Chapter 3 002 – Echoes of the Forgotten

EVELYN POV

The whisper left her lips before she realized it.

"...Kade..."

She staggered back from the mirror, heart thundering in her chest. Her fingers hovered over the scar-raw, angry, and oddly familiar. A scar no healer had ever explained.

"Kade," she repeated, slower this time, like tasting the sound of it.

It felt like a memory, heavy with pain. The kind that buried itself deep enough to wound your soul.

Evelyn gripped the edge of the wooden basin to steady herself. She didn't understand. That man-those stormy eyes-why did he feel like something she'd once called home? Why did her chest ache like something was missing?

"Evelyn?" Theo's voice came from outside the room. "You alright?"

She tore her hand away from her scar, like she'd been caught stealing.

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "Just... tired."

"Come to bed. The moon's full tonight. You always say you sleep better when it's full."

She hesitated.

What if that wasn't true?

What if... someone else had told her that once?

With trembling hands, she blew out the lantern and walked back to the shared bed. But sleep wouldn't come easy. Not when every time she closed her eyes, Kade's face stared back.

KADE POV

He didn't sleep.

He'd sat in the dark woods, surrounded by the silence of the river and the howls of wolves in the distance. His thoughts circled like vultures.

She remembered something.

He saw it in her eyes before she left.

That one word-his name-echoed in his chest all night.

Rory crouched beside him at dawn, tossing him a flask of water. "She's not going to remember everything in a day."

"I don't need her to remember everything," Kade muttered. "I just need her to remember enough."

"Even if she remembers, she might not come back. You weren't exactly Husband of the Year."

Kade shot him a look.

Rory lifted his hands. "Just saying. You rejected the bond. Treated her like a burden. Then she got pregnant and disappeared."

"I didn't know she was pregnant!" Kade snapped. "I thought she left me. I thought she died."

"Okay, okay," Rory said quickly, trying to ease the heat between them. "What's the plan now?"

Kade looked up at the mountain village in the distance. "I'm going to win her back."

"Win her back?" Rory snorted. "You're a damn Alpha. When have you ever had to win anything?"

"For her?" Kade said with a tight smile. "I'd crawl on glass."

EVELYN POV

The village square was already buzzing with market stalls and chatter. Evelyn walked beside Theo, basket in hand, trying to act normal.

But her mind was anything but.

Everywhere she turned, she felt eyes on her.

Kade's eyes.

She didn't even know how she knew he was watching. She just... knew.

When she glanced up, there he was-across the square, leaning casually against the edge of the old stone well.

He didn't speak.

Didn't move.

Just stared.

Not possessive. Not angry.

Just... aching.

Theo noticed her distraction. "He's here again?"

She nodded.

"You don't owe him anything."

"I know," she said quietly.

But her chest told a different story.

KADE POV

He caught her alone.

At the edge of the woods, where she gathered herbs from the damp moss.

She startled when he appeared, a soft gasp escaping her lips.

"I won't hurt you," he said gently, raising his hands.

"I never said you would."

"Then why do you look at me like I'm a stranger?"

Evelyn looked away. "Because you are."

Kade stepped closer. "You said my name last night."

She froze. "I don't remember saying anything."

"You did. You touched your scar and whispered it."

She instinctively moved her hand over her heart.

"I didn't imagine it," he pressed. "You feel it, don't you? The bond. Even if it's weak. It's still there."

"I don't know what I feel," she admitted. "My head is a mess."

He nodded, understanding flickering in his eyes. "Then let me help untangle it."

"I'm engaged."

His jaw tensed, but he didn't look away. "To someone who isn't your mate."

She turned sharply. "And you are the man who rejected me once. Why would I go back to that?"

Silence.

Pain flickered across his face like a storm cloud passing over sunlight.

"I was a fool," he said. "A broken one. I pushed you away before you could leave me."

"You still did," she whispered.

"I know."

Their eyes locked.

Evelyn turned to leave-but before she did, she said, "You said I had a child. A daughter."

His breath caught.

"I want to know more."

KADE POV

Rory tossed him an old, cracked leather book. "Found this in your old office. It's her journal."

Kade stared at it like it might burn him. "You sure?"

"Says her name on the inside cover. 'Evelyn Black.' Page marked with dried flower petals."

Kade opened it slowly.

The writing was messy-fluid, rushed. He scanned the last page.

"I don't know if I'll make it. But if I don't... I hope she looks like him. Strong. Brave. And I hope she never knows what it's like to grow up without love."

His throat tightened.

"She didn't just survive," he whispered. "She protected our baby until the end."

"Where is she now?" Rory asked.

"I don't know. But I'll tear down kingdoms to find her."

EVELYN POV

The moon hung low.

Evelyn stood barefoot by the edge of the river, staring at the reflection of the scarred woman in the water.

And then she heard the voice again.

Soft. Urgent.

"Mama."

She spun.

No one was there.

The whisper was in her mind.

She dropped to her knees, clutching her chest. A stabbing pain flared across her ribs. A flash of lightning in her mind-a crib. A baby with black curls. Tiny hands reaching for her.

Then darkness.

Then,

"Kade!" she gasped, falling forward.

Everything went black.

KADE POV

He bolted upright in his tent.

His wolf howled inside him, fierce and guttural.

"Kade?" Rory's voice came through the flap.

"She's remembering," he said, breathless. "I felt it. The bond flickered back. She's starting to remember."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm running out of time."