Chapter 16 Half truth
Elara looked at Adrian sleeping peacefully despite everything happening around him, and she made a decision that was probably stupid but necessary.
"I was exiled from my pack two years ago," she said, sticking as close to the truth as possible. "I ended up in the borderlands pregnant with nowhere to go, Mandivus Swathi offered protection in exchange for mating him after the baby was born, I agreed because I had no choice and then I ran because I wasn't going to let him raise my son."
"What pack exiled you?" Kai asked.
"Does it matter?" Elara countered.
"It matters if they're going to come looking for you too," Kai said.
"They won't, they don't care about me," Elara said and that at least was true.
Kai was quiet for a moment, studying her face. "Your son, Adrian, how old did you say he was?"
"Two years old," Elara said.
"And his father?"
"Is none of your concern," Elara said.
Something shifted in Kai's expression, something that looked almost like guilt but passed too quickly to identify. "If you're in danger I need to know, you're working in my household which means you're under my protection whether you want it or not."
"I can handle Mandivus," Elara said.
"You clearly can't or you wouldn't be running and hiding," Kai said. "Let me help."
Elara wanted to laugh because the man offering to protect her was the same man who'd orchestrated her exile and gotten her into this situation in the first place, but Sera wouldn't know that and rejecting help right now would seem suspicious.
"Fine," she said. "But my son comes first, I need to get him somewhere safe before I go back to Crescent Falls."
"Bring him with you," Kai said. "My estate has security, Mandivus won't be able to get to him there."
"I'm not bringing my son to live in my employer's house," Elara said.
"Then consider yourself promoted," Kai said. "Live-in nanny with full housing included, your son stays in the staff wing and you watch him while also maintaining your housekeeping duties."
It was too convenient and too generous and Elara's instincts screamed trap, but having Adrian close where she could protect him while also maintaining access to Kai's private spaces was exactly what she needed.
"Why would you do this?" she asked.
Kai was quiet for a long moment, looking at Adrian sleeping in the hospital bed. "Because I know what it's like to lose someone important and I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
There was something genuine in his voice that made Elara's wolf respond with confused longing, and she hated that part of herself that still wanted to believe he was capable of kindness.
"Okay," she said finally. "We'll come back with you."
Adrian stirred in the bed, his eyes opening slowly and immediately filling with tears when he saw the unfamiliar room, but then he spotted Elara and reached for her with both hands.
"Mama," he sobbed and Elara scooped him up, holding him tight while he cried into her shoulder.
"I've got you baby, I've got you," she whispered. "You're safe now."
Kai watched them with an expression Elara couldn't read, and then his phone rang and he stepped out into the hallway to answer it.
Elara held Adrian and let him cry himself out, and when he finally calmed down enough to talk he looked up at her with red eyes.
"Bad men came mama," he whispered. "Sarah told me to hide and I heard loud noise and she stopped talking."
"I know baby, I'm so sorry you had to see that," Elara said. "But you're safe now and mama's not going to let anyone hurt you."
"Where's Sarah?" Adrian asked. "Where's uncle Marcus?"
Elara's throat closed up because explaining death to a two-year-old was impossible. "They had to go away baby, but they loved you very much."
Adrian started crying again and Elara held him, rocking back and forth while her own tears fell silently because Sarah and Marcus had died protecting her son and she would never be able to repay that debt.
Kai came back into the room looking grim. "That was Detective Morrison, they found Marcus's truck abandoned three miles from Sarah's house with evidence of a struggle inside and traces of borderlands pack scent markers."
"So they grabbed Marcus first and used him to find out where Adrian was staying," Elara said.
"Looks that way," Kai confirmed. "Morrison wants you to come back in tomorrow for a follow-up interview."
"Fine," Elara said.
A nurse came in to discharge Adrian and gave Elara a bag with his clothes and the stuffed bear he'd been clutching, and then they were walking out to Kai's truck in predawn light with Adrian clinging to Elara's neck.
The drive back to Crescent Falls took five hours and Adrian fell asleep within the first thirty minutes, exhausted from crying and trauma and sedatives still in his system.
Elara held him the entire drive and stared out the window, her mind spinning through everything that had happened and everything she still needed to do.
Mandivus knew where to find her now which meant he'd be back, and when he came she needed to be ready with enough evidence against Kai to secure Adrian's inheritance and enough power to protect them both from borderlands threats.
They pulled up to Kai's estate around noon and Margaret met them at the staff entrance looking surprised.
"Alpha said you'd be bringing your son," Margaret said. "We've set up a room next to yours with a bed and some toys."
"Thank you," Elara said and carried Adrian upstairs to find a small but clean room with a twin bed and a box of basic toys that looked like they'd been purchased that morning.
She laid Adrian down and he immediately curled around his stuffed bear, still sleeping deeply, and Elara sat on the floor beside the bed watching him breathe.
The door opened and Kai stood there with a sandwich and water. "You should eat something."
"I'm not hungry," Elara said.
"Eat anyway," Kai said and set the plate on the floor beside her. "You're no good to your son if you collapse from exhaustion."
He left before she could respond and Elara picked up the sandwich, forcing herself to take bites even though it tasted like cardboard.
Her phone—still broken—sat in her bag and she needed to get it repaired because the last recording of Sarah's voice was trapped inside it, and she needed to hear it one more time before she could let go.
But first she needed to sleep because she hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours and her body was shutting down whether she wanted it to or not.
She lay down on the floor beside Adrian's bed and closed her eyes, and the last thought before sleep took her was that Mandivus Swathi had made a fatal mistake coming after her son, because now she had nothing left to lose.