Chapter 3: Taken by the Alpha
1391 Words
“I want my son.”
Kael’s voice wasn’t loud, but it hit me like a thunderclap.
The room shrank around me. The walls, the cold floor beneath my bare feet, the shadows cast by the flickering lantern—none of it mattered. All I could hear was the echo of those five words.
Aiden looked between us, his little brows drawing together in confusion. “I don’t understand. Why are you yelling?”
Kael stood slowly, his gaze still locked on mine. “What’s his name?”
I swallowed hard. “Aiden.”
He nodded once, then looked at the boy. “Aiden,” he said softly, with a reverence I hadn’t expected, “I’m your father.”
Aiden blinked. “You’re my dad?”
Kael knelt again, more cautious this time, not trying to touch him. “Yes.”
My instincts roared inside me, screaming to protect, to shield. But Aiden—curious and unafraid—stepped closer.
“You have the same eyes as me,” he said thoughtfully.
Kael smiled, but it was a sad, haunted thing. “I’ve waited a long time to meet you.”
Aiden tilted his head. “How come you weren’t here before?”
I saw Kael falter. For a moment, the ever-powerful Alpha didn’t have an answer.
But I did.
“He didn’t know about you, baby,” I said softly. “I didn’t tell him.”
Kael stood. His voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “You hid my son from me.”
“I saved his life,” I snapped, stepping between them again. “You think I wanted this? You think I wanted to raise a child alone in the middle of nowhere? I ran because people wanted you dead, Kael. And they would’ve killed him to get to you.”
Kael’s jaw clenched, and for the first time, his power surged. The air grew heavy with his aura—dominant, raw, ancient.
“You should’ve told me,” he said coldly. “I could’ve protected him. Protected both of you.”
“We both know what your world is like. Court politics. Rival packs. Blood wars.” I stepped forward, chest heaving. “You couldn’t even protect yourself back then. You would’ve died for me. And he—he would’ve died too.”
Silence. Tense and suffocating.
Then, Kael turned to the enforcers. “Leave us.”
“But Alpha—”
“I said leave.”
They bowed stiffly and exited the cabin.
Only the three of us remained now. Me, Kael, and the child who bound us together.
Kael finally looked at Aiden again. “He’s strong.”
“Of course he is,” I said. “He’s ours.”
There was something in his eyes now—something deeper than rage. Pain. Regret. Love. It made my heart twist.
“I’m taking you both back,” he said quietly.
I stiffened. “No.”
“You don’t get a say.”
“I do. I always will. You may be Alpha of your pack, but I’m still his mother.”
“And I’m his father,” Kael snapped. “I missed five years of his life. I won’t miss another five minutes.”
“You think you can just show up and demand we come with you?”
“Yes,” he said, stepping closer. “Because he’s mine. Because you’re mine. And because I still feel the bond. Don’t lie, Amara—you feel it too.”
My wolf stirred again. Damn him.
“I’ve already said my rejection,” I said quietly, though it felt hollow.
“And I still haven’t accepted it.”
He leaned in, so close I could feel the heat of his breath.
“I came here peacefully. But if you force me… I will invoke Alpha law. I will claim him. And I will take you both.”
Tears burned behind my eyes. Not from fear—but from the terrifying truth that part of me… wanted to go.
Not just for Aiden.
But because Kael still had a piece of me.
Aiden tugged my hand. “Mama? I want to see where he lives.”
My heart broke.
I looked at him, then at Kael.
“What do you want from us?” I asked.
Kael’s voice dropped to something raw and real.
“I want a second chance.”
Kael’s voice was softer now, stripped of its alpha edge, like he wasn’t speaking as the feared leader of a bloodline… but as a man.
A man who had lost something precious.
A man who just realized that something he thought gone forever… was standing right in front of him.
I hated how those words made my chest ache.
How badly my wolf wanted to believe him.
“You can’t just say that and expect everything to be okay,” I murmured. “It’s not just about us anymore. He’s a child, Kael. He’s ours, but he’s mine too. I raised him. I taught him to walk, to shift for the first time, to hide his scent, to be quiet when the hunters came near—”
Kael flinched. “Hunters?”
I looked away. “You had enemies. I still have nightmares. I wasn’t taking any chances.”
His hand clenched at his side. “You should’ve told me. I would’ve burned the world for you.”
“And what good would that have done with both of us dead?” I shot back.
We stared at each other in the silence that followed, and it was Aiden—innocent and confused—who interrupted it.
“Why are you mad at each other?” he asked.
Kael exhaled slowly, his voice gentler when he spoke to Aiden. “We’re not mad, little wolf. We’re just... figuring things out.”
“I like him,” Aiden said, leaning into me. “He’s loud in his head like me.”
Kael’s eyes widened slightly. “You can hear me?”
“Only a little. When you got close, your thoughts were like... warm thunder.”
The color drained from my face.
Kael met my gaze again. “He’s already sensing packspeak. That’s early.”
I nodded numbly. “He’s... special.”
Of course he was. He was born of two alphas—though I had no title, my bloodline was once royal, once feared. Kael’s power ran through our son’s veins like a second heart.
Kael lowered his head briefly, like he needed a moment to breathe.
“He should be trained,” he said finally. “Taught properly. Kept safe. He shouldn’t have to hide what he is.”
“I know that,” I said quietly. “But you think your world is safe?”
“It will be,” he growled. “Because I’ll tear apart anyone who threatens him.”
He wasn’t lying.
Kael had always been ruthless—but never without reason. And now, that protective instinct had awakened like a beast unchained.
“I need time,” I whispered. “You’ve had five years without us. Let me have five days to think.”
Kael stepped forward and, to my surprise, reached out. He touched my hand—just briefly—and the jolt of electricity that rushed through me nearly brought me to my knees.
“I’ve already waited too long,” he said. “But I’ll give you five days. Then you come home—with him. Or I’ll come for you both.”
I wanted to hate him for that.
But I also wanted him to mean it.
Because part of me still remembered the man who once touched me like I was the only thing keeping him alive.
Aiden yawned, then curled into my side.
And Kael, for the first time in five years, didn’t look like a monster.
He looked like a father who had just found his son.
He nodded once to his enforcer, and the man wordlessly stepped back.
“Five days,” Kael said, stepping toward the door. “Use them wisely.”
Then he was gone.
And I was left standing in a cabin that suddenly felt too small, with a child I loved more than life itself…
And the ghost of a bond I wasn’t sure I could resist anymore.
- Writer
