Chapter 11

Claire's POV

I back up. This was a mistake. I can’t handle this.

Ivan intercepts him smoothly. "Alpha Gideon. We have business to discuss."

Gideon’s eyes pull away from me to the Alpha in front of him. “Prince Ivan, I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

Their voices drift away as I take advantage of the distraction and slip away into the garden beside the pack house. I just need to breathe for a moment. That’s all. Just breathe.

The moment the cold air hits my skin, I suck in a shaking breath. My lungs feel tight, like I’ve been holding them hostage for six years. My heart won’t stop pounding.

I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have come. But—

Then I hear a boy’s laughter. My senses snap into focus.

A small body barrels into me.

I stumble back and instinctively catch him, my hands grasping small arms, warm through the fabric of his coat.

“Whoa!” he says, blinking up at me, wide-eyed and winded. “Sorry! I didn’t see you!”

But I see him. Golden curls. Big eyes. Freckles just like mine. A tooth is missing in the front. His cheeks flushed from play.

Leo.

My son.

I swallow hard, blinking back the sudden sting in my eyes. Don’t cry. You can't scare him away.

“It’s okay,” I murmur, my voice a broken whisper.

He grins, looking over my armor and heavy coat. “You’re a warrior? That’s so cool! I’ve never seen a girl warrior before.”

A startled laugh escapes me. “Girls can be warriors too.”

“I know. I just haven’t seen one. Are you with the Night Mountain Pack?”

I nod, my throat too tight for words.

He plops down beside me on the bench near the fountain, entirely at ease. “I’m Leo. I’m gonna be the biggest, strongest Alpha someday, but I have to study aaaalll the time. It’s kinda boring.”

My heart cracks open at the edges.

“That sounds like a lot of pressure,” I manage to say.

He kicks a pebble near his boot. “I just wanna run around with the other kids and play. Papa says I have to be strong like him, though.”

Papa.

A strangled breath escapes me, but I cover it with a smile. “I think you’re doing great, little wolf.”

He looks up at me, curious. “You sound like someone I know.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah.” He squints his eyes at me, trying to place it. “I think it’s someone from my dreams.”

My heart skips. Dreams?

“I guess dreams are where we remember the most important people,” I say gently.

He nods thoughtfully, like I’ve just told him something sacred.

“Leo!”

The voice slices through the garden like a knife. Daphne.

My spine stiffens. My body knows the threat before my mind can catch up. I turn slowly.

There she is, gliding in like a queen, flawless in white and gold. Her black hair gleams in the light. Her sharp eyes zero in on Leo, then shift to me, and narrow.

“Who are you?” she demands.

Before I can answer, Gideon appears behind her. His gaze finds mine instantly, and the air between us charges. I rise slowly from the bench, every nerve on fire. My fists curl at my sides. Six years since I've seen them.

And my son is standing between us.

My son. Not hers. Never hers.

And they don’t recognize me.

Leo steps a little closer to me, his arm brushing mine. It’s instinct. Some part of him knows I’m not a stranger.

"I'm Prince Ivan’s personal guard," I say, keeping my voice even.

“Then, shouldn’t you be somewhere guarding him?” Daphne says, sickly sweet.

“I was just talking to her,” Leo says quickly. “She’s nice.”

Daphne forces a smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you for keeping him company. But he doesn’t need to be bothering the help.”

The help. Like I’m nothing.

My jaw clenches. I want to say something, to defend myself, but I stay still and silent.

Gideon is still staring at me. There’s something in his eyes. Confusion. Something deeper. I feel it like a current threading between us.

“What’s your name?” he asks.

“Raven Larson,” I lie, smooth and practiced.

Daphne loops her arm through Leo’s and begins to pull him away, but Leo doesn’t move right away.

Daphne frowns at him. “Leo, how many times have I told you not to run off and play with strangers? And did you even finish your studies for the day?”

Her voice is sharp with irritation, polished to seem gentle but unmistakably condescending. My teeth grit at the sound of it.

Leo doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t look scared—not of her, not of Gideon either. He just huffs and reaches for my hand.

“Miss Warrior is much more fun and patient than you, Daphne,” he says clearly.

Daphne’s smile wavers. Her eyes flash with something tight and dangerous.

Gideon’s voice cuts in, low and cold. “Leo. Manners.”

Leo sighs but lets go of my hand. “Yes, Papa.”

He left dejectedly with them. I clenched my fists.

Daphne had stolen my child once again, right in front of me.

I want to run after him, scoop him up, and whisper that I’m proud of him. That he doesn’t have to be perfect for them. But I can’t. I can only watch.

I collapse back onto the bench, barely able to hold myself upright. My body shakes from the effort of keeping it all in—six years of grief and longing and fury caged inside a body that can’t scream.

"Are you alright?" a voice says beside me.

I look up. Ivan.

He stands like a shadow made flesh, his dark suit blending into the gloom, unreadable as ever.

“Yeah.”

“Liar,” he says.

I scoff, wiping at my eyes even though I know he’s already seen.

“How was he?” he asks, quieter now. Gentler.

I swallow hard. “Beautiful. Just… beautiful.”

A long silence stretches between us.

Then he says, “You’ll see him again. On your terms.”

I don’t answer. I don’t trust myself to speak.

But I press my hand to my chest, right over the place where my heart is trying to claw its way out.

My little wolf is alive. He’s strong. He’s kind. And he still remembers me.

Even if he doesn’t know why.