Manhattan, three nights later
The rain came down in silver sheets, drumming hard against the huge windows of the penthouse.
Thunder rolled low over the city like an angry wolf.
Inside, the living room was warm and golden.
Mommy sat at her big glass desk, surrounded by papers and shiny stones.
She was talking fast on the phone in that sharp voice she used when people made her mad.
"No, Mr. Al-Thani, the sapphire has to be Burmese unheated or the deal is off. I don't sell lies."
Leo lay on his tummy on the thick white carpet, coloring a new wolf picture.
Blue crayon for the eyes, just like his.
But the rain kept calling him.
He crawled to the window and pressed his nose to the cold glass.
Far, far down on the sidewalk, under the same streetlight every night, stood the Sad Man.
He was soaked. Black coat dripping. Hair stuck to his forehead.
He never brought an umbrella. He just stood there, looking up at their windows.
Leo had counted.
Tonight was night number three.
The Sad Man never came inside.
He promised Mommy he wouldn't.
But every night he was there.
Leo's little heart felt heavy.
He looked back.
Mommy was still yelling about sapphires.
Leo stood up very quietly.
He put on his yellow rain boots (the ones with dinosaur eyes) and his tiny black raincoat.
He pressed the elevator button with the special key only he and Mommy had.
The doors opened.
He stepped inside, pushed "L" for lobby, and held his stuffed wolf tight.
Down, down, down.
Ding.
The lobby was empty except for Mr. Roberto the night doorman, who was half-asleep.
Leo tiptoed past him, pushed the heavy glass door just enough to squeeze through.
Cold rain slapped his cheeks.
He ran to the edge of the covered entrance and stopped under the bright light.
The Sad Man saw him immediately.
His whole body went stiff.
Leo waved one tiny hand.
The Sad Man didn't move closer. He promised.
But his eyes got shiny, like he might cry again.
Leo walked to the tall glass wall that separated the entrance from the street.
He pressed both palms against it.
The Sad Man came forward slowly, boots splashing in puddles, until he stood on the other side of the glass.
He lifted one big hand and placed it exactly opposite Leo's tiny ones.
Palm to palm.
Only cold glass between them.
Leo giggled because the man's hand was so huge it covered both of his completely.
The Sad Man smiled.
The first real smile Leo had ever seen on him.
It made him look younger. Handsomer. Less sad.
He mouthed words slowly so Leo could read his lips.
Hi, son.
Leo's eyes went wide.
He mouthed back, "Hi, Daddy?"
The Sad Man's smile shook. A tear mixed with the rain on his cheek.
He nodded once. Very small.
Leo's heart felt like it grew too big for his chest.
He wanted to hug him.
But Mommy would be so mad.
So he just kept his hands on the glass.
They stayed like that for a long time.
Father and son, separated by a sheet of glass and five lost years.
Upstairs, I dropped the phone and realized the room was too quiet.
"Leo?"
No answer.
Panic hit me like lightning.
"Leo!"
I ran to his room. Empty.
Bathroom. Empty.
Kitchen. Empty.
Then I saw the elevator button still glowing.
No.
I bolted to the window.
Sixty-eight floors down, under the rain, I saw them.
My son. My mate.
Hands on glass.
Smiles breaking both their faces.
Something inside me shattered and healed at the same time.
I pressed my forehead to the window, tears falling faster than the rain.
Across the city, in a cheap motel that smelled of mold and old cigarettes
Scarlett sat on the edge of a sagging bed, surrounded by empty vodka bottles and take-out boxes.
Her red hair was greasy. Her nails broken.
The mirror showed a stranger with hollow cheeks and crazy eyes.
The Alpha had taken everything.
Her title. Her home. Her future.
A burner phone buzzed on the dirty comforter.
New message. Photos attached.
She opened the first one.
A woman in a long camel coat walking out of a huge building, holding a little boy's hand.
Even with sunglasses and five years older, Scarlett knew that face.
Aria.
The second photo made her scream.
A close-up of the child's face.
Black curls. Round cheeks.
And those ice-blue eyes.
Alpha eyes.
Scarlett hurled the phone at the wall.
It cracked but kept buzzing.
"It's his son!" she shrieked to the empty room. "That bitch hid his son!"
She clawed at her own arms until red lines appeared.
Five years of planning.
Five years of waiting for Ryan to put that ring on her finger.
And all along, the weak little omega had carried the Blackwood heir.
Scarlett stumbled to the cracked mirror, breathing like a wounded animal.
She stared at her reflection.
The Luna she was supposed to be stared back, broken and furious.
Her lips curled into a slow, terrible smile.
She picked up the biggest piece of broken phone and whispered to her reflection.
"If I can't have the Alpha…"
She dragged the sharp edge across her palm, watching blood well up.
"Then no one gets to keep his heir."
She licked the blood from her hand and laughed.
The sound echoed off the peeling wallpaper like a promise.
Back under the rain
Leo's little hand was getting cold.
Ryan mouthed, "You should go inside, buddy. You'll catch a cold."
Leo shook his head stubbornly.
Ryan's heart broke all over again.
He pulled a small silver chain from his pocket.
On it hung a tiny wolf pendant (the mate gift he was supposed to give Aria on her eighteenth birthday).
He pressed it against the glass right between their palms.
Leo's eyes went round.
Ryan mouthed, "For you. When you're ready."
Leo looked up at the sixty-eighth floor.
Mommy was watching from the window, arms wrapped around herself.
Leo waved at her.
I lifted one hand in answer, tears streaming down my face.
Leo turned back to Ryan and put his hand over his heart, then pointed up at me.
He was telling his father: take care of Mommy.
Ryan nodded slowly, eyes shining.
Then Leo stepped back, waved one last time, and ran inside.
The second he disappeared, Ryan sank to his knees in the pouring rain.
He pressed both palms to the glass where his son's had been.
"Thank you," he whispered to the empty night. "Thank you for letting me see him."
Above, I watched the strongest Alpha in a hundred years kneel in a puddle and cry for the son he never got to hold.
And for the first time in five years,
I didn't know if I wanted to run…
or open the door.