**Ethan’s POV**
I stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, staring out at the sprawling cityscape below. CrossCorp's headquarters was the crown jewel of Silverhaven, perched high above the restless streets that tangled below. My empire was built on a legacy of power, control, and calculated moves—and in this moment, all of it felt... hollow.
I had my hands firmly wrapped around the throat of every industry, every competitor, but I couldn’t escape the nagging sensation gnawing at the back of my mind. Silverhaven, this damned town, was like a black hole, pulling me in, even when I knew I shouldn’t go near it.
“Mr. Cross, the board is ready for your decision on the new expansion in the East,” Mark, my COO, said, walking into my office without so much as a knock. He was used to my silence, used to the way I shut down the world around me when the weight of it all became too much.
“Tell them to hold off,” I muttered, my gaze still fixed on the city below. “I’m not making any moves today.”
Mark didn’t argue, though I could see the question in his eyes. He knew better than to press me. Everyone in the company did. It was one of the reasons they feared me.
I turned away from the window and walked toward my desk, grabbing the report that Mark had left earlier. My fingers lingered over the edges of the paper, but my mind wasn’t on the numbers. It was on Silverhaven—and her.
Olivia Sinclair.
The name had haunted me for months. Since the night we had shared together, since the night I let myself forget who I was. I had never intended for anything to come of it. A brief encounter with a woman like her—weak, unimportant—was supposed to have stayed in the past. But it hadn’t. It never did.
I hadn’t thought about her in years, but when the news of Leo’s existence hit me, everything changed.
The bastard child. My heir.
I clenched my jaw, forcing the rush of emotions to the back of my mind. Olivia, though… she was a different story. I couldn’t explain why my thoughts kept circling back to her. There was no place for her in my world, no room for her in the pack. And yet... something in me twisted every time I even thought about her.
I sat down in my leather chair, trying to focus on the work in front of me. But even as I ran through the numbers in my head, something else demanded my attention.
A feeling, deep in my gut. An unease that I couldn’t shake.
“Mr. Cross?” Mark’s voice interrupted my thoughts, snapping me back to reality. “Are we moving forward with the project or not?”
I stood, frustration rising within me. “I told you to hold off,” I said, my tone sharper than I intended. “If you need something to do, go run the numbers on the Lunar Legacy Pack’s territory. Find out if anything’s changed.”
Mark’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t argue. “Understood.”
He left without a word, leaving me alone again, my mind wandering back to the one thing I couldn’t control.
Olivia.
The very thought of her had me tense. She was a distraction, an irritation, something I should have never allowed to invade my thoughts. Yet, her presence lingered, like a phantom in the corner of my mind, refusing to be ignored.
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my hand over my face, trying to rid myself of the feeling that kept rising in my chest. The pull, the gravity of her existence, gnawing at my insides like some curse I couldn’t escape.
She wasn’t just some woman. She was the mother of my son. The mother of my heir.
But how had she hidden him from me? How had she kept him away from me for so long? And why did the thought of him—of Leo—feel like a tightening noose around my neck? A part of me wanted to ignore it. Wanted to let it go, to continue with my life as if this hadn’t happened.
But it wasn’t that simple, was it?
I gripped the edge of my desk, staring at the papers before me, but nothing on the page mattered. I couldn’t focus. My mind kept drifting back to that night in Silverhaven, the heat of Olivia’s body pressed against mine, her scent lingering in my lungs. The memory was vivid, too clear.
Damn her.
I stood up abruptly, walking to the window again. My pack needed me. The company needed me. Silverhaven was teetering on the edge of something—something dark and dangerous. If I let my mind wander to her, to the child, I risked everything. But no matter how many times I told myself that, the truth was undeniable.
I wanted her.
The thought was both a curse and a temptation.
“Ethan, you can’t do this,” I muttered to myself. “You’re the Alpha. You don’t get to be... weak.”
But no matter how many times I tried to push her away, the image of Olivia lingered in my mind. The way she looked when she held Leo, how her body curved as she cradled him in her arms—he had her eyes, his face soft and innocent.
I closed my eyes, shaking the memory out of my head. Focus, Cross. Focus.
And then, as if the universe itself had decided to test my resolve, the air around me shifted.
I froze.
A ripple of unease crawled up my spine. A presence—unseen but felt—pressed against my consciousness. It was an old feeling, one I knew all too well. A werewolf's instinct, a warning, a reminder that I wasn’t alone.
What the hell?
I moved quickly, my instincts sharp as I scanned the room. Nothing. Just the empty space I’d inhabited for years. But the sensation didn’t fade. It deepened, pulling me toward something I couldn’t quite understand.
My phone buzzed on the desk, snapping me from my thoughts. I reached for it, my hand shaking ever so slightly. It was an email from one of the pack’s scouts.
“Ethan, there’s been a development in Silverhaven. Unconfirmed reports of strange activity in the woods near the Sinclair woman’s apartment. Eyes on her. Something... unusual.”
I stared at the message for a long time, my grip tightening on the phone. The words didn’t make sense.
Eyes on her.
That was all I needed to read. The threat, the danger—it was real. It wasn’t just my imagination.
I turned, grabbing my coat, intent on leaving the office.
I had to see it for myself.
As I strode out of the office, I barely registered the staff around me. I was too focused on the gnawing tension that had taken root in my chest. Olivia. She was caught up in something I couldn’t even begin to understand, something dangerous. And whether I liked it or not, I had a responsibility to her—and to Leo.
But as I stepped into the elevator, the world around me seemed to blur. My thoughts, my plans, my reasons for pushing her away—they all fell away in an instant.
I was no longer in control.
The elevator doors opened with a soft ding. I stepped into the lobby, but before I could reach the front doors, everything froze. The world shifted again.
And then, I saw her.
Olivia.
She was standing at the window of a small apartment in Silverhaven, holding a child in her arms. And the child...
The child had my eyes.
My heart slammed against my chest.
The child was Leo.
But it wasn’t just the baby. It was the way Olivia was looking at me. Her face was soft, but her eyes held a depth of understanding I couldn’t quite comprehend.
She knew. She knew who I was.
And for the first time since this entire mess began, I couldn’t breathe.
What the hell was happening?
The elevator doors closed with a sharp jolt.
I stumbled backward, gripping
the wall for support. The image lingered in my mind.
Was it a vision? A dream?
It couldn’t have been real.
Could it?