Aria’s POV
My heart stopped.
"How did your wolf disappear?"
The words hung in the air between us. Heavy. Suffocating.
I felt my whole body go rigid. Every muscle locked in place. Every nerve screaming at me to run.
Since we’d reunited, Kael had never directly mentioned it. Never asked about my missing scent. Never questioned why I felt different. Why I smelled like nothing at all.
I’d assumed he’d noticed. Of course he’d noticed. He was an Alpha. Noticing things was literally his job.
But he’d never said anything.
Until now.
"Aria." His voice was low. Demanding. "I asked you a question."
I swallowed hard. My throat felt like sandpaper.
What was I supposed to say?
The truth? That I’d been attacked right after leaving him? That someone had stripped away the most fundamental part of who I was?
That the same night he’d paid me off and sent me away, I’d lost everything?
No.
I couldn’t tell him that.
Not all of it.
"It’s..." I forced my voice to stay steady. Casual. Like we were discussing the weather instead of the most traumatic experience of my life. "After I left, some accidents happened."
"Accidents."
The way he said it made it clear he didn’t believe me.
His eyes narrowed. Those black-gold irises boring into me like he could see straight through my lies.
"What kind of accidents?"
I looked away. Couldn’t handle the intensity of his gaze.
"Does it matter?"
"Yes." He moved closer. One step. Then another. "It matters to me."
My heart was pounding now. Too fast. Too hard.
Why did he suddenly want to know about something that happened three years ago?
"Aria." His voice dropped lower. Softer. Almost gentle. "Tell me."
It made me want to crumble. To spill everything. To tell him about the terror of waking up in that alley. About the emptiness where Artemis used to be. About the months of feeling like half a person.
But I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
"Fine." The word came out sharp. Defensive. "You want to know? I was kidnapped."
Silence.
Complete, utter silence.
Kael’s expression didn’t change. But something shifted in his eyes. Something dark and dangerous.
"Kidnapped." He repeated the word like he was testing it. "By who?"
"I don’t know." I shrugged. Tried to look unbothered. Failed miserably. "They came out of nowhere. That night."
His jaw tightened. A muscle jumped beneath his skin.
"They took some things from me." I continued. My voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. "And then they fed me some kind of poison."
"Poison."
"Yes. Poison." I met his eyes directly. "When I woke up, my wolf was gone. Just... gone. Like she’d never existed at all."
The words hurt to say. Even after three years. Even after I’d accepted what happened.
Talking about it still felt like ripping open an old wound.
Kael was staring at me now. His face was unreadable. But his body had gone completely still.
Like a predator deciding whether to pounce.
"You were attacked." His voice was barely above a whisper. "That night. The same night you left."
I nodded.
"And you never told anyone?"
"Who was I supposed to tell?" The bitter laugh escaped before I could stop it. "I was alone. In a territory I didn’t belong to. With no money. No wolf. No one who cared whether I lived or died."
The last words came out harsher than I intended.
I saw them land. Saw Kael flinch. Just slightly.
Good.
Let him feel a fraction of what I felt that night.
"Aria..." He reached for me.
I stepped back.
"Don’t." My voice cracked.
We stood there. Facing each other across the impossible gulf of three years.
His hand dropped to his side.
Silence stretched between us.
I could hear my own breathing. Fast. Ragged. The sound of someone barely holding themselves together.
Kael’s eyes traveled over my face. Searching for something I wasn’t sure I had.
Then his expression shifted.
From anger to something else.
Calculation.
"Your daughter." He said it slowly. Deliberately. "Lina."
My blood ran cold.
"What about her?" My voice came out defensive. Sharp.
"She doesn’t have a scent either." Kael watched me carefully. "I noticed it the night I stayed at your apartment. She smells like... nothing. Just like you."
My hands were shaking.
I shoved them behind my back. Hid them from view.
"So?" I forced the word out.
"So that’s unusual." He tilted his head. "Was her father a werewolf?"
The question hung in the air.
Heavy. Loaded. Dangerous.
I looked at him.
Really looked at him.
At those black-gold eyes that matched my daughter’s exactly. At that dark hair. At that stubborn jaw that Lina had inherited along with everything else.
He was standing right there.
Asking about Lina’s father.
Not knowing.
Not even suspecting.
That HE was the answer to his own question.
Something cracked inside my chest.
Pain. Grief. Longing. All the emotions I’d buried for three years, suddenly clawing their way to the surface.
If things had been different...
If he hadn’t paid me off like a prostitute. If I hadn’t been attacked. If I’d been able to tell him about the pregnancy before everything fell apart.
We could have been a family.
A real family.
Him. Me. Lina.
The image flashed through my mind. Unbidden. Unwanted.
Kael teaching Lina to ride a bike. Kael reading her bedtime stories. Kael holding her the way he’d held her on my couch that night.
We could have had that.
We SHOULD have had that.
But we didn’t.
"Aria?" Kael’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. "Did you hear me?"
I blinked. Focused on his face.
"I heard you."
"Then answer me."
I pressed my lips together. Felt the anger building in my chest. Hot and fierce.
"Why do you care?" The words came out cold. "Why does it matter to you who Lina’s father is?"
"Because I want to understand." He stepped closer. "I want to know everything about you. About your life these past three years. About the daughter you’ve been raising alone."
Standing there looking lost. Looking guilty. Looking like he actually cared.
Three years too late.
"You want to know about Lina’s father?" My voice was flat. Controlled.
He nodded.
"Fine." I squared my shoulders. Lifted my chin. "Here’s what you need to know: My daughter’s father has nothing to do with you."
His expression flickered. Confusion. Hurt.
Good.
"Aria..."
"You heard me." I cut him off before he could say anything else. "Lina’s father is none of your business. He’s not part of our lives. He never will be."
"But..."
"Why don’t you go care about your own daughter instead?"