Seattle rain hit different from New York's. Softer, steadier, like the city itself was apologizing for existing. It drummed on the tin roof of our little duplex in Ballard, the kind of place that smelled like wet cedar and someone else's cooking. I liked it. It felt earned.
I wiped steam from the bathroom mirror and stared at the woman looking back. Twenty-six now. Hair still auburn from the cheap box dye, cut in uneven layers because I'd done it myself with kitchen scissors at three a.m. after a nightmare. Eyes the same hazel they'd always been, but sharper. Tired, maybe. But not broken.
Not anymore.
"Mommy!" Luna's voice bounced up the stairs like a rubber ball. "Leo bit me!"
I sighed, tugged on my faded hoodie-Seattle's uniform-and headed down. The twins were in the living room, surrounded by a fortress of couch cushions and mismatched blankets. Leo, my little menace with Damien's storm-gray eyes, had his sister's arm in his mouth like it was a chew toy. Luna, equally gray-eyed but with my stubborn chin, was yanking her arm free and wailing dramatically.
"Leo Black-let go. Now."
He released her instantly, ears practically drooping even though he didn't have wolf ears yet. At four, their shifts were supposed to be years away. Most pups didn't feel the pull until puberty. But these two? They'd started showing signs at three. Tiny claws when angry. Eyes glowing in the dark. Last week Leo had growled at the mailman loud enough to make the poor guy drop his package and sprint back to his truck.
I knelt, checked Luna's arm-no blood, just baby teeth marks-and pulled them both into my lap. "We don't bite family. Remember?"
Leo buried his face in my neck. "Sorry, Mama. She took my truck."
Luna sniffled. "It was my turn."
I kissed the tops of their heads, inhaling the sweet-shampoo-and-wilderness scent that was uniquely theirs. Part human, part something ancient. Part him. The bond in my chest gave a dull throb, the way it did every time I thought too hard about their father. Five years, and it still hadn't faded. Just quieted. Like a radio left on low in another room.
"Truck time is over. Bath time now. Then story. Deal?"
They grumbled but obeyed, toddling toward the stairs. I watched them go, heart doing that familiar squeeze. They were mine. Not the pack's. Not Damien's. Mine.
The package arrived that afternoon.
Plain brown box, no return address, delivered by a courier who wouldn't meet my eyes. I signed, tipped him anyway, and carried it to the kitchen table like it might explode.
Inside: a single cream envelope sealed with black wax. A wolf's head embossed in the center-Blackthorn crest. My stomach dropped.
I broke the seal with shaking fingers.
One sheet of thick paper. Damien's handwriting-sharp, slanted, impatient.
Elena,
They're shifting. I can feel it through the bond. The Moon Goddess doesn't lie.
Bring them home. Or I'll come get them myself.
You have one week.
-D
No signature flourish. No apology. Just command.
I crumpled it, then smoothed it out again because the twins might need proof someday that their father was a heartless bastard. I shoved it back in the envelope, then into the junk drawer under a pile of takeout menus.
One week.
The bond flared hotter, like he'd poured gasoline on embers. My skin prickled. Heat pooled low again, traitorous and unwelcome. I gripped the counter until my knuckles whitened.
"No," I whispered to the empty kitchen. "Not happening."
But the twins were already showing. Last full moon, Leo had woken screaming, tiny fangs cutting his lip. Luna's nails had lengthened into black claws while she slept. If I didn't get them to a pack healer soon, the shifts could tear them apart from the inside. Human doctors wouldn't know what to do. I'd already tried-ER visit after Leo's first fever spike. They ran tests, found nothing, prescribed Tylenol.
I couldn't risk it.
That night, after the kids were asleep, I sat on the fire escape with a cigarette I hadn't touched in three years. The city lights blurred through the drizzle. My phone buzzed-unknown number.
I answered anyway.
"Elena."
His voice. Deeper than I remembered. Rougher. Like whiskey and gravel.
I closed my eyes. "How did you get this number?"
"Does it matter?" A pause. "They're mine too."
"They're safe. Happy. Without you."
Another pause, longer. "You think hiding them in a human slum keeps them safe? From rival packs? From hunters? From me?"
I laughed, bitter. "You threw me away, Damien. You don't get to claim fatherhood now because biology kicked in."
"I never threw you away." His tone sharpened. "I protected the pack. The alliance. You were-"
"Useful. I remember." I stubbed the cigarette out on the railing. "Until I wasn't."
Silence stretched. When he spoke again, it was quieter. Almost... pained. "The bond never broke. Not for me."
My chest tightened. "Liar."
"I feel you every day. Every time you laugh with them. Every time you cry at night thinking no one hears." His voice dropped. "I know you still want me."
Heat flooded me again-anger, desire, hate all tangled. The bond pulsed like a second heartbeat between my legs. I hated my body for it.
"Go to hell, Damien."
"I'm already there." A rustle, like he was moving. "One week. Or I bring the pack down on Seattle. You won't like what happens when alphas hunt."
He hung up.
I stared at the phone until the screen went dark.
Inside, Luna stirred in her sleep, a small whine escaping. I went to her, smoothed her hair. Leo was curled around her like a guard dog, even in dreams.
They deserved better than a father who'd sell their mother for dock rights.
But they also deserved not to rip themselves apart because their mother was too stubborn to ask for help.
I didn't sleep.
The next morning I called in sick to the diner-first time in two years. Packed two suitcases. Booked three one-way tickets to New York. Red-eye. Cheapest seats.
I told myself it was temporary. Get the kids to a healer, learn control, then disappear again. Better this time. Maybe Canada. Or Europe.
I told myself a lot of lies that day.
At the airport, Leo clutched his favorite truck. Luna held my hand so tight her knuckles turned white.
"Are we going to see Daddy?" she asked, voice small.
I swallowed. "Maybe."
Leo looked up at me with those damn gray eyes. "Is he nice?"
I forced a smile. "He's... complicated."
The plane taxied. The bond sang louder the closer we got to him. Like coming home after a long war.
I hated how right it felt.
New York greeted us with honking taxis and cold wind off the Hudson. I rented a cheap motel in Queens-nothing flashy, nothing traceable. Gave the kids baths, ordered pizza, let them crash in front of cartoons.
Then I made the call I'd been dreading.
Blackthorn Tower. Same number I'd memorized and then tried to forget.
He answered on the first ring.
"I'm here," I said.
"Where?"
"Queens. Motel off the LIE. Room 214."
"Stay put."
"Damien-"
"Stay. Put."
He hung up.
Thirty minutes later, a knock. Heavy. Certain.
I opened the door.
He looked the same. Taller, somehow. Darker suit, same storm eyes. But shadows under them. Jaw tighter. Like he hadn't slept in years either.
His gaze raked over me-hungry, furious, relieved. Then past me to the twins asleep on the bed.
He stepped inside without asking. Closed the door. Locked it.
The bond snapped taut, electric. My breath caught.
He didn't touch me. Just stared at the kids like they were miracles he didn't deserve.
"They're beautiful," he whispered.
"They're terrified of strangers," I shot back. "Don't wake them."
He nodded once. Slowly.
Then he looked at me. Really looked.
"You cut your hair."
"Needed a change."
"You look tired."
"So do you."
Another long silence.
"I never stopped looking," he said finally. "For you. For... whatever came after."
I crossed my arms. "You divorced me. Publicly. Let your fiancée suck you off in front of the pack. Don't pretend you cared."
His fists clenched. "Lila was a political move. The bond-"
"Was inconvenient. I remember."
He stepped closer. Close enough I could smell him-sandalwood, smoke, pine. The same scent that still haunted my dreams.
"I was wrong," he said. Low. Rough. "I thought I could control it. The pack. The empire. You. I couldn't."
I laughed softly. "Apology accepted. Now leave."
"Not without them."
"They're not yours to take."
"They're Blackthorns. Heirs. The pack will protect them."
"Like you protected me?"
He flinched. Actually flinched.
Then he reached out-slow, careful-and brushed a strand of hair from my face. The touch burned. The bond roared.
"Come home," he murmured. "Both of you. All three of you."
I slapped his hand away. "I don't have a home with you."
His eyes flashed gold. Alpha gold. "You do. You always did."
Luna stirred then, mumbling in her sleep. Leo's eyes snapped open-glowing faintly.
Damien froze.
Leo sat up, staring at the stranger. Then he growled. Small, but real. Protective.
Damien dropped to one knee. Slow. Non-threatening.
"Hey, little man."
Leo bared tiny teeth.
Damien smiled-small, sad. "Yeah. I get it. I'm the bad guy."
Luna woke fully, saw him, and hid behind me.
I scooped them both up. "They're scared."
"I know." He stood. "I'll go. For now. But tomorrow-pack healer. My place. Noon. Bring them. Or I come here with enforcers."
He turned to leave.
"Damien."
He paused.
"If you hurt them-"
"I won't." His voice cracked. Just once. "I swear on the Moon Goddess. On the bond. On everything I have left."
The door closed behind him.
I held the twins tighter.
The bond hummed. Warm. Insistent.
Welcome home, it said.
I told it to shut up.
But deep down, I wasn't sure I could anymore.
