Theron's POV
The council table is so quiet Theron can hear the clock ticking on the wall. He hates these meetings. Hates sitting here while old wolves argue about territory disputes and breeding agreements like any of it matters. Like any of it matters when you're leading people who depend on you to keep them alive.
"The Eastern Ridge wants access to the northern trade routes," Richard says. "If we deny them, they'll take it as aggression."
"Then let them come," Helena says from across the table. Theron's younger sister leans back in her chair like she owns the room. She probably thinks she does. "We've beaten them before. We'll beat them again."
"That's not strategy," Marcus replies. Marcus is Theron's second-in-command and he's usually right about things. "That's just violence. We should negotiate."
The meeting goes on like this. Back and forth. Circle and circle. No one actually saying what they mean. No one actually asking what Theron thinks except Richard, and that's only because protocol requires it.
Theron stares out the window at the mountain view. Silver Ridge Pack territory stretches out below them like a kingdom that doesn't know it's slowly dying. The younger wolves are leaving. The traditions are breaking down. The old ways don't work anymore.
His phone vibrates on the table. Theron ignores it. Phones can wait.
It vibrates again.
And again.
Helena notices and smirks like she's won something. She always thinks his distraction is her victory.
Theron picks up the phone. Unknown number. He silences it.
Five seconds later it rings.
The ringing cuts through the council meeting like a knife. Everyone stops talking. Everyone looks at him.
"I need to take this," Theron says.
He answers before anyone can argue.
"Alpha," his scout's voice comes through, breathless and urgent. "We have a situation."
Theron stands up and walks to the corner of the room, away from the table. "What situation."
"An unregistered shift occurred in Moonvale Village approximately forty minutes ago. A young male. Alpha bloodline signature. Estimated age twelve years old."
The room stops existing.
Twelve years old.
Theron's entire body goes cold. Not the cool control he uses in meetings. Cold like something inside him just died.
"Say that again," he says.
"A child with Alpha blood has been discovered in Moonvale Village. Multiple witnesses. The shift was public. Powerful. Definitely Alpha strain."
Theron can hear his own heartbeat now. He can feel it in his chest like something trying to escape.
"Location," he says. "Exact location."
The scout gives him details. A cottage. A healer. A woman and a child. Everything he's been trying not to think about for the last seven years.
Theron hangs up without another word.
He looks back at the council table. Helena is watching him with sharp eyes. Marcus looks concerned. Richard looks like he wants to ask questions.
Theron doesn't give them time.
"Council is dismissed," he says. "We're done here."
"Alpha, we haven't discussed the trade route issue," Richard says.
"Dismissed," Theron repeats. And there's something in his voice that makes everyone move. Not because they respect the order. Because they're scared of what happens if they don't.
Helena stays seated. "Where are you going? We have policy decisions that need approval."
Theron walks to the door. "Handle it."
"Theron." She uses his name instead of his title, which means she's serious. "Whatever this is, we need to know. You can't leave without explaining."
He stops at the door but doesn't turn around. "I don't have time to explain."
Marcus follows him into the hallway. "Alpha, what's happening? Do we need to mobilize? Is there a threat?"
Theron keeps walking. "Not your concern."
"It becomes my concern when you leave a council meeting without explanation. We have procedures, Alpha. We have protocols."
Theron stops and looks at his second-in-command. Marcus is a good soldier. A good man. He deserves an answer. But Theron can't give him one. Can't tell him that his entire world just shifted. Can't explain something he doesn't understand himself.
"Just keep things running," Theron says. "I'll be back when I can."
He doesn't wait for Marcus to argue. He heads straight to his private office.
The room is exactly as he left it. Mahogany desk. Floor-to-ceiling windows. And a locked cabinet in the corner that nobody knows about. Nobody except him.
Theron unlocks it with a key he keeps on him at all times. Has kept on him for twelve years.
Inside is a file.
He opens it with hands that are actually shaking. Inside is a birth certificate. A name printed in official script. Liam Blackwood. Age twelve. Born to Daphne Crawford.
There are photographs too. Ones sent to him by a contact in Moonvale Village. Photos of a boy with dark hair and sharp features. Photos of the child growing up. Learning to read. Learning to shift. Learning to be strong.
Theron has studied these photos a thousand times. He's memorized them. He's hated himself for memorizing them.
He's known for twelve years that he had a son. And he's done absolutely nothing about it.
He told himself it was better this way. Better for the boy not to have a father who was poison. Better for the child to grow up away from pack politics and power struggles. Better for Daphne not to have to see Theron's face again.
He'd convinced himself that this was protection.
Now he realizes it was cowardice.
The boy has shifted. The boy has been discovered. And if Theron doesn't move fast, every rival pack in the region is going to be hunting his son.
He pulls out his phone and starts making calls.
"I need guards mobilized. Immediate departure to Moonvale Village. Full combat readiness."
He calls his intelligence chief. "Find me everything you have on Moonvale Village. Exact location. Population. Defenses. I need this yesterday."
He calls his logistics officer. "Prepare a safe house in the northern mountains. The one near the old fortress. Stock it with supplies. We're moving a family there tonight."
With each call, he gets more efficient. More Alpha. More the person he's trained himself to be. The emotion gets locked away. The fear gets buried. The guilt gets packed down so deep it can't touch him.
By the time he's ready to leave, he's not Theron the man anymore. He's Theron the Alpha. And an Alpha protects what's his.
He goes down to the garage and gets in his truck. Twenty guards follow him in their own vehicles. They don't ask questions. That's what soldiers do.
The drive to Moonvale Village takes three hours. Theron drives the entire way with his jaw clenched. His mind races with scenarios. What if the rival packs get there first? What if Daphne runs? What if the boy doesn't want anything to do with him?
That last thought is the one that makes him grip the steering wheel so tight his knuckles go white.
Of course the boy won't want anything to do with him. Theron abandoned him before he was even born. Theron lied about his mother. Theron chose his reputation over his own child.
What kind of father does that?
As he gets closer to Moonvale, he can smell the forest. The same forest where Daphne lived. Where she raised their son. Where she built a life that Theron had no part in.
His phone rings. It's his intelligence chief.
"Alpha, we have a problem. Multiple rival packs are mobilizing toward Moonvale Village. We estimate they'll arrive within the hour. Eastern Ridge Pack is closest. They're sending armed forces."
"How many?" Theron asks.
"Forty soldiers minimum. Maybe more."
Theron presses down on the accelerator. The truck goes faster. The guards behind him follow.
"Get me a direct communication line to Marcus Ravenswood," Theron says. Marcus Ravenswood is the Alpha of the Eastern Ridge Pack. He's ambitious. He's dangerous. And he absolutely will use an Alpha heir as leverage to take Theron's territory.
The call connects.
"Theron," Marcus says, and there's something dangerous in his voice. "Heard you have a little problem in Moonvale Village."
"Stay away from Moonvale," Theron says.
"Or what?" Marcus laughs. "You going to fight me for the boy? That child is the most valuable thing in our world right now. Everyone who hears about him is going to want him. Whoever gets to him first gets to use him."
The line goes dead.
Theron's hands are shaking now. Not from fear. From rage.
As he drives through the forest toward Moonvale Village, as he gets closer to the woman he destroyed and the son he never claimed, he realizes something that makes his chest tight.
He's going to burn down his entire kingdom for them. He's going to wage war for them. He's going to become the kind of man he swore he'd never be.
And he doesn't care anymore.
He rounds a corner and suddenly the cottage comes into view. He can see it through the trees. A small wooden structure with lights on inside. And he can smell her. After seven years. After trying so hard to forget. After convincing himself it didn't matter.
He can still smell her.
Daphne.
His mate.
The woman he exiled is standing at the window looking out like she's been waiting for him. And beside her is a boy with dark hair and his own face.
His son.
And coming from the other direction, Theron can see other vehicles. Other guards. Other Alphas coming to claim what he's about to claim.
The race is on.
And everything is about to change.