated mate. Her mistake.
She turned away and headed for the front office, only to stop short when she saw her daughter peeking into the hallway.
“Mom,” Mira whispered, her curls bouncing as she tiptoed closer. “Is the wolf still here?”
Selene dropped to one knee and pulled her into a hug. “Yes, baby. But you’re not to go near him. He’s very sick.”
“But he’s not dangerous?” Mira asked, her big brown eyes full of curiosity.
Selene hesitated. “He won’t hurt you. But still—you let Mommy take care of him, okay?”
Mira nodded, trusting her completely. Selene kissed her forehead and stood just as the front door creaked open.
Lysander.
He filled the space with his quiet presence, tall and broad-shouldered, wearing his usual soft charcoal hoodie and an unreadable expression. His eyes flicked past Selene, toward the back hallway.
“You didn’t tell me it was him,” he said quietly.
Selene stiffened. “I didn’t know it was him when I dragged him in half-dead.”
Lysander didn’t move from the doorway. “Do the kids know who he is?”
“No. And they won’t. Not unless I decide otherwise.”
“Selene…” His voice was gentle but firm. “He’ll heal. He’ll wake up. And when he does, he’ll recognize them. Their scent, their faces. They’re not just any pups.”
“I know.” Her voice cracked, just a little. “Don’t you think I know that?”
There was a long beat of silence. Mira, sensing the shift, slipped away quietly. Lysander stepped closer, and Selene hated the part of her that leaned into the safety of his nearness.
“Do you want me to make him disappear?” he asked, voice low.
Selene looked up, startled. “What?”
“If you want, I’ll take him far enough away that he won’t find you again.”
Her heart thudded against her ribs.
She should say yes.
It was the smart thing. The protective thing.
But something held her back—a whisper of unfinished business, of buried pain clawing its way back to the surface. Of answers she’d never gotten.
“No,” she murmured. “Not yet.”
Lysander’s jaw flexed. But he didn’t argue.
By midday, Kael stirred.
Selene was alone in the room when he groaned and blinked against the sunlight slanting through the curtains. His gaze was hazy at first, then sharpened with pain. His mouth opened, dry and cracked.
“Water,” he rasped.
Selene moved silently, pressing a glass to his lips. He drank greedily, then sagged back against the pillow.
His eyes met hers. And froze.
For a long moment, there was only the thrum of tension in the room. Kael stared at her like he was seeing a ghost.
“Selene,” he breathed. “Is it really you?”
She didn’t flinch, but her voice was ice. “Welcome back to the land of the living, Alpha.”
His throat worked. “I… I thought you were dead.”
Her laugh was bitter and humorless. “No, Kael. You just didn’t care to look.”
He closed his eyes, pain etched into his face—not from the wounds, but from her words. “I didn’t know. You left.”
“You rejected me.”
Kael opened his eyes again, raw emotion flooding them. “You were too young. Too… I didn’t want to tie you down. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“Don’t,” she snapped. “Don’t stand there and tell me you thought you were saving me. You didn’t even say goodbye.”
Kael reached out instinctively, but she backed away like his touch might burn.
“You lost that right ten years ago.”
“I didn’t know, Selene—gods, I didn’t know what would happen. That you’d vanish. That I’d lose you forever.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “You didn’t lose me, Kael. You threw me away.”
His jaw tightened. “And what about you? You didn’t give me a second chance. You disappeared without a trace.”
“Because I was protecting something more important than your fragile pride.”
That made him blink. “What?”
Selene’s lips parted, but before she could speak, a familiar voice rang from the hallway.
“Mom! Luca won’t share the tablet again!”
Kael’s entire body went rigid.
Selene swore under her breath and turned toward the door.
“No,” Kael said hoarsely. “Wait. That voice—was that…?”
Selene spun back to him, eyes fierce. “Don’t you dare, Kael. Don’t you try to piece it together. You have no right to them.”
His breathing grew shallow. “Them?”
Selene didn’t answer.
Kael’s hand gripped the sheets. “Selene… are they mine?”
Silence crashed between them.
Selene's eyes glistened, but her voice stayed hard. “What difference does it make?”
And she turned on her heel and walked out—leaving Kael to the devastation of truth and time lost.
- Writer
