Aria’s POV
Alia clicked her tongue. "I am already doing exactly that, Aria."
I hung up and exhaled, finally easing my shoulders. I leaned down and scooped Lana from her stroller. Her tiny wolf scent softened sothing jagged in .
We walked the yard, Lana stretching her little arms toward birds dancing between branches. She babbled, her tiny wolf aura flickering like a candle, learning the world. My heart cracked open for her every ti.
We stepped outside the gate and froze.
It wasn’t a hallucination. Soone had been watching .
A tall silhouette stood by the trees. His scent hit like a mory I wished I could forget.
It was Nathan. Shadows clung to him like second skin, exhaustion bruising the skin beneath his eyes.
My heartbeat stuttered, just once. Then I crushed it.
I looked away, adjusting Lana in my arms. Nathan stepped into my path, blocking . Even now, he acted like he had that right.
My wolf bristled. Move or bleed.
“What do you want, Nathan?” I asked, my voice clipped, cold as frost forming on steel.
He didn’t speak. His throat worked, like words were stuck behind his teeth. Irritation flared within ; I shifted to walk around him.
Then he spoke.
“Give one more chance, Aria.”
It was barely a whisper, but my wolf heard it as loud as a howl.
I stopped.
Mockery tugged at my lips before I even turned. When I finally looked back, his eyes were full of raw emotions and sothing I didn’t dare na.
“Let take care of you. Of her.” His voice trembled.
“Let make up for everything. She shouldn’t grow up without a father.”
Father.
I smiled, it was sharp and humorless.
“A father?” I echoed softly, bouncing Lana when she fussed. “Lana has never had a father. Not once.”
My wolf growled in agreent. Every mory of prison flashed behind my eyes. If not for Lana’s heartbeat beneath my hand, I would’ve died.
She saved , he did not.
My heart was armored in scars now. Once, I had begged for his belief. Now? I pitied the version of who did.
“Nathan,” I said, my voice calm as a sky after a hurricane, “do you rember when Sophia injured her ankle a few months ago?”
He looked confused, hopeful and pathetic.
I held his gaze, my own steady and cold.
Like a wolf staring down prey that used to be family.
Nathan’s POV
I opened my mouth, ready to defend myself, to explain, to beg, but the words jamd in my throat like a shard of bone. My wolf snarled, restless and ashad, the sound echoing inside rather than out. It hurt. Spirits, it hurt.
My shoulders sagged and I bowed my head, feeling every ounce of defeat like weights dragging down.
“Aria... I didn’t know,” I forced out, my voice raw. “If I had known, I would never have let you or Lana suffer so much.”
Her gaze sliced into , clear, unyielding, cold as a blade forged in winter moonlight.
“Nathan,” she said, “most of the hardships Lana and I faced were because of you.”
The words hit like claws to the throat. My wolf whimpered. I didn’t even try to deny it, because she was right. Spirits help , she was right.
“When Lana was gravely ill,” she continued, her voice hard enough to crack stone, “it was because of you that we faced such danger. If Lana had truly been lost then... Nathan, I would have wanted nothing more than to kill you.”
That sentence chilled the air. Frost crept up my spine. I swallowed hard, but the lump in my throat refused to move.
My hands trembled at my sides, my wolf pressing forward, desperate and remorseful.
“I deserve that,” I whispered, barely breathing the words. “I... I know I do.”
Silence stretched like a rope pulled tight between us. I forced myself to look up, unable to let go completely.
“Then...” My voice cracked. I cleared it and tried again. “Can I see her? Just once more? Please.”
For a heartbeat, her eyes flickered. Hope flared in my chest, wild, reckless and stupid hope.
She’d always had a soft heart. She wouldn’t deny entirely. She couldn’t or so I thought.
But then she shifted Lana higher in her arms, raising a protective hand, blocking my view. A growl of warning vibrated faintly from her.
“Nathan,” she said, her voice low and lethal, “aside from blood, you and Lana have no ties. None.”
It was like being struck across the face. My wolf reeled. I felt sothing in my chest fracture.
“There’s no need to look,” she finished, not sparing a glance as she turned away.
The breath I’d been holding scattered, leaving hollow and numb.
Lana whimpered at the tension hanging between us, a tiny shiver running through her. Aria soothed her instantly in a tender touch, causing her scent to soften.
“Alpha Nathan,” she said, addressing formally, as though we were nothing but strangers, “please leave.”
She walked away, her skirt brushing through the grass, her wolf aura a shield of steel and ice.
I stood frozen, my boots rooted to the ground, like the earth itself had decided I’d gone far enough.
At that mont, Shevron Estates felt suffocating, heavy with everything I deserved.
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