Chapter 43

Nathan POV

I walked into my home office, expecting to find Sabrina ready to review the latest notes for my campaign.

I wasn’t expecting to see my son standing there, clutching a piece of paper, fat hot tears sliding silently down his cheeks.

“Andy, what is it?” I said, dropping my briefcase onto a chair and hurrying to crouch in front of me.

Andy threw his arms around me, his little arms squeezing my neck. “It’s Claire!” he cried. “She’s never coming back!”

Confused, I exchanged a look with Sabrina, who shrugged. I held Andy for a moment while he cried, not quite sure what to say.

When he calmed down a bit, I picked up and settled us into the seat across from my desk.

“What is this?” I asked, prying the damp and crumpled paper out of his hands. I noted with confusion that it was covered in Claire’s handwriting.

Andy sniffed. “It’s a letter from Claire.”

Still confused, but now with a sinking sensation in my stomach, I read the letter he handed me,

Andy -

This isn’t a letter I ever wanted to write. No matter what, I want you to know that. Being with you and taking care of you was always a joy, and leaving you hurts more than I can ever say.

Because I’m not just your nanny. I’m your mother.

I’m sorry I can’t explain things to you face to face. But I have to leave the Silverfang pack.

And I don’t know if I’ll ever come back.

One day, I hope we get a chance to see each other again.

Until then, please don’t ever forget how much I love you.

Yours,

Claire

With every line a shadow settled over my heart, growing deeper. Colder.

Claire…leaving the pack? Saying goodbye?

I just stared at the letter for a long silent moment, my eyes returning again and again to the line Claire crossed out.

The one where she told Andy her true identity.

She had begged me for years to tell our son who she really was. Andy himself had started asking about his mother more and more over the past year or so.

And every time I had told Claire not now, it wasn’t the right time. And I’d dodged Andy’s questions and curiosity just as easily.

Not right now. I’ll tell you later. We’ll talk about it when you’re older.

Seeing Claire finally put it in a letter didn’t surprise me. I knew she’d wanted to tell Andy the turth.

What hurt and even scared me was the fact that, after she wrote it, she went back and crossed it out.

Could it be that Claire had decided she no longer cared whether or not Andy knew she was his mother?

Had she completely let go of us?

I felt a wave of panic, and immediately tried to push it away.

It couldn’t be true. She couldn’t really be leaving us for good. Maybe she just needed some space to clear her mind.

Right?

“What does it say, Dad?” Andy asked, looking up at me with his tear-stained face. “Is Claire really never coming back?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.

Then I stood, setting him back on the floor and folding the letter into my pocket.

“But I’m going to find out.”

And I didn’t have to wait long to get a chance. I had a meeting that afternoon with the board members of the clinic.

I made a point of taking a quick tour of the lower levels of the clinic, where the waiting room and exam rooms were. Just an Alpha inspecting his pack’s clinic - hoping to run into a specific doctor.

When I saw her, luckily alone and making notes in a chart, for a moment my breath caught in my chest.

Claire had always been beautiful to me, but after being apart from her for so long, every time I saw her now almost felt like the first time.

Inside me my wolf stirred, restless. Closer, it growled, just wanting to be near her.

But when I called her name and she looked up, it wasn’t welcome I saw in her eyes. It was caution, and coolness.

And that cut me, deeply.

I walked toward her down the hallway. As I got closer another doctor passed, congratulating me on my engagement to Sabrina.

He wasn’t the first. A number of people had spoken to me about my engagement as I made my way around the clinic. Everyone seemed to be happy to hear the news that their Alpha was finally going to be married, and the pack would at last have a Luna.

Everyone was happy, that was, except Claire.

And suddenly her letter, saying she was leaving, made sense.

Claire was upset about my engagement. Of course she was. Why wouldn’t she resent thinking she was being replaced in my life?

As if she could be.

Despite everything that had happened between us, Claire was still my fated mate. I felt our bond in my bones.

Hurrying now, I closed the distance between us, eager to speak with her.

“Claire, I need to speak with you.”

She closed the patient file with a crisp snapping sound. “I don’t have time to speak with you, Nathan. I have patients I need to see.”

I grabbed her arm when she tried to turn and walk away. “Claire - listen. I know how things must seem right now. But I - ”

Pausing, I struggled to put into words all the feelings swirling inside of me in that moment.

How had things become so confused and complicated?

Claire stared at me for a moment, waiting for me to say something. Then she drew herself up and squared her shoulders.

“You know what, Nathan? Don’t bother. I don’t know what you want, and I - I don’t care anymore.”

Her words hurt, in part because I wondered if they were really true. “Claire, we need to talk about our relationship. This is a mess.”

“Our relationship? What relationship? Aren’t you engaged to a Royal Princess now? Surely you don’t need a lowly Omega in your life anymore.”

I grit my teeth. “That isn’t fair and you know it. I wanted - ”

A pair of nurses walked by, and I stepped closer, lowering my voice.

“I wanted to acknowledge our relationship - you know I did. But - ”

“But it wouldn’t have been good for the pack,” she finished with a sigh. “I know. You told me. Over and over and over again.”

Of course I had. Because she always brought it up again. Why couldn’t she understand the sense of needing to keep things between us a secret?

And why did talking about it now feel so wrong? Like I’d been looking at it the wrong way all these years.

“Listen, Nathan,” Claire said, her voice also lowered. “I get it. I really do. And you know what? I wish you well.

“I hope you and the princess will be happy together.”

Her words hit me like a brick. She was wishing me and Sabrina well??

Anger sparked inside of me.

“So it’s over for you, is that what you’re saying?” I demanded, getting even closer and looming over her. “All those years, gone, just like that.”

A wave of resentment swamped me, dragging me down with it into a very dark and bitter place. “How can you be so selfish, Claire? So self centered? Did you even think about what leaving would do to our son?

“Did you ever even care about either one of us?”

Claire stared up at me, shock and distress in her eyes, but I was too lost in my anger to see it.

Instead I took her silence as agreement with what I was saying.

Stepping back, feeling like our relationship was totally broken, I looked down on her with disgust.

“Maybe everyone was right after all. An Alpha has no business being mated to a lowly Omega.”