Her brows lifted slightly, but she smiled. “Did you now?”
“He’s really good. He taught me how to dodge.”
She brushed her thumb over my cheek. “Sounds like you two made a good team.”
“Does that make you happy?”
“Everything you do makes me happy, baby,” she answered immediately.
She always said cheesy things like that, but I loved it.
The last months living on Dad’s island with Grandma and Grandpa hadn’t been awful. But it had felt like a part of me wasn’t on that island.
But here, now, in Mom’s arms-my home-I finally felt whole.
That’s when I sensed it.
A faint shimmer of energy brushed the air around us. It wasn’t loud or flashy, just… warm. Nice.
I’d smelled it earlier today, faint and almost impossible to notice-something new in her scent. But also weirdly…familiar.
I smiled drowsily, nestling closer. “Congratulations, Mom.”
“Thank you, baby. You don’t know how much it means to me that you were there to celebrate with me today.”
“Not about your win,” I said, pulling back to look at her.
“Congratulations on finally getting your wolf.”
SERAPHINA’S POV
My hand froze where it was stroking Daniel’s hair.
For a moment, I thought I’d misheard him.
My son’s voice was soft, heavy with sleep, but the words were clear enough to steal the air right out of my lungs.
“Congratulations on finally getting your wolf,” he’d said.
The room seemed to still around us-the moonlight pooling faintly through the curtains, the steady rhythm of his small breaths, the echo of everything that had happened today.
My heart stuttered, a fragile, startled thing.
“How…how did you know?” I whispered, barely trusting my voice.
Daniel blinked up at me, smiling sleepily. “I just do.”
Before I could say anything more, Alina’s voice stirred softly inside my mind-warm, delighted. Proud.
‘He sensed me, Sera,’ she said. “That’s no ordinary intuition. Our pup is very special.
I could almost see her smile in my mind’s eye.
The idea that Daniel could sense her, too-that he’d somehow recognized what even three powerful Alphas hadn’t-left me shaken in the best way.
“Mom?” Daniel murmured, halfing. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. I know you have your reasons for keeping it a secret.”
My throat constricted. He was only nine, yet his emotional intelligence never failed to surprise me.
There was a depth in his gaze sometimes that reminded me too much of Kieran-steady, intense, resolute.
But that glint in his eyes, that keenness well beyond his years-that was all Daniel.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” I said softly, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead. “You’re right. She doesn’t want anyone else knowing about her just yet.”
He nodded solemnly. “I won’t say anything. You can trust me, Mom.”
I smiled. “I know I can.”
After a pause, he whispered, “Can I know her name? Your wolf.”
I hesitated. I had said her name aloud before, but saying it to someone else felt strangely reverent-like breathing life into something sacred.
“Alina,” I told him finally. “Her name is Alina.”
He smiled faintly. “It sounds kind.”
A laugh caught in my throat. “She is. She’s super cool, too. I couldn’t have passed the Trials without her.”
“Really?” Daniel said, his eyes drifting shut. “Tell her I said thank you.”
‘I should be the one thanking him for giving you strength where I was unable, Alina said.
My smile widened. “She’s happy to meet you,” I murmured. “And she’s thankful to you, too.”
Daniel’s eyes fluttered open again. “Can she hear me?”
“Yes, love.”
He smiled wider at that, eyes hazy with sleep but shining with curiosity. “Tell her I said hi. And that she has a pretty name.”
Alina’s voice softened like velvet in my head. ‘He’s going to be formidable one day. But gentle and kind, too. That’s rarer than strength itself.
I swallowed against the lump of emotion rising in my throat.
Daniel yawned, curling closer until his head rested under my chin. “Do you think…when you can Shift, we could go running together?
You and your wolf-and me?”
The image bloomed vivid and tender in my mind: moonlight spilling across the forest floor, Daniel running ahead, laughing, while Alina and I followed close behind, paws hitting the earth in rhythm with his heartbeat.
And then, when he was older and he got his own wolf, we would race through the forest, leaving all our cares behind.
I smiled, pressing a kiss to his hair. “Yes, baby. I’d like that very much.”
“Me too,” he murmured, and for a few quiet seconds, I thought he’d fallen asleep.
Then his voice came again, small but clear. “Mom… do you think Lucian’s gonna join our family someday?”
My chest tightened. I’d guessed it was only a matter of time till that question dropped.
I smoothed my hand down Daniel’s arm, buying myself time to think. “Why do you ask, honey?”
He shrugged lightly against me. “You like him, don’t you?”
I hesitated too long, and he must have taken that the wrong way, because he said, “It’s okay, Mom. I don’t mind. He’s nice.”
“He is nice,” I agreed carefully. “But you don’t have to worry about things like that right now. You don’t need to force yourself to like him just because I-“
He cut me off with a firm tone that again, annoyingly, reminded me of Kieran. “Mom.”
I blinked. “Yes?”
“You always put me first, but it’s okay if you don’t this time. You should do what makes you happy. I’m happiest when you’re happy.”
His words undid me.
I stared at him, at the little boy who had once clung to my legs with trepidation on his first day of kindergarten, who had refused to leave my side in the days after-and now here he was, all grown up, telling me to choose myself.
I could barely breathe. “Daniel…”
He smiled, sleepy but sure. “Besides, I think Lucian’s cool. At least he’s great at video games. I wouldn’t mind playing with him again”
That made me laugh softly, even as tears pricked behind my eyes. “Oh, would you now?”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply