Chapter 173 MOMMY'S BOY

Chapter 173 MOMMY'S BOY

The first thing that came to Alex’s mind wasn’t his mother.  

It was Jenna.  

The girl who had pulled Sara out of the water weeks ago when Ivan’s men tried to drown her. The girl who had her hands shaking and smoke in her hair and who looked at him in the ER afterward and went pale because she knew who he was.  

Alpha of the Black Fang.  

Everyone in the city knew what he looked like. And she had saved his daughter without knowing who he was, and then had to live with knowing after.  

Alex stopped halfway to the front door of the packhouse. The afternoon sunlight cut across the stone floor in a straight white line and he stood in it like it could burn him clean.  

Behind him, in the basement, Ivan was humming. Low and tuneless and smug.  

Alessia wasn’t blood.  
Elena might be alive.  

He wasn’t going to free Ivan. He wasn’t going to let that man manipulate him into begging for information. Ivan was lying. He had to be lying. That was the only thing that made sense.  

But Alex had to check. He had to know for himself.  

He went outside.  

The driveway was empty. The two SUVs were gone. Kane had taken Mia and Sara and Alessia and Seraphina to the penthouse in the human city.  

He was alone in the house with a prisoner in the basement and a truth he couldn’t outrun.  

He pulled out his phone. His hands were steady. They were always steady when he was angry.  

Kane answered on the second ring. There was noise in the background. Mia’s voice, low. Sara making a small sound in her sleep.  

“Alpha?” Kane said.  

“Where are you,” Alex said. No greeting.  

“Penthouse,” Kane said. “Yours. In the human city. We’re outside. The lock’s been changed. Some of your security guards are new here and they’re looking at us like we don’t belong.”  

“Use the card,” Alex said. “Top right drawer in my study. Black card. It overrides everything.”  

“Got it,” Kane said. He sounded relieved. “Did Ivan—”  

“It was fireworks,” Alex cut him off. “A prank. He’s still cuffed in the basement.”  

There was a long exhale on the other end. “Thank God. I thought for a second—”  

“I need Jenna’s address,” Alex said.  

Kane went quiet. “Jenna. The nurse. The one who saved Sara.”  

“Yes.”  

“Why?” Kane asked carefully. “Alpja,what happened down there?”  

“It’s the only way to tear Ivan apart at last,” Alex said quietly. “ He told me something I refused to believe,the only way to know is to ask Jenna some questions."  

Kane didn’t push. “I’ll send it. 18 Mercer Street. Apartment 3B. District 4. Above the laundromat. Alex, do you want me to come with you?”  

“No. Stay with them. Use the card for anything you need. Food. Hotel. New security. I’ll call you.”  

He hung up before Kane could argue.  

District 4 was forty minutes away if he drove fast. An hour if he obeyed traffic laws. He didn’t obey them.  

Mercer Street was narrow and loud and smelled like detergent and exhaust and fried food. The laundromat on the ground floor had three dryers running and a neon sign that buzzed. 18 Mercer was red brick with a fire escape on the side.  

Apartment 3B. Third floor. The window was open. Curtains moving.  

Alex parked across the street and sat for a minute. He didn’t know what he was going to say. He didn’t know what he wanted to hear.  

He got out and went in.  

The stairwell smelled like soap and old cooking oil. His boots were loud on the concrete. On the second floor a woman with a stroller saw him and quickly looked away. Everyone knew the Black Fang crest even if they didn’t know his face.  

3B had a cheap metal door with the number taped to it.  

Alex raised his hand and knocked.  

Footsteps. Then the door opened.  

Jenna.  

She was in navy scrubs, hair in a messy bun, a pen tucked behind her ear. She looked exhausted. There were dark circles under her eyes and her shoulders were tight.  

And the second she saw him, her face went professional. Polite. Guarded. Like she was talking to a patient’s family member and not a man who might be her brother.  

“Alpha Black,” she said. “Is Sara okay?”  

“She’s fine,” Alex said. His voice felt rough in his throat. “She’s asleep. She's with Mia.”  

Jenna exhaled and some of the tension left her shoulders. “Okay. Good.” She stepped back and opened the door wider. “Come in. But I have to leave for the clinic in ten minutes.”  

Alex came in.  

The apartment was small. One bedroom. Kitchenette. It smelled like coffee and laundry soap. There were photos on the fridge held up with magnets. One of Jenna in graduation robes. One of Jenna with an older woman. The woman had gray eyes and dark hair and she was smiling, but her face was thin. Tired. There were lines around her mouth that didn’t look like they came from laughing.  

Alex stared at it for half a second too long.  

Jenna saw where he was looking. She didn’t say anything. She just went to the counter and poured herself a glass of water. “Do you want anything?”  

“No,” Alex said.  

Jenna drank the water and set the glass down. Then she turned to him and crossed her arms. Professional distance. Walls up. “What can I do for you, Alpha?”  

Alex looked at her. Really looked. The shape of her jaw. The way her mouth pulled to the side when she was thinking. The gray eyes. The scar on her wrist.  

“I need to ask you something,” he said. “And I need you to be honest with me.”  

Jenna’s expression didn’t change. “I’ll answer what I can.”  

“A man told me today that my mother might be alive,” Alex said. No dancing around it. “And then I remembered you. And how you looked at me in the hospital. Like you were seeing a ghost.”  

Jenna didn’t react. Not a flicker. “A lot of people look alike, Alpha.”  

“Do you know her?” Alex asked. “Elena Black?”  

Jenna went very still. “I don’t discuss my family with patients. Or with pack.”  

“That’s not an answer.”  

“It’s the only one you’re getting,” Jenna said. Her voice was even. Calm. Final. “I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear.”  

Alex took a step closer and she didn’t flinch, but her shoulders got tighter. “Jenna. Please. If you know anything—”  

“I don’t,” she cut in. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”  

The words landed and stayed there.  

“Why?” Alex asked.  

“Because my mother is a private person,” Jenna said. “And she doesn’t entertain visitors. Especially not from Black Fang.”  

Alex felt like he’d been hit. “So she is alive.”  

“Are you wishing my mother dead?,” Jenna asked too quickly. 

But Alex heard it. He heard the slip.  

“No I'm not, where is she?” Alex asked. 

“I’m not telling you that,” Jenna said. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I reunited with her a few years ago and the last thing she wants is for the Black Fang pack to show up at her door talking about the past.”  

Alex stared at her. His sister. Maybe. And she was shutting the door in his face.  

“I’m not a killer,” Alex said. “I’m not here to hurt her. I’m not here to drag her back into any of that.”  

“I believe you,” Jenna said. And she sounded like she meant it. “But she doesn’t. And I’m not going to be the reason she has a panic attack.”  

Alex ran a hand through his hair. “Can I at least write her a letter? Can I—”  

“No,” Jenna said gently. “I’m sorry, Alpha. You can’t.”  

Silence filled the small kitchen. The fridge hummed. Somewhere outside a car honked.  

Alex looked at the photo on the fridge again. The woman with gray eyes. “Wait… this must be your mother then, Is she sick?” Alex noticed the woman didn't look anything like Elena Volkova. His mother. But he had a feeling that the person Jenna was talking about was surely his mom but how did she survive?

Jenna hesitated. Then nodded once. “Yes.”  

“What kind of sickness?”  

“That’s not something I’m going to discuss,” Jenna said. “With you. Or with anyone.”  

Alex nodded. He understood. He hated it, but he understood.  

He turned to leave.  

“Alpha,” Jenna said behind him.  

He stopped but didn’t turn around.  

“If she wants to see you, she’ll reach out,” Jenna said. “That’s all I can give you. I’m sorry.”  

Alex left.  

The drive back was a blur. He didn’t remember the traffic. He didn’t remember the lights. He just remembered the way Jenna’s face had looked when she said she doesn’t entertain visitors.

When he got back to the packhouse it was dark. The sun had gone down while he was gone and the house looked smaller without the light on it.  

He didn’t turn on any lights. He walked through the living room and past the basement door.  

Ivan was still down there. When Alex walked past, Ivan called out, “How’d it go, nephew? Did you find mommy?”  

Alex didn’t answer.  

He went to his study. Sat at his desk. The top right drawer was open. The black card was gone. Kane had taken it.  

Alex put his head in his hands.  

She was alive.  
She was close.  
And she didn’t want him.  

His phone buzzed. Kane: We’re in. Everyone’s safe. Sara’s asleep. What happened?

Alex stared at the message for a long time. Then he typed: She’s alive. She doesn’t want to see me.

He deleted it.  

He typed: I’m fine.

He sent that instead.  

Alex closed his eyes.  

Two days. Jenna had said she’d talk to her mother. Two days and then maybe he’d get an answer.  

He could wait two days.  
He had to.  

He leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling until the first light of morning came through the windows.