Chapter 2

Kaelen POV

Five years. It had been five years since I tore apart the bond-the connection between us-in that cold, sterile medical bay.

I stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Steele Group's top-floor office, gazing down at the illuminated city below. My scent filled the air-the crisp chill of winter pine, the sharp ozone before a storm-heavy with the suffocating weight of my rage. Deep in my consciousness, my wolf, Draegan, paced restlessly, a dark mass of eternal fury and grief.

"Still nothing, Alpha." Silas's voice crackled through the phone speaker.

My jaw tightened, the ache radiating to my teeth. "It's been five years, Silas. A woman and a child don't just vanish into thin air."

Five years. It had been five years since she'd fled the Black Moon Pack with that infant-my daughter. Draegan let out a low whine deep in my consciousness, and I crushed it down.

"Keep looking," I snarled, my Alpha aura cracking the glass surface of my desk. "Turn over every stone. Otherwise, I will pay you a visit myself." I slammed the phone down, ending the call.

I couldn't think about that child. That nameless baby girl I'd abandoned. If I admitted what I'd done to her-to them-I would shatter completely.

But I needed her mother.

My son, Liam, heir to the Black Moon Pack, was dying from a mysterious, bloodline-specific toxin. The healers were helpless. He needed a sibling's bone marrow to survive. And the only Omega who could give me another child was the one who'd fled with my daughter.

I took the private elevator down to the Pack Infirmary. The moment the doors opened, the stinging scent of bleach hit me, brutally yanking me back to the day I'd destroyed my own life.

Before I even reached Liam's room, two discordant scents assaulted my senses-my mother Elara's sharp, imperious presence, and Cassondra's suffocating, synthetic floral perfume.

"I am not a babysitter for a dying pup!" Cassondra's shrill voice echoed down the corridor. "He needs to set a date for the bonding ceremony, Elara! I will not wait forever."

"Mind your tone, girl," my mother Elara snapped, her voice laced with icy coldness. "That pup is a future Alpha."

I walked past them, my face as expressionless as stone. I had no patience for their petty squabbles.

"Kae!" Cassondra reached out and grabbed my arm.

The nickname drove into my chest like a silver blade. *Hers.* Only Seraphina had been allowed to call me that. Draegan roared, a savage, bloodthirsty sound, demanding retribution for the insult.

I spun around, my hand clamping around Cassondra's wrist like a steel trap. My Alpha command pressed down on her, her eyes widening with sudden fear.

"Never call me that," I growled, my voice low as a deadly whisper. "If you cannot accept the reality of this arrangement, or your duty to bear a healthy heir, then return to your father's pack. I don't care."

I pushed her away, ignoring her shocked gasp, and pushed open the heavy door to Liam's room.

The rhythmic beeping of the monitors was a countdown to my son's death. Liam lay there, his five-year-old body pale and fragile, so small amidst the tangle of tubes and wires.

The Pack Doctor stood by the bed, his head bowed in frustration. "Alpha. His vitality is declining rapidly. If we cannot find a sibling donor... he will not survive the next full moon."

Only thirty days until the next full moon.

"What about growth-acceleration magic?" I asked, my gaze not leaving my son. "Can the time from conception to bone-marrow maturity be compressed into thirty days?"

The doctor hesitated, pushing up his glasses. "Theoretically... there is an ancient ritual. A covenant with the Moon Goddess. If both parents are powerful wolves and willing to sacrifice part of their life force... the embryo's growth can be drastically catalyzed. But the toll on the mother would be immense, and could even-"

"Enough," I cut him off. I didn't need to hear the risks. I needed a solution.

A sibling. A donor.

A suffocating silence choked the room. Creating a life only to harvest it to save another-it was a sickening desecration of the Moon Goddess's will.

"This is all your fault!" Draegan raged, tearing at my sanity. "We had a daughter! You threw her out to die!"

I ruthlessly shoved the thought of that nameless baby girl into the darkest depths of my consciousness. I couldn't think about her. If I acknowledged what I'd done to my own flesh and blood, I would shatter completely. I needed a solution. I needed a donor.

I turned back to the corridor. Cassondra was rubbing her wrist, glaring at the floor, while my mother stood rigidly.

I looked at the woman for whom I felt nothing-nothing but the function of a vessel to save my son.

"Prepare the bonding ceremony," I said, my voice devoid of all emotion. "It's time."

Until I find Seraphina, Cassondra can serve as a temporary vessel.

Draegan growled his approval deep in my consciousness.

Thirty days. I had thirty days to obtain a healthy newborn-no matter the cost.