Kai's POV
I slammed my hand on the meeting table so hard it cracked down the middle.
"Sorry," I muttered to the twelve pack members looking at me with wide eyes. "Continue the report."
But I couldn't focus on anything they were saying. My wolf had been moving inside my chest all morning, clawing at my ribs like he was trying to break free. Something was wrong. Something was happening that I needed to stop.
"Alpha Kai?" Beta James looked worried. "Are you feeling alright?"
No, I wasn't okay. I hadn't been okay in five years, not since Maya Sterling disappeared from the werewolf world like she'd never existed.
"The border patrol reports are fine," I said, trying to sound like a real Alpha. "What about the supply shipments?"
My wolf growled at me for pretending to care about boring pack business when something important was calling to us. But what? And from where?
Elder Marcus cleared his throat from the end of the table. "Before we discuss supplies, there's something else we need to talk about."
I looked at him sharply. Marcus never spoke up during regular meetings unless it was important.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Rumors," Marcus said slowly. "About your cousin Dominic."
My whole body went tense. I hadn't spoken to Dominic in two years, not since I'd split from his pack and formed my own. We'd been rivals our whole lives, but lately, he'd become something worse than a foe.
He'd become dangerous.
"What kind of rumors?" I asked.
"The kind that say he's been sending trackers all over the continent," Marcus responded. "Looking for someone who disappeared five years ago."
My heart started beating faster. "Who?"
"An omega. A pregnant omega who ran away from his pack right before his wedding to Luna Victoria."
The room suddenly felt too small. I couldn't breathe properly. My hands started shaking, and I gripped the edge of the table to hide it.
Maya.
They were talking about Maya.
"Do we know her name?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Maya Sterling," Marcus said softly.
I shot to my feet so fast my chair fell over. Every person in the room looked at me with surprise and worry.
"Meeting's over," I announced. "Everyone leave. Now."
"But Alpha—" Beta James started.
"NOW!"
My Alpha voice rang through the room, and everyone rushed for the door. Everyone except Marcus, who stayed sitting with a knowing look in his old eyes.
When we were alone, I started walking back and forth like a caged animal.
"You remember her," Marcus said. It wasn't a question.
Of course I remembered her. I'd been in love with Maya Sterling since I was sixteen years old. But she'd never noticed me, not when my bigger, stronger, more powerful cousin was around.
"I remember," I said quietly.
"Did you know she was pregnant when she left?"
I stopped moving and stared at him. "What?"
"Dominic's child. A son. The boy would be about four years old now."
My wolf went totally insane inside my chest. A child. Maya had a child. Dominic's child.
The jealousy hit me like a physical blow. The thought of Dominic touching her, of them together, of her carrying his baby... it made me want to punch holes in the wall.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"That's what Dominic's been trying to find out," Marcus said. "But I think I know."
"Tell me."
Marcus pulled out an old envelope and gave it to me. "This came yesterday. I almost threw it away because it was written to the pack's old name, before you split from Dominic."
I opened the envelope with shaking hands. Inside was a single piece of paper with just a few words written in nervous handwriting:
He found us. Need help. Maya Sterling. Portland, Oregon.
The paper fell from my hands. My wolf was screaming now, a sound of pure pain and desperate need.
"She reached out to you," Marcus said gently. "Not to Dominic. To you."
"But why?" I asked. "I was nobody to her. Just Dominic's quiet cousin who watched her from across the room and never said anything."
"Maybe," Marcus said. "Or maybe she was watching you too."
Before I could ask what he meant, my phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw Dominic's name.
"Don't answer it," Marcus warned.
But it was too late. I'd already swiped to accept the call.
"Stay away from her," Dominic's voice snarled through the speaker.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Maya and my son are mine. If you go anywhere near them, I'll kill you."
The line went dead.
Marcus was looking at me with fear. "He knows you got the message."
My wolf was going crazy now, howling and clawing and demanding that I shift and run to Portland instantly. But Portland was eight hours away by car, and I could smell a storm coming that would stop any flights.
"I have to go," I said, making for the door.
"Kai, wait," Marcus called. "There's something else you need to know."
I turned around quickly. "What?"
"The reason Maya reached out to you instead of anyone else," Marcus said slowly. "The reason Dominic is so worried about you specifically getting involved."
"What are you talking about?"
Marcus stood up and walked over to me. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes.
"Five years ago, when Maya ran away, she wasn't just running from Dominic," he said. "She was running to protect a secret that could destroy our entire family."
"What secret?"
"The mate bond she felt with Dominic was never real," Marcus said softly. "It was fake. Created through Alpha force and dark magic."
My world turned sideways. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" Marcus asked. "Think about it. Why would a true mate run away from her Alpha? Why would she take his child and hide for five years unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless she was never really his mate to begin with."
The truth hit me like lightning. My wolf suddenly went quiet, like he'd been waiting his whole life to hear these words.
"Whose mate is she?" I whispered, even though I already knew the answer.
Marcus smiled sadly. "Go to Portland, Kai. Find out for yourself."
I was already running for my car when my phone buzzed with a text message. I looked down and saw a number I didn't recognize.
He's here. He's in the building. Please hurry. - M
Another message came through immediately: Ethan says you smell like family. Is that true?
My heart stopped beating.
Ethan. Maya's son. A four-year-old boy who could somehow smell that I was connected to him.
Connected to his mother.
I gunned the engine and tore out of the parking lot, my phone still buzzing with texts.
The lights went out. He's at the door.
Kai, I think you're his real father.
I dropped the phone and pressed the gas pedal to the floor.
Eight hours to Portland. I had to make it in four.
Because Maya Sterling wasn't just in danger.
She was my mate. And she'd been carrying my child all along.