“I’ll be there,” he said, his voice low. But before he could say anything more, I heard a second voice in the background.
“Alpha, I need you,” the woman said.
That voice. My stomach dropped.
Carmela.
Why was she with him?
“Carmie?” Ronan’s voice changed—softer, layered with something that shattered me: longing.
“There’s trouble,” she cried. “The park is under attack. Gabriel—my son—he’s trapped. Please, Ronan, help him!”
My breath caught in my throat. A son?
No. Not now. He wouldn’t turn his back on Elior—not for her. Not for someone else’s child.
“I’ll send men for you,” Ronan replied. “But I have to go—my son needs me.”
I exhaled a shaky breath, looking down at Elior. “See? Daddy’s coming,” I whispered, brushing his curls away from his damp forehead.
A weak smile tugged at his lips, faint but real. His eyes fluttered up to meet mine—there was still hope there.
And then—
“He’s not just mine,” Carmela said suddenly, her voice breaking the silence like a curse. “Gabriel is your son too, Ronan.”
Everything stopped.
My heart, my breath, my world—frozen.
Ronan’s voice came back, now sharp and skeptical. “What are you talking about?”