Dominic's POV
I crushed the phone in my bare hands.
"What do you mean you lost them?" I roared at the broken pieces. My words echoed through the empty office, but the tracker couldn't answer me anymore. Not with his phone ruined and his throat probably crushed by now.
The sounds in my head were getting louder. Whispers that told me Maya was in danger. Whispers that said my son - my boy - was calling for me. Whispers that screamed I had to find them NOW.
I threw Maya's photo across the room, but it fluttered back to my desk like it always did. Her green eyes stared up at me from the cracked frame. Beautiful. Innocent. Mine.
"Five years," I growled to the empty room. "Five years she's been hiding from me."
But now I knew where she was. Portland, Oregon. Living like a human in some tiny room with my child. My son who should be learning to fight and hunt and lead. Instead, he was probably going to human school with human children who could never understand what he really was.
The thought made my wolf go crazy with rage.
I picked up the desk phone and dialed. It rang once before a familiar voice answered.
"You found her," Kai said before I could speak.
My cousin. My rival. My enemy. Always trying to be better than me, always trying to take what was mine.
"Stay away from her," I growled into the phone.
"You're losing your mind, Dominic," Kai said quietly. "The curse is taking over. You need help."
"I need MY MATE!" I screamed, and the phone burst in my hand.
Blood dripped from my hand where the plastic cut me, but the wounds healed instantly. Alpha blood. Strong blood. The kind of blood my son carried in his veins.
My kid who didn't even know my name.
The office door burst open, and Victoria stormed in. Her blonde hair was beautiful as always, her blue dress expensive, her makeup flawless. She looked like the perfect Luna she was supposed to be.
But she wasn't Maya.
"Enough!" Victoria shouted, her eyes flashing with anger. "I'm tired of this! Five years of marriage, and you still won't let her go!"
"Get out," I said without looking at her.
"No! I'm your wife! I'm your Luna! Not some runaway omega who abandoned you!"
I turned around slowly. Victoria took a step back when she saw my face. Good. She should be scared.
"Maya didn't abandon me," I said very quietly. "I drove her away. There's a difference."
"Then why are you destroying our pack looking for her?" Victoria demanded. "Why are you sending our best fighters to hunt down one pathetic omega?"
The voices in my head started yelling. They didn't like Victoria calling Maya weak. They didn't like Victoria at all.
"Because she has something that belongs to me," I said.
"What? What could she possibly have that's more important than your pack? Your Luna? Your responsibilities?"
I walked over to the window and looked out at my area. Hundreds of wolves lived here. They followed my orders, feared my strength, respected my power. But none of that mattered anymore.
"She has my son," I said simply.
Victoria went very still behind me. "Your... son?"
"Ethan. He's four years old now. He has her eyes but my hair. My blood. My strength." I turned to look at Victoria's pale face. "The next Alpha of this pack."
"That's impossible," Victoria whispered. "You said... you promised me..."
"I promised you many things," I agreed. "But I never promised you my heart. I never promised you my heir."
Victoria's hands shook with rage. "You married me! We've been trying to have children for five years!"
"Have we?" I asked. "Or have I been avoiding it because I already have a child?"
The truth hit her like a physical blow. She stumbled backward, her hand pressed to her chest.
"You've been sabotaging our attempts," she breathed. "All this time, you've been making sure I couldn't get pregnant."
I didn't answer. I didn't need to.
"You monster," she snarled. "You absolute monster!"
Her claws lengthened, and she lunged at me. But I caught her hand before she could scratch my face.
"Careful, wife," I said softly. "Remember who you're talking to."
My grip tightened until she whimpered. The cursed voices in my head were happy. They liked it when people showed proper respect.
"You're insane," Victoria gasped. "The whole pack knows it. The leaders are already talking about replacing you."
"Let them talk," I said, releasing her wrist. "By tomorrow, I'll have my real mate and my son back. Then nothing else will matter."
"She'll never come back to you," Victoria said, feeling her bruised wrist. "Not after what you did to her."
"What did I do?" I asked, truly confused.
The voices in my head whispered different stories. Some said I was a great mate. Others said I had made terrible mistakes. It was getting harder to tell which memories were real.
"You threw her away!" Victoria screamed. "You got her pregnant and then married me instead! You broke her heart!"
Flashes of memory hit me. Maya crying. Maya packing a bag. Maya holding her growing belly and begging me to choose her over the political marriage my father had planned.
But the voices muttered that those memories were lies. They said Maya had left on her own. They said she was the one who betrayed me.
"She'll understand," I said strongly. "When she sees me again, she'll remember how good we were together."
Victoria laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "You really are completely insane."
My phone buzzed with a text message. I looked down and smiled.
Found them. Portland apartment building. Target bought. Awaiting orders.
"Time to go," I said, grabbing my jacket.
"Dominic, please," Victoria said, her voice suddenly desperate. "Think about what you're doing. You can't just take a child from his mother."
"I'm not taking him from his mother," I said, walking toward the door. "I'm bringing them both home."
"And if she refuses?"
I paused with my hand on the doorknob. The voices whispered ideas that made my wolf purr with satisfaction.
"She won't refuse," I said quietly. "Not when she realizes what her son really is."
Victoria's face went white. "What do you mean?"
I smiled, and I knew it wasn't a nice smile.
"My trackers didn't just find Maya and the boy," I said. "They found out what the boy can do. What he did at his normal school yesterday."
"What did he do?"
"He ordered other children with his Alpha voice. At four years old." I opened the door and stepped into the hallway. "He's not just my son, Victoria. He's the most powerful Alpha child born in a century."
"Dominic, wait—"
But I was already walking away. The voices in my head were singing now. Soon, I would have my mate back. Soon, I would meet my son.
And soon, Maya would learn that running away from me was the biggest mistake of her life.
Behind me, I heard Victoria fall into a chair.
She had no idea what was coming.
None of them did.