Chapter 4 Four years later
"Mommy! Look!"
I flinched at the loud noise, nearly dropping the stack of towels in my arms.
"Leo," I breathed, pressing a hand to my racing heart. "D-Don't scare Mommy like that."
My son stood in the doorway of the linen closet, grinning. He was four years old, and he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
And the most dangerous.
He had messy black hair that refused to lay flat. He had a stubborn jaw. And he had eyes the color of molten amber.
Amon’s eyes.
Every time I looked at him, I saw the man who had destroyed me. And every time I hugged him, I felt a love so fierce it terrified me.
"Look, Mommy," Leo whispered, holding up a drawing. "I drew a wolf! A big one! Like me!"
I froze.
I knelt down, my uniform skirt brushing the floor. I took the drawing. It was a scribbly black wolf with red eyes.
"Leo," I said, my voice trembling. "We t-talked about this. No wolves. Wolves are m-monsters."
"But I feel like a wolf sometimes," Leo insisted, his little brow furrowing. "Inside. It wants to run."
I pulled him into a hug, burying my face in his neck to hide my fear. He was manifesting early. An Alpha bloodline always did.
"You are a human boy, Leo," I lied, my voice shaking. "Just a boy. promise me you won't talk about wolves at the hotel. If the b-boss hears you..."
"Okay, Mommy," he sighed.
"Neph!"
My manager’s voice shrieked down the hallway.
"Hide," I whispered to Leo, pushing him gently toward the back of the closet where I had made him a little fort. "Stay quiet until I c-come back."
I smoothed my maid's uniform and hurried out into the hallway.
The hotel was in chaos. Staff were running everywhere, dusting invisible specks of dirt, straightening paintings.
"Neph, there you are!" My manager, Mrs. Gable, grabbed my arm. "Stop stuttering and stand up straight. The new owner is here early."
"T-The new owner?" I asked, keeping my head down.
"The billionaire investor," Mrs. Gable hissed.
"Mr. Black. He’s buying the entire chain. He demands perfection. Line up!"
She shoved me into a line of maids in the grand lobby.
I kept my eyes on the floor. I just wanted to finish my shift and take Leo home to our tiny apartment. I just wanted to be invisible.
Whoosh.
The automatic doors slid open.
The wind blew in from the street.
And then I smelled it.
Rain. Pine. And raw, overwhelming power.
My wolf, who had been silent for five years, suddenly woke up. She howled in my head, scratching at my skull.
MATE.
No.
N-No. It wasn't possible.
My blood turned to ice. I stopped breathing.
The heavy footsteps clicked against the marble floor. Click. Click. Click.
Every step felt like a hammer to my chest.
"Welcome, Mr. Black," the General Manager stuttered, bowing low.
"The place smells like cheap detergent," a deep voice rumbled.
That voice.
It was the voice that haunted my nightmares. The voice that had rejected me.
I trembled violently. I tried to shrink into myself, to disappear behind the maid next to me.
Please don't see me. Please don't smell me.
But I hadn't taken my suppressants today. I had forgotten them in the rush to get Leo ready.
He stopped.
The footsteps silenced abruptly.
The air in the lobby grew heavy, charged with static electricity. The hairs on my arms stood up.
"Sir?" the manager asked nervously.
"Who is that?" Amon’s voice was a low growl.
Dangerous.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Who do you mean, sir?"
"The one who smells like... vanilla and fear."
I felt his presence move. He was coming toward me. A predator stalking prey.
"You," he commanded. "Look at me."
I couldn't move. I was paralyzed.
A large, hot hand reached out and grabbed my chin. His grip was firm, calloused.
He forced my head up.
I opened my eyes.
Amon stood there. He looked older, harder. His face was sharper, his aura darker. He was wearing a tailored suit that cost more than my life, but underneath, he was still the same cruel beast.
His amber eyes widened as they locked onto mine.
Shock flashed across his face. Then, confusion. Then, a slow, burning rage.
"Seraph?" he whispered, as if he was seeing a ghost.
My lips trembled. "M-My name is... E-Neph."
His nostrils flared. He leaned in, inhaling my scent deeply, his eyes flashing that terrified red.
"No," he growled, his grip on my chin tightening until it hurt. "You are dead. My trackers said you died in the river."
"I..."
"Why are you alive?" he snarled, his voice rising, causing the other staff to gasp. "And why do you smell like him?"
I froze.
Him?
He didn't mean another man.
He smelled Leo. He smelled his own blood on me.
Before I could answer, a small voice piped up from the hallway behind us.
"Mommy?"
Amon froze. He released my chin and looked over my shoulder.
I turned, horror washing over me.
Leo was standing there, holding his drawing of the wolf.
Amon looked at the boy.
He looked at the black hair. The stubborn jaw.
The amber eyes that mirrored his own.
The lobby went deathly silent.
Amon looked back at me, and the realization hit him like a physical blow.
"Who," Amon whispered, his voice trembling with a deadly mix of fury and awe, "is that?"
