“Beta Ryan, we’ve identified the woman from the ball,” he said without preamble. “The investigators have confirmed her identity beyond doubt.”
“Let me guess,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper as I stared at the photo that had just loaded on my screen. “Caroline Bennett.”
There was a pause on the other end. “How did you know?”
“Please send me everything you have,” I said. “I’ll come to you right away.”
I downloaded the reports, my hands shaking as I pieced together what this meant. The photo in Jace’s report showed Caroline in an elegant mask and gown, looking radiant. The timestamp matched exactly with the night Draven had told me about, the night he attended that masquerade ball in Maplewood, the very same night he met the mysterious woman who’d haunted him for years.
Caroline was that woman. Liam was Draven’s biological son.
“Holy shit,” I whispered, leaning back in my chair.
I printed everything and placed it in a folder. I needed to get this information to Draven immediately, but I knew this revelation would rock him to his core. After everything that had happened, learning that Caroline was the woman he’d been searching for and that Liam was truly his blood would completely overwhelm him.
I needed backup. I pulled out my phone and called Kyle, Joseph, and Nate, telling them to drop everything and meet at my house. This wasn’t news to deliver in the office.
Then I headed straight to Draven’s office, not bothering to knock before entering.
“Draven, we need to go to my house right now. It’s an emergency,” I said.
He looked up from his computer, his violet eyes narrowing at my tone. “What is it? What happened?” His gaze searched my face. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m not okay,” I admitted. “But this isn’t about me. We need to go to my house now. Drop everything.”
“Ryan, don’t scare me,” Draven said, standing up. “Is it about Caroline? Have you heard something?”
“Yeah, it’s about her, but we can’t discuss this at the office.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Draven agreed, grabbing his jacket.
“We’ll take my driver. Daniel,” I called to the security guard as we passed, “keep monitoring the situation with Howard and his daughter. Don’t let them cause any more trouble.”
“Yes, Beta Ryan,” Daniel replied with a nod.
In the elevator, Draven studied my face intently. “Alpha Arthur has an urgent report,” I explained, giving him just enough information to keep him from demanding answers I wasn’t ready to provide.
“You’re really shaken up,” he observed quietly. “I’ve never seen you like this.”
“You’ll know everything soon enough,” I promised.
We spent the rest of the journey in silence. When we arrived at my house, Alpha Arthur had already set up a video call with Clara on the laptop. Kyle, Joseph, Nate, and Draven all gathered in my living room, none of them having any idea what was about to unfold.
I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the information I held. This would change everything for Draven and for Caroline, wherever she was.
“I’ve asked you all here because I’ve discovered something that will affect not just Draven, but our entire pack,” I began, looking each of them in the eye before focusing on my Alpha. “Draven, do you remember telling me about the woman you met at the masquerade ball three years ago?”
His expression darkened immediately. “What about her?”
I placed the folder on the coffee table and slid it toward him. “We found her.”
Draven’s POV
I was sitting in Ryan’s living room, feeling confused.He’d just told me they found the woman from the masquerade ball three years ago, but I didn’t get why he was so urgent.
“And?” I shrugged dismissively. “That mystery woman doesn’t matter to me anymore. I thought you had news about where Caroline is.”
Ryan looked over at Alpha Arthur. The room felt heavy with tension.
“Alpha,”Ryan said carefully, “Remember when you fired Carrie,and I asked our investigator to look into her?”
“Yes?”I still confused.
“Carrie is very honest and trustworthy. But the investigator discovered something.” He looked at Nate. “He found out who Liam’s father is.”
“No way? Seriously?” Nate was surprised. “Man, I never spoke to Carrie or Elle, but I tried to find this guy when Carrie got pregnant and couldn’t. Who is it?”
“Hold on,” I stared at Ryan blankly. “What are you talking about? Why suddenly mention Liam’s father?What does Caroline have to do with the masquerade ball?”
“Everything,” Ryan replied. “Alpha Arthur and I got the investigation report almost at the same time. It’s about the woman you’ve been searching for. They found her.”
I looked at Ryan, unsure if I should feel relieved to have found the woman or worried that Liam’s father might want his son back.
“Caroline Bennett is the woman you met at the masquerade ball three years ago. And Liam… Liam is your son.”
The world around me seemed to stop.I couldn’t breathe.I couldn’t think.
Alaric howled inside me.That’s why he’d been so drawn to both Caroline and Liam from the beginning.
“That’s impossible,”I whispered, though I knew it was true.Everything suddenly made sense. Liam’s violet eyes that matched mine perfectly. The strange connection I’d felt with him. The way he seemed comfortable with me from our first meeting.
“The night Draven’s parents died, he met a woman at the masquerade ball. He stepped away briefly to take a call and received some news.When he came back, she was gone. He searched the entire ballroom but couldn’t find her. He spent three years looking for her. Well, you know the rest of the story,” Ryan explained to Nate.
“I still don’t get it,” Kyle said nervously.
“What we didn’t know,” Ryan continued, “was that Caroline met Liam’s father at that same masquerade ball.”
“Caroline is the woman Alpha Draven has been searching for.”
The room fell silent. Ryan handed me two reports. One was the detective’s investigation on Caroline. The other was about the mysterious woman from the ball.
When I finished reading, I looked around. Everyone’s eyes were filled with tears,they were as shocked as I was.
“It’s her, Ryan!” I said, grabbing the photo from the detective’s report. “It’s her! I’ve been searching for her for so long! And I’m Liam’s father! I’m his father!” I choked on the words.
“She never knew who you were,” Ryan explained gently. “According to our sources in Maplewood, she told everyone she never saw the father’s face because of the masks. She didn’t know it was you, Draven.”
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