ALARIC POV
My heart did a somersault. Or maybe I was having a heart attack.
Humans had them all the time—maybe I was going to be the first wolf to have one.
Never say never, right?
My breath caught for what felt like an eternity before I could stop it.
Because they didn’t know.
They didn’t know who I had been to their real father.
What I had done.
What I had taken from them.
And still—
They looked at me like that.
Like I was something safe.
Something theirs.
Selfish.
That’s what it was.
And I didn’t even fight it.
I let it sit there.
Let it root.
Let it stay.
Because I wasn’t taking that from them.
Not yet.
Not until Aria was with me.
Not until we faced it together.
“Come here,” I said quietly, my voice cracked.
I didn’t wait for them to decide.
I just opened one a
