Nathan’s POV
I got a call while I was in the middle of a eting.
“Alpha Nathan, could you please co to the hospital?” The nurse’s voice trembled, laced with urgency. She explained quickly. Lana was sick and admitted.
My wolf surged to the surface.
“eting adjourned,” I said coldly. Chairs scraped, papers rustled, but I was already gone.
“Which room?” I asked the nurse.
“Room 302.”
I hung up without another word.
By the ti I arrived the hospital, my blood was burning beneath my skin. The hospital doors might as well have been paper for how violently I shoved them open. As I entered the room, cold air followed like a storm front.
Lana lay on the bed, her eyes blinking sluggishly as she sensed my presence.
My wolf quieted, but only for a second.
“What happened to her?” I asked, my voice low and dangerous.
The nurse t my gaze and visibly stiffened. I could sll her nerves, sharp and acrid. Still, to her credit, she held herself together.
“Miss Lana has multiple bruises...pinching and twisting injuries. She was hospitalized because soone gave her excessive salt, leading to dehydration and fever. It was life-threatening.”
My hand moved before I realized it, resting against Lana’s forehead. It was warm. My jaw tightened.
“Who brought her in?”
“Luna Aria.”
Slowly, I rolled up Lana’s sleeve and my fingers stilled. Bluish-purple marks blood against her pale skin like poison flowers.
My wolf bared its fangs within .
Anyone who dared harm a cub under my roof, under my protection, had signed their death warrant.
Lana looked up at and smiled, it was small and trusting. Sothing twisted sharply in my chest.
Even though she might not be mine, I had watched her grow, heard her laughter echo through the villa, felt her cling to my leg with unthinking trust. In the hierarchy of the pack, she was mine to protect.
Aria... and whoever the biological father was... neither of them had any right to fail her.
“Where is Luna Aria?” I demanded.
The nurse shook her head. “We don’t know. We searched the entire hospital. She vanished.”
Vanished?.
My wolf growled low, pacing. That made no sense. Aria would never leave Lana’s side, not like this. Not when the child was still weak, still vulnerable.
Unless...
No.
My eyes dropped to Lana’s chubby fingers, curled weakly around the blanket. Aria wouldn’t leave her cub unguarded. Not unless sothing had forced her away.
My heartbeat began to pound, heavy and erratic, instinct screaming louder with every second. This wasn’t anger anymore. This was danger.
“Collins,” I barked, not taking my eyes off Lana.
My beta appeared instantly at the door, his spine straight and alert.
“Send people... Find Aria...Now.”
Collins didn’t ask any questions. He never did when my tone turned like this. He turned on his heel imdiately.
I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling my heart slam hard enough to hurt. The bond I hadn’t even realized existed was tugging violently, like a snapped wire cutting into flesh.
Sothing was very wrong.
“You can go,” I said to the nurse, my voice flat.
She nodded quickly, relief flooding her scent as she escaped the room.
The door closed and silence fell.
I turned back to Lana who had never stopped watching .
My wolf shifted restlessly beneath my skin, urging closer. I pulled a chair over and sat beside her, forcing my voice to soften.
“How did you get these?” I asked quietly, nodding toward the bruises on her arms.
The image must have been ridiculous, a suited Alpha interrogating a cub barely old enough to speak, but I didn’t care. Lana’s eyes followed with surprising clarity. I had heard her earlier, heard her call Aria Mom. That ant she understood more than she let on.
“Bad! Bad!” she shouted, clapping her hands, her little face scrunching up with fierce indignation.
My brows knit together. “Bad?”
“Ah Ah bad!” she insisted, then added with effort, “Sister bad!”
The words hit like claws scraping bone.
Ah Ah...I didn’t understand yet. But sister?
My mind raced through possibilities and ca up empty. Lana didn’t have a sister. At least... none I knew of. My wolf growled low, filing the word away with lethal patience.
I reached out and tucked the blanket around her in a careful, controlled manner.
“Be good, Lana,” I said softly. “Daddy will go find Mommy.”
The word slipped out before I could stop it.
Daddy.
It felt wrong and unnatural on my tongue, but the instant it left my mouth, sothing in my chest clicked. A strange, undeniable satisfaction spread through , like a bond finally acknowledging itself.
I cleared my throat, suddenly awkward, and stood, pulling my coat back over my shoulders.
My gaze fell on Lana briefly again. Aria was my wife and Luna. And regardless of whether Lana was my blood, she belonged under my protection.
That made her mine.
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