Before I Learned to Let Go

Chapter 3: FIVE YEARS LATER

The sterile smell of the hospital was a far cry from the pine and damp earth of the Silver Moon pack. Here, I wasn't an Omega or a liability. I was Dr. Diana Vance, one of the city’s leading pediatric surgeons.

I adjusted my white coat, checking my reflection in the glass door of my office. My hair was styled in a sharp, professional bob, and my eyes, once clouded with fear, were now bright with a hard-earned confidence.

"Dr. Vance? Your ten o'clock is ready," my assistant called out.

"Thank you, Sarah. I’ll be right there," I replied. But before I could move, a small, whirlwind of energy crashed into my legs.

"Mommy! Look what I drew!"

I looked down and my heart melted instantly. Leo, my five-year-old son, held up a drawing of a large, silver wolf. My breath hitched. He had never seen a wolf in person, yet he drew them constantly. He had his father's thick, dark hair and his father's piercing, soul-searching eyes.

Every day I looked at Leo, I saw Jaxon. But Jaxon didn't deserve to know this beautiful, brilliant boy existed.

"It's wonderful, Leo," I whispered, kissing his forehead. "Go with Sarah now. Mommy has to work."

As he skipped away, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was an urgent page from the Chief of Staff. My hands began to shake as I read the message: Emergency transfer arriving. High-profile patient from out of state. Possible supernatural complications. VIP: Alpha Jaxon Miller.

The world seemed to tilt on its axis. Five years of hiding, five years of building a life from nothing, and now the man who broke me was being delivered straight to my doorstep.

He was coming here. And he had no idea I was the only one who could save him.