Chapter 115: Unreject Me

Kaya’s pov

Returning to the human world after so many days brought back a lot of memories. Some of them made me chuckle to myself. After going back to the wolf pack, I went a long way. Returning to the human city after the awakening of my wolf wasn’t the same. The sounds and smells of the area were more central than they used to be.

Because of how crucial this issue was, I left my pups in the pack and travelled to the human world to be with my mate. I hoped that my arrival would speed up the process, but after going to the orphanage, we found out that adoption of a little baby would take at least 6 months. That was a long time for us.

“Maybe I should sneak inside and find him. We can run to the pack, and then they can never find us,” Theo said.

“How can you be so sure?” I asked him.

“Their police dogs don’t dare step into our territory. They will not cooperate with them to find where we live,” he said, winking at me as a proud smile curled on his lips.

I narrowed my eyes, thinking about it. “That will be the last option. Have you told them about what happened? I mean, we aren’t here to adopt just anyone. We want your nephew.”

“Yeah, but what do I tell them? A crazy chick left a baby in an orphanage, and I want to do a sniff test on every baby boy to see if he’s my nephew?” he said, scoffing. “They would think I am crazy!”

I snickered. “No, silly. Didn’t you bring the DNA test done in the Wood Stone? We take that and tell the receptionist that a crazy chick left a baby boy who was wrapped up in a bumblebee blanket in a cardboard box late one night and show them the DNA results. If that doesn’t speed up the process, I don’t know what would.”

He studied my face for a while, a frown wrinkling his handsome face. “A bumblebee blanket? And a cardboard box?”

I raised a brow. “Don’t you know? That’s how she abandoned him. Nikita made her confess to a lot of things, including what she did to her pup. She told me during a phone call. I thought you also knew.”

His mouth formed an ‘o’. “Nah, I didn’t want to ask for help from them. But I guess we can use that information to find him. So she confessed to everything?”

I nodded my head. “It was her lies against the proof. We all know she knew who Asher was. She finally confessed that she had told him about his departure that day. But she is swearing up and down that she didn’t know he was going to attack Kaizen like that.”

His lips curled into a distasteful scowl. “And they believe her?”

“No, of course not.”

"So, what’s her verdict?”

I heaved a breath. “Death, of course. Kaizen and Nikita wouldn’t hesitate to unalive anyone who betrays the pack,” I told him. “We shouldn’t either. I feel we are too soft sometimes. Some people don’t deserve a second chance.”

He sucked a breath in and gave a subtle nod of his head. If we were in Kiazen’s place, we probably would have given her life imprisonment since she hadn’t committed murder, but leaking information to an enemy and putting him in danger was equally dangerous. Giving such a wolf a second chance would only give them another chance to cause more harm.

“Do you have the DNA tests?” I asked, steering our conversation away from that topic.

He nodded his head. “Yeah. I do.”

I noticed that his lips were pressed in a solemn line, like he did when he was in deep thought. My gaze turned towards the cup of coffee he had barely touched. He was definitely in deep thought. It had been over twenty minutes since the waiter brought us our drinks, and he hadn’t raised his cup to his lips more than once. I reached out to him and held his hand over the table.

“Hey, it is going to be fine. We will get him one way or another,” I said, trying to reassure him. “You are stressing yourself.”

He looked at me; his face completely wilted. “There’s something I am concerned about.”

“Yeah?”

“The list of humans who want to adopt a baby is long. A lot of them come from good backgrounds and have a stable income. These are important factors the agencies look into when letting a family adopt a human child. What if we are too late already? What if my nephew is already adopted by someone?”

My forehead wrinkled. That was a concerning thought. Having a pup grow among humans could give rise to a lot of social problems. As someone who had seen it all, I knew. The wolf pup would be more active when compared to his human friends, and the chances of him being labelled as a hyperactive child were high. Some human doctors might even prescribe medicine, which would probably do nothing to him. I hadn’t forgotten how they kept testing my blood just because they thought my blood was unique. I dreaded them doing various blood tests on him.

Besides, what would happen when the time came for his first shift? He would be an Alpha wolf and would probably scare humans. Things could get really bad after that. They might try to kill him or lock him up. I didn’t even want to imagine how the young wolf could react to that. The chances of him going rabid were so high in that case, especially since he wouldn’t have anyone to teach him to be a proper werewolf.

Yeah, we had to get him back at all costs.

I gave his hand a little squeeze. “We will not let that happen.” I promised.

***

“Kaya?”

I was surprised to hear that voice. A broad smile spread across my face when I saw the nurse who nursed me back to health several months ago.

“Oh my! What a pleasant surprise!” I exclaimed, pulling her into a hug.

“Where have you been? I thought you moved. One of your work buddies told me that you no longer live here,” she said.

“Yes, I don’t. I live with my husband now,” I said, gesturing to Theo, who was standing beside me.

Her eyes twinkled as she mouthed the words ‘wow’ at me. “I am so happy for you. Where is little Archie?”

“He is back in the... in our town. With his family.”

I almost said pack, but thankfully managed to come up with a suitable answer. “I didn’t expect to see you here. What are you doing in the orphanage?” I asked her.

“I work here part-time. The kids need a health check sometimes. So here I am,” she said, smiling broadly. “What are you doing? Are you looking into adoption?”

I looked at her. “Actually, we are looking for a kid. His brother’s son. You see, his brother is dead, and the kid’s mother abandoned him in an orphanage. We think he is here,” I said, casting a quick glance at my mate. “Right?”

. mean,

“Yeah, I can sense…I mean, I think so.”

I almost shoved him, but thankfully she didn’t seem to mind.

“Aww, that’s awful. Do you have anything that could help us link him to you?” she asked me.

“He was left at the doorstep late at night, wrapped in a bumblebee blanket, in a cardboard box,” I told her, hopefully. “Can you help us?”

“Yeah. That was how we found Ethan,” she said.

I frowned. “Ethan?”

“Yeah. That’s the name we gave him. I am only telling you because I know you. We don’t usually disclose any information unless we are absolutely sure they are the right people for the child. We didn’t know what the family called him, and we had to give him a name,” she said.

“He was…”

“Ethan’s good. I like that name,” Theo quickly interrupted. “I would rather keep that name than the one that Wench gave him.”

She scrunched up her face. “Ooh, you sure hate her,” she said, laughing. “Don’t worry, we all do. I mean, what kind of mother abandons her child like that?” she said with a scoff. “Wait here. I can take him outside so you can see him. But you can’t take him until we have solid proof that he is your kin.”

“Oh, I have proof. The DNA test…”

Theo trailed off when she shook her head.

“We don’t trust outside sources. I am sorry. I trust you, but I can’t go against the orphanage’s policies. We will do a DNA test and confirm. Once it is done, I will personally see to it that Ethan is yours.”

I could feel my mate’s excitement while we waited for her. When I saw her returning with a little pup, my heart skipped a beat. He looked a lot like Archie when he was that age, but this little lad had dark brown eyes rather than blue… just like his father.

much

I used to loathe those eyes so much. Perhaps it would take some time to accept that he resembled his father so much. I heaved a breath as Theo traced his chubby cheeks with his forefinger. I smiled. With my mate, I could make sure that Ethan was nothing like them. We were going to be his parents from the minute we took him out of this place.

“So… do you think this little man is your nephew?” She asked us cheerfully.

Theo had a little smile curled on his lips. “Of course. A hundred percent sure.”

***

The test was done, and waiting for the results felt like forever. We both knew what the results would be. It was a match. Theo was his uncle, and luckily, we had someone who would speed up the process for us. I was sure that we could return home with Ethan within that week, but then I received an unexpected call from my friend.

“Hey, Kaya. There is a little problem,” she said on the phone.

My forehead creased into a frown. “What happened?”

“Can you and your husband come here? Like now?”

She sounded urgent, so we hurried to the orphanage. The nurse and a couple of workers were at the reception. The minute I stepped inside, I realised that there was something odd in the aura of the air. It was almost as though another wolf was in the vicinity.

“Why do I feel another Alpha is in the room?” I heard Theo’s mind link as we approached the reception. My frown deepened. So I wasn’t the only one who felt that, but it wasn’t the place to address that. There were too many humans around. I shook off the feeling and offered them a smile.

“Hey, what’s happening?”

“Actually, a very nice couple has been finalising the adoption process for Ethan for weeks. They are adamant that they want this baby,” the girl at the reception said, offering a bashful smile.

Theo’s body tensed. “But that’s my nephew! His good-for-nothing mother abandoned him. That doesn’t mean we don’t want him in our family!”

I grabbed his arm. Intimidating a bunch of humans wouldn’t do any good.

“We understand, sir. But this couple wouldn’t leave…”

“Can we talk to them? Are they here?” I said.

The girl nodded her head and pointed towards an unlabelled door. I gestured for my mate to calm down and just talk, but the minute the door opened, I tensed up. There was something strange in that aura. He was definitely a wolf, but why did that scent seem so… familiar? I stared at the strangers. From their scents, I knew the woman was a human, but that man was certainly a wolf. What I couldn’t fathom was why I found a sense of familiarity in his aura. I had never seen him before.

When his gaze fell on mine, his jaw dropped. “Kate?” he said.