Chapter 123

ELENA

The phone rang at 6:23 a.m.

At first, I didn’t register the sound. I was curled under the covers, still caught in that foggy place between dream and waking, where everything is quiet and soft and nothing bad has happened yet.

But the ring didn’t stop. It cut through the peace with sharp, repetitive urgency.

I rolled over and reached blindly for my phone, already knowing who it would be.

Derek.

My heart kicked once—hard. Aiden.

I sat up in bed, wide awake now, the sheets tangled around my legs. The sun hadn’t fully risen. A ribbon of early light filtered through the curtains, soft and harmless. But dread bloomed in my chest like a bruise.

Why would Derek be calling me this early unless something had gone wrong?

“Hello?” I answered, sitting up straight, covers falling around my waist.

“Elena.” His voice was low, steady, but with an edge I’d never heard before. “Aiden’s okay. He’s okay. But something happened last night.”

I was already up, heart pounding, grabbing jeans off the floor and pulling them on with one hand. “What do you mean something happened? What happened?”

“There was an attempted abduction. Rogues. Two of them. They cut the tent. Took him. He wasn’t gone long. I shifted. Got him back. He’s fine. I swear. Just shaken.”

I couldn’t breathe. For a second the world tilted, black crept into the edges of my vision. “You what?!”

“I got him back. He’s safe. He’s at Silverclaw now. We just got in—he’s having a second breakfast. I wanted to tell you myself. Come here. Please.”

“I’m on my way.”

I didn’t even bother tying my shoes. I shoved my arms through the sleeves of a jacket as I flew out the door, my mind racing ahead of me the whole drive.

The Silverclaw gates hadn’t changed, but it felt like a different planet than the last time I’d come here.

Back then, I was the outcast. The rogue. The scandal. Now I was pulling up as a mother whose son had been taken.

The guard at the gate recognized me immediately and opened it without hesitation. He even gave me a respectful nod, but I didn’t acknowledge it. I couldn’t. I was already out of the car before it had fully stopped.

The front door of the estate opened just as I reached the steps.

And there he was.

“Aiden!”

He launched out the door like a cannonball, barreling into me, arms wrapping tight around my waist.

“Mom!”

I dropped to my knees and pulled him into my arms, hands skimming over him—shoulders, arms, face—searching for any sign that he wasn’t okay.

“I’m fine,” he said between hugs. “They didn’t hurt me. Dad saved me!”

My breath caught.

“We were in the tent and I went to pee and then they were there and they grabbed me and I screamed but then this woman yelled at them—she was so mad!—and then they dropped me and Dad was there like bam! and then this morning we had pancakes! Dad made them over the fire!”

I blinked.

“You what?”

He beamed up at me, completely unbothered, like the kidnapping had been a minor inconvenience sandwiched between s’mores and syrup.

I looked up. Derek was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest like he was holding something in—his temper, maybe. Or the guilt. His expression was unreadable, but I could feel his eyes on me, on us. Watching.

I turned back to Aiden and gently cupped his face in my hands, brushing back the hair that had flopped over his forehead. “Are you okay?” I asked softly, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice. “Are you scared? Did anything happen after?”

“I’m okay,” he said again, voice smaller now. “Really. It was just… kinda scary. But not for long.”

I didn’t know whether to weep or scream. My heart was still racing. I could feel the beat of it in my throat.

Behind us, Derek cleared his throat.

“Aiden,” he said.

My son turned toward him. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t you go tell Caroline how you want that room decorated?”

Aiden’s face lit up like someone had flipped a switch inside him. “I get to decorate it?!”

“You get full artistic control.”

He gasped like he’d been offered the moon on a stick. “Cool! Bye, Mom!”

And just like that, he was off, his sneakers pounding the stairs, yelling for Caroline and rattling off a string of enthusiastic nonsense—“space wallpaper!” and “dragon pillows!” and something about a secret reading cave.

I rose slowly to my feet, my knees stiff, my body still humming with leftover adrenaline. I turned toward Derek, feeling the heat rise in my chest like a fire caught on dry kindling.

He closed the door behind us with a soft click and stepped forward. His hand brushed my elbow, tentative.

“Let’s talk,” he said.

I yanked my arm away before the contact could even register. “No,” I snapped. “Let’s scream.”

His jaw clenched. “Elena—”

“You let our son get taken.”

“I didn’t let—”

“What the fuck, Derek?!” My voice cracked on the last word. “How could you let this happen?”

He didn’t flinch. “I had the area swept beforehand,” he said tightly. “Two of my best men. No signs of rogue activity. I made sure—”

“Fire your Gamma,” I spat.

“We’ll certainly be having a talk.”

My hands were shaking now. Not from fear, but rage. Cold, furious rage. I didn’t know whether to punch him in the chest or curl up on the floor and sob. “Who were they?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice finally slipping—weariness threading through it. “I couldn’t give chase.” He held up a hand before I could jump down his throat again. “I didn’t want to leave Aiden alone in the woods. Not again.”

That made me stop.

My breath caught. The rage paused, held back by the truth of what he was saying. By the memory of how Aiden had looked when he ran into my arms.

I knew what it meant for Derek to give up a fight. I knew how deeply his instincts to pursue, to protect through dominance, ran. And yet… he’d stayed.

He’d stayed with our son.

He was right.

Damn it.

I exhaled, hands braced on my thighs. “You made the right call. I hate it. I hate everything about this. But you were right.”

“There’s more,” he said, and when I looked up, something wary flickered in his eyes. “There was a woman.”

“Okay?”

“She yelled at the others. Told them to let him go. Said they were idiots. Sounded… I don’t know. Familiar.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t know who it was?”

“I didn’t get a look at her face. She shifted before I could. Ran off with the other two.”

“But her voice…”

He nodded. “I’ve heard it before. I’m sure of it.”

“So who?”

“I don’t know. I’ve sent the team back out to search for tracks, residual scent—anything.”

I folded my arms. “The same team that swept the area and said it was clear?”

His jaw tightened. “Yes. Them.”

I stared at him. At the circles under his eyes. The open collar of his shirt. The faint smell of smoke still clinging to him.

He looked like hell.

Good.

“So what are you going to do?” I asked.

His brow furrowed. “Wait to hear back. Follow the trail. Tighten security. Keep Aiden close.”

“No,” I said, stepping forward. “We’re going.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You and me. We’re going back to the campsite. Today. Before the trail goes cold.”

“Elena—”

“I want to see it for myself,” I snapped. “I want to know how close they got. I want to smell what you smelled. I want to see what my son saw. And I want to figure out who the hell was out there that thinks they can take what’s mine.”

His eyes searched my face for a long moment.

And then, finally, he nodded.

“I’ll saddle the horses.”