Chapter 18

ELENA

My heart was in my throat as I held my phone in my hands. Aiden had run out of pack territory. Alone.

My breath caught as I shoved my phone back into my pocket, spinning on my heel to leave. Derek’s hand shot out, grabbing my wrist before I could take another step.

“What’s wrong?” His voice was low, concerned.

I yanked my arm free, swallowing back my rising panic. “It’s none of your business.”

His jaw clenched. “Elena, tell me what’s going on.”

I looked into his eyes, those same brown-gold eyes as our son. Aiden.

I said nothing, turning, and sprinted out of the restaurant, my pulse pounding in my ears. I called Mason but his phone went right to voice mail. He had just gone into an important meeting and must have turned it off.

I cursed and called our driver, telling him to bring the car around immediately, I needed to head home.

As I waited what seemed like an agonizingly long time, I pulled out my phone again. There was only one person I could turn to now.

Logan picked up on the first ring. “Aiden’s missing,” I blurted, breathless. “I can’t get in touch with Mason. I need help.”

Logan’s voice was low and clipped. All business. “I’ll put my people on it.”

The car ride back to the packhouse was interminable. Minutes stretched into an agonizing hour before my phone rang again. Logan.

“I found him,” he said. “He’s safe. But—”

“But what?” I said desperately.

“He’s in the rogue community.”

“He’s WHAT?” My time spent with rogues before Derek found me had been relatively safe. Happy, even, at times. But my experience was not the norm.

It had been a rogue attack, after all, that had sent me flying off a cliff, waking up with no memory, my family torn apart with agonizing worry, not knowing what had happened to me.

“Where are you?” I asked Logan, who gave me the address. “Stay there,” I went on. “I’m on my way.”

I was barely through the door of the small, ramshackle house when Aiden launched himself into my arms.

“Mommy!”

Relief flooded through me as I held him close, my fingers brushing through his unruly hair. “Are you hurt?” I whispered.

“No, Mommy. They were really nice,” he lisped through his missing front teeth, and I couldn’t help but think about just how young he was, how ill-prepared to be running roughshod through rogue territory.

I wanted nothing more than to launch into a hysterical parental rant about how dangerous what he’d done was and what the consequences could have been. But there would be time for that later.

Instead, I looked up, first at Logan, to whom I threw a grateful look, and then at the group of women standing just behind him.

Recognition slammed into me. These were the same rogue she-wolves who had saved me all those years ago.

“Carly?” I said, holding Aiden tightly to my side. “Erin? Maggie?” My voice was tremulous.

Erin stepped forward shyly.

“Hi Mia,” she said, her voice soft.

I smiled at her. “It’s actually Elena,” I said. “My name is Elena.”

Carly came forward as well. “You have an adventurous little boy there.”

I ran my fingers through Aiden’s hair. “A little too adventurous, I think,” I said. “Thank you for keeping him safe.”

Carly gave me a prudent nod.

I saw Maggie move a little way away from Logan, her eyes lingering on him in an odd way. “We never thought we’d see you again,” she said. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has,” I said. My mind was spinning. “What happened to you?” I asked. “After Derek took me to Silverclaw, I came back to find you, but you were gone.”

Carly looked suddenly wary. “After Derek took you,” she said, “someone came after us. We had to run.”

Logan crossed his arms, his voice deliberate. “Which begs the question,” he said. “Who really wanted you gone, Elena? And why?”

That pulled me up short. “What are you trying to say?”

Logan looked at the other women in the room, their clothes threadbare and grubby. His eyes lingered on Maggie for a long moment before turning back to me.

“Maybe the people who came after them are the same ones who attacked you all those years ago.” He turned to look at Carly. “You said these people came after you right after Derek found Elena?”

“That same night,” Carly nodded.

“Interesting timing,” Logan said, giving me a deliberate look.

“You think it was the Silverclaw pack that went after them?” I asked, incredulous. “You think it was Silverclaw that went after me?”

Logan shrugged. “It’s worth considering.”

The attack had happened near the Silverclaw border. My mind whirled. If Derek’s pack—or even Derek himself—had something to do with the incident that took my memory all those years ago, I needed to know.

And I knew exactly how I was going to find out. The second Mason answered his phone I explained that I would be taking the lead on the partnership to host the Alpha Ball. He was momentarily thrown by the request, but hearing the tone of my voice, reluctantly conceded.

I disconnected and shoved my phone into my pocket. I ran my hand through Aiden’s hair one more time. “Come on. We’re going home,” I said, then looked at the three women who had saved my son, each of them in turn. “All of us.”

DEREK

Cassandra sobbed into her hands, shaking as she pointed at her rash-covered face. “She did this to me on purpose, Derek!”

I barely glanced at her. My thoughts were elsewhere, tangled in the chaos of emotions I had been trying to suppress since seeing Elena again.

Joe had called me late last night. “I’ve been looking into Elena,” he’d told me. “Intel is that Mason’s been keeping tight control over information about her. Looks like he’s been pulling the strings for a while, now.”

My stomach had twisted. Mason. Again.

Cassandra let out a delicate sigh. “I know it must be painful for you, Derek. She faked her death, climbed her way into a new position and now—” she dabbed at her eyes, “—now she’s playing up to another powerful Alpha, pretending like she never abandoned you.”

I clenched my fists, not knowing who wanted what from me or why. Everyone seemed to have an angle on my life but me. I growled low in my throat.

A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts. One of my men stepped inside. “Sir, we just received word. Negotiations are complete. Moonstone has agreed to cooperate.”

Cassandra brightened. “Why don’t I go,” she suggested. “It would give me a chance to smooth things over and—”

“No.” My voice was sharp. “I’ll go myself.”

Her face fell, but I didn’t care. This was something I needed to handle personally.

When we arrived at Moonstone, the atmosphere was tense. The staff barely spared us a glance as they led us inside. They didn’t bow, didn’t show the usual signs of deference. I could feel Joe and my Gamma, Chad, stiffen beside me, anger simmering just beneath the surface.

“Watch yourselves,” I warned in a low voice. “We’re here for business.”

They gritted their teeth but nodded, following me into the reception area. We waited, the silence stretching thick between us.

Then, suddenly, a small figure came darting into through the room not watching where he was going and plowed right into my leg. The small child was no match for my size and fell backwards. He couldn’t have been more than five or six. Instinctively, I reached down and steadied him. “Whoa, there,” I said.

He looked up at me, his eyes filled with a defiant, fierce spirit. Then he smiled, the gap where he was missing his two front teeth a dark hole in a shining, bright face.

“Sorry, mister,” he said with an adorable lisp.

I was instantly charmed. I smiled back. “Don’t worry about it, son.”