** Ryder’s POV **
The certificate rests in my lap, the edges crinkled where my fingers have been gripping it too tightly. I can’t stop staring at the damn thing, as if I blink it’ll vanish, and I’ll wake up back in those years when I longed for Paige and had no idea our son existed.
Jaxon Madden. My son. With my name.
I trace my name under his, hardly able to breathe. It doesn’t matter that my DNA proved it; it doesn’t matter that I’ve known in my bones since the first time I saw him, that we have the same smile and eyes, that my wolf recognised him instantly. Seeing it written here makes it real in a way nothing else could.
Beside me, Paige leans against the seat, watching me with that small, gentle smile that always manages to break through my walls.
“You’re going to crease it,” sh
