Chapter 86

ELENA

I hadn’t moved from his bedside since yesterday. Not when the nurses gently nudged me to rest. Not when my back ached from the hospital chair. Not even when my eyes burned from staying open too long.

Aiden hadn’t stirred.

The doctors said he was stable, that the transfusions were working, that his vitals were holding—but he still hadn’t opened his eyes.

And so I stayed.

I held his small hand in mine, my thumb brushing lightly over his knuckles. His skin was still warm.

His breath steady, if shallow. But the beeping machines and the antiseptic scent in the air were constant reminders of how close we’d come to losing him.

How close we still were.

The room was dim, the shades drawn against the harsh Caribbean sun. Derek had adjusted the lighting hours ago, without asking, just quietly dimmed the fluorescents until the space felt less sterile. Softer.

I heard the door open behind me.

Derek stepped inside, silent as always, a cup of coffee in one hand and a bag with a wrapped sandwich in the other. He’d made it a habit—coming and going just enough to keep me fed and hydrated, but never hovering. Never forcing conversation.

I didn’t look away from Aiden.

He set the items down on the small table beside me. “You should eat,” he said gently.

“I’m not hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

I didn’t argue, but I didn’t reach for the food either.

He crossed to the opposite side of the bed and lowered himself into the chair, looking down at Aiden, mirroring my position.

“When he wakes up—”

“If,” I whispered, the word tearing out of me before I could stop it.

Derek’s gaze flicked to me, steady and sure. “When,” he repeated, firmer this time. “When he wakes up, I want to take him to Silverclaw.”

My head lifted slowly. “What?”

“Just for a visit. A day trip. Not an overnight, not unless you’re comfortable with that.” His voice was calm, but there was a thread of hope in it. “I’d like him to see it. His other home. His heritage. Where he came from.”

I stared at him.

And suddenly I was back in the Silverclaw compound, standing in a place that was never mine. Surrounded by people who called me rogue. Who doubted me. Who would have doubted my son if I’d stayed there any longer.

“Derek, I don’t know…”

My voice cracked, the weight of too many memories pressing down on the words. They hung there, brittle and unfinished, suspended in the sterile quiet of the hospital room. The warmth in Derek’s expression faltered just slightly—like he felt it too, the echo of all the pain I hadn’t yet found the courage to explain.

He opened his mouth to say something more—

But the door opened before he could.

The shift in energy was immediate.

Logan stepped in first, sharp-eyed and tense, with Mason close behind. They both took one look at the room—at Aiden, at Derek holding his hand—and froze.

The air went tight.

Mason's gaze locked on his nephew’s pale face, horror and grief etching lines across his features. He crossed to the end of the bed like a man moving through a dream, reaching out but stopping just short of touching Aiden’s foot.

Logan didn’t move at all. He took in the sight—Derek so close, so comfortable—and something flickered behind his eyes. Suspicion. Possession. A protective instinct so strong it radiated off him in waves.

He crossed into the room and his hand came down gently on my shoulder. But it felt more like a stake in the ground.

A claim.

I stiffened beneath his touch, and Derek saw it. His body straightened, subtle but unmistakable, the sharp edge of an Alpha coming to the surface. The tension in the room coiled tighter, like a rope about to snap.Top of FormBottom of Form

“Elena,” Logan said, not taking his eyes off the other Alpha. “What’s he doing here?”

“I told you, Logan,” I said, looking up at him. Putting my hand over his on my shoulder in an effort to calm what felt like a dangerous situation. “He saved us. Me and Aiden. He saved our lives.”

“I’m also,” Derek said, slowly rising to stand next to the bed. “The boy’s father,” he said.

His voice was calm. Measured. But I could feel the weight of it settling over all of us like a thundercloud.

Logan shifted on his feet.

Mason glanced between them, but didn’t speak. He was still at the foot of Aiden’s bed, his eyes glassy and fixed on the boy, one hand lightly resting on the rail like he needed the contact to stay grounded.

The air felt too thick. The sterile light too bright.

Logan bared his teeth.

And that was it.

The growls that followed were instinctual, low and guttural—two wolves bristling on a razor’s edge. I felt the energy, dangerous and sharp. Logan’s chest expanded as his breathing turned heavy. Derek squared his shoulders, his grip on Aiden’s hand unshaken.

“Stop it!” I snapped, my voice cracking under the pressure. “Not here. Not like this.”

I didn’t even lift my head. I just bent over Aiden’s small, unmoving hand, pressing it to my lips. My tears finally spilled, hot and bitter.

“I don’t care which one of you is Alpha right now. My son is lying here, and you’re both acting like this is about power. It’s not. It’s about him. So if you can’t put your pride aside, get out.”

Neither of them moved for a long, long moment.

But the growls subsided.

Derek dropped his eyes first.

Logan looked away, jaw tight.

Beside me, Mason finally spoke—and it was the quiet, broken tone of his voice that made me look up.

“We’re taking Aiden home.”

I blinked. “What?”

Mason turned his gaze on me, steady and calm, but shaken beneath it. “Is he stable?”

“Yes,” I said slowly. “But his condition is still critical. Why—”

“I have an air ambulance waiting. We’re flying him back to Moonstone. He shouldn’t be here. He should be home. Where he’ll be safe.”

“Safe?” Derek repeated, voice low.

Logan shot him a look. “You’ve done enough.”

I stood up, trying to make sense of what was happening. “Are you sure it’s safe to move him?”

Mason nodded. “The doctors confirmed he’s stable enough for transport, and our medics are prepped for the flight. We’ve coordinated with the Moonstone healers to receive him.”

He gave me a reassuring smile.

“The second he lands, he’ll be surrounded by people who know his history, his bloodline, his physiology. That matters.”

Logan’s hand squeezed my shoulder.

I felt like I was being asked to make an impossible choice, but maybe it wasn’t one. Maybe this was the only choice that made sense.

“Okay,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper. “Take him home.”

DEREK

I didn’t remember sitting back down.

Didn’t remember how long I sat there, fingers still curled around Aiden’s hand as everyone moved around me—making calls, confirming the flight, updating the nurses. It was like I’d been caught in some invisible undertow, dragged under before I even realized the tide had shifted.

Home.

They were taking him home.

Not to Silverclaw.

To Moonstone.

To Logan.

I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my expression neutral, but every cell in my body screamed against it. I’d just found him. Just learned the truth. And now, once again, he was being taken away.

I wasn’t his guardian. I wasn’t his emergency contact. I wasn’t even a name on the damn hospital paperwork.

I was his father, and yet I had no claim. No rights. No place at his side.

“Elena,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended.

She turned, her eyes still red-rimmed, her posture heavy with exhaustion.

“I’d like to come,” I said.

She hesitated.

That silence cut deeper than anything.

Then, slowly, she nodded. “We’ll have room on the plane.”

Relief swept through me like air to drowning lungs. “Thank you.”

She gave a small nod, then turned back to Aiden.

And just like that, I knew.

I would follow them. Wherever they went. Whatever they needed.

Because I’d been gone for six years without knowing what I’d lost.

And now that I did—now that I saw it, felt it, held it in my hands—

There was no way in hell I was letting go.