Theron's POV
The highway stretches out in front of him like it never ends. Theron has been driving for two hours and his phone won't stop ringing. Every call is the same. Different voice. Same message. Everyone wants the boy.
His phone buzzes again. He ignores it.
It buzzes again.
"Alpha, it's Marcus Ravenswood on line three," his assistant says through the speaker. She sounds nervous. She should be.
"Tell him no," Theron says.
"Tell him what specifically?"
"Tell him no to whatever he's about to ask. No to buying the boy. No to a partnership. No to anything. Just no."
Three seconds later the phone rings again. This time it's Richard Castell. Not a pack leader. Worse. An information broker. A man who collects secrets and sells them to the highest bidder.
"Alpha, I have information you'll want to hear about your situation in Moonvale," Richard says before Theron even says hello.
"Not interested," Theron says.
"You might be. I have documentation about the mother. About what really happened seven years ago. About why she was actually exiled. I could make this very valuable for you when you arrive."
Theron's entire body goes still.
"Sell that information to anyone else and I will destroy you," Theron says quietly.
The line goes dead.
He focuses back on the road. The truck cuts through the dark like a knife. The guards in the vehicles behind him keep pace. They don't know what they're driving toward. They think it's a retrieval mission. They think it's about claiming an Alpha heir.
Only Theron knows the truth. This isn't about claiming anything. This is about facing the person he destroyed. This is about looking at the woman he exiled in the face and admitting that everything he told himself was a lie.
His phone rings again.
"Alpha, we have a report. The Eastern Ridge Pack has mobilized. Forty soldiers heading toward Moonvale. They're taking the mountain pass. They'll arrive in approximately four hours."
Four hours. He has four hours to get to Moonvale before the hunting begins.
Theron presses harder on the accelerator.
The city lights fade behind him. The forest gets thicker. The road gets narrower. The air starts to smell like pine and earth and something else. Something that makes his wolf sit up and take notice.
Daphne.
He hasn't smelled her in seven years. Not since the day he destroyed her. And now his body is reacting like it's been waiting for this moment. Like some part of him never stopped being hers.
He pushes the thought away and focuses on driving.
Another call comes through. Helena this time. His sister.
"Theron, this is irresponsible," she says without greeting. "You can't just disappear from the pack without explanation. We have meetings scheduled. We have policies that need approval."
"Handle it," Theron says.
"I'm handling it, yes, but people are asking questions. Why did you leave? Where are you going? What's the emergency?"
Theron doesn't answer. How can he explain that he's driving toward his own destruction? That he's about to look at the woman he destroyed and admit that he was wrong about everything?
"Theron, you need to tell me what's happening."
"I have a son," he says.
The silence on the line is complete. Even Helena doesn't have a response to that.
"I have a son," Theron repeats. "And he's in danger. So I'm going to get him. Everything else is secondary."
"A son from where? When? Theron, this is important information. The pack needs to know."
"The pack will know when I decide they know."
He hangs up before she can argue.
The forest is getting darker as he drives deeper into it. The road is getting worse. But he knows where he's going. He's studied the maps. He's memorized the location. He's prepared himself for this moment for twelve years even though he told himself he hadn't.
His phone buzzes with a text. It's from one of his intelligence officers.
"Alpha, we have bad news. The Southern Coalition Pack is also mobilizing. They're taking a different route. Could arrive in six hours. If all three rival packs converge on Moonvale simultaneously, the village won't survive."
Theron grips the wheel tighter. Six hours. If that's true, he has six hours to get his family out of there before it turns into a war zone.
Family. That word feels strange in his mouth. Strange and right and terrifying all at once.
The road curves and suddenly he can see the forest canopy breaking up. The village has to be close now. He can feel it in his bones. His wolf can smell her. That combination of moonlight and earth that haunts him.
It takes twenty more minutes to reach the outer edge of Moonvale Village. The trees open up and suddenly there are houses. Small wooden structures scattered through the forest like people have forgotten what civilization looks like.
Theron slows the truck. He's looking for the cottage. Looking for the scent. Looking for the woman who broke him.
Then he sees it.
A small house with lights on inside. And standing at the window is a figure silhouetted against the light. A woman with dark hair. A woman with shoulders that are too tense. A woman who is watching for him.
Daphne.
The mate bond hits him like lightning.
Seven years. Seven years of suppressing it. Seven years of telling himself it wasn't real. Seven years of locking it away in the same place where he locked away his heart.
And in one second, seeing her shape through the window, the bond roars back to life like something that was never actually dormant. Like something that's been alive this whole time, waiting for him to stop being a coward.
Theron pulls the truck to a stop about fifty yards from the cottage. The guards behind him stop too. They're alert. Ready. Waiting for orders.
He doesn't give them any.
He just stares at the window where Daphne is watching him with an expression he can't quite read. Fear. Anger. Something else. Something that might be want but probably isn't.
He opens the door to get out of the truck.
That's when every light in the cottage goes dark.
Then, before Theron can process what that means, the front door opens and Daphne rushes out. She's holding a small bag in one hand and a child's hand in the other. The boy with his face. The boy with his blood. The boy he never knew was real until today.
"Don't come any closer," Daphne calls out into the darkness. Her voice is shaking but her stance is solid. Protective. Ready to fight.
"Daphne," Theron says, and just saying her name breaks something open inside him.
"I said don't come closer." She starts backing away, pulling Liam with her toward the forest. "I don't need you here. We don't need you here."
"You're in danger," Theron says. "The rival packs are coming. They want Liam. They want to use him for power."
"I can handle it," Daphne says.
"You can't." Theron takes a step forward. "Not alone. Not against multiple packs with professional soldiers. Let me help you."
"Help me?" Daphne laughs but there's no humor in it. "You don't help people, Theron. You destroy them."
She turns and runs into the forest, pulling Liam with her.
Theron moves to follow but the boy looks back at him for one second. One second of eye contact. And in that second, Theron sees confusion. Sees fear. Sees a child who doesn't know who his father is except for the stories his mother told him.
Theron knows exactly which stories she told. The ones about abandonment. The ones about betrayal. The ones about a man who chose power over love.
"Alpha," his second guard says. "What do you want us to do?"
Theron watches the forest where they disappeared.
"Get them into the truck," he says. "I don't care how. Use force if you have to. Get them somewhere safe before the other packs arrive."
"And if they resist?"
"Then make them understand that resisting gets people killed."
The guards move without hesitation. They know how to take people who don't want to be taken. They've done it before.
Theron walks toward the cottage. He can still smell Daphne. Moonlight and earth and home and everything he lost.
He opens the door and steps inside her life for the first time in seven years.
The interior is small but warm. There's a healing cottage feel to it. Herbs hanging from the ceiling. Books on shelves. Evidence of a life carefully built. A life he had nothing to do with.
On the coffee table is a photo. Theron picks it up with shaking hands.
It's Daphne holding a newborn. She's crying and smiling at the same time. And the baby in her arms has his eyes. Has his face. Has his blood.
He has a son.
And he's already failing him.
Outside the cottage, he can hear shouting. He can hear Daphne fighting back. He can hear Liam screaming for his mother.
Theron closes his eyes and holds the photo and accepts what he's become.
A man who takes people from the forest.
A man who ruins lives to save them.
A man who might be exactly like his father after all.