Chapter 7 A Mother's Reluctance

Nyra's POV

The Alpha estate appeared around me like a large room, every covered surface and polished stone, a record of power and legacy. I stood stiffly in the grand hall, my arms crossed over my chest tightly, my spine was as straight as a tempered steel. The massive house crackles and spits, throwing still shadows over an ancient complex depicting wolf hunts and mass victories, but the warmth does not penetrate the ice precisely in my veins.

Across from me, Draven stepped like a caged predator. His heavy boots hit the stone floor in a rhythm that matched my heartbeat. The firelight catches in his dark hair, highlighting the silver strands at his temples that were not there seven years ago. His jaw works below his skin. The muscles there are filled with tension.

The past hour has unfolded in chaos, warriors rushing to fortify the borders, elders gathering quietly, urgent circles, pack members preparing for potential discharge. Auren was moving upstairs under Gareth's watchful eye, away from the chaos and prying stares. Now it is just us, alone in this cave-like room, facing each other like fighters across a battlefield, rather than two people who once shared breaths, dreams and a future.

I can see the truth still settling on him like fresh snow, that he has a son, a child born of his blood. That the life he chose to leave behind did not simply disappear when he turned away from it. There is something always suspicious in the way his fingers flex and release at his sides, as if it was eager for solid ground.

I don't give him time to find it.

"Why is Kael after Auren?" I demand, my voice sharp enough to cut glass, slicing through the silence between us.

Draven exhales slowly, bringing a hand down his face before bracing both palms against the edge of the long wooden table that controls the center of the room. Ancient oak, marked by centuries of Alpha councils and war planning. His shoulders bunch below his dark tunic as he lifts his eyes to mine.

For a second, I catch something in his expression that makes my stomach tighten, uncertainty mixed with frustration. It was an unfamiliar look on him. Draven Blackthorn has always been decisive, confident to the point of arrogance.

"I don't know," he admits finally; the words seemed to cost him something.

My fingers dig deeper into my arms, hard enough to get bruised. "That is not good enough."

His eyes darken, storm gray deepening to charcoal as his Alpha presence sparks below the surface, that unmistakable energy that makes lesser wolves lower their stare and bare their necks. But I am not one of his subordinates, not anymore.

"You think I have not been trying to figure that out?" The edge in his voice could draw blood. "Kael has been stirring trouble in the shadows for years, picking off our border patrols, turning smaller packs against us, disturbing trade routes." "But this" he gestures sharply toward the window, where beyond these walls his warriors prepare for war, "this is the first time he made such a bold move. He wants something, and it is not just Crescent Moon territory."

I swallow hard, my heart beating painfully against my ribs as realization hits like ice in my veins. It is not Crescent Moon. It is Auren.

Draven watches me closely, his head slants slightly as he catches the shift in my scent, the easily understood tense of my body. His eyes narrow with sudden intensity. "You know something."

I turned away, not able to bear the weight of his inspection. My fingers curl into fists at my sides, nails biting into my palms.

He steps closer, the floorboards creaking below his weight. "Nyra."

My name on his lips still sounds like something sacred, despite everything. I hate myself for noticing.

"I do not know why Kael wants him," I say finally, each word measured and tensed with control. "But I do know Auren is not normal."

Silence stretches between us, thick and expectant. The fire pops and hisses in the place, a log splitting with a sound like bones that are breaking.

Draven does not speak, does not push. He waits, his patience is always his most upsetting quality.

I wet my lips, my throat suddenly dry. "He is different and stronger than he should be at his age." I hesitated. The truth was heavy on my tongue. "Sometimes, when he is angry or scared, things happen." My fingers tighten unconsciously. "Dangerous things."

Draven straightens, his entire body going still in that victimizing way of his, a wolf scenting prey on the wind. "What kind of things?"

I hesitate, admitting this feels like peeling back the final layer of armor I have built around us, exposing the most helpless part of myself I had spent years protecting. Not just Auren, but the truth of what he is and what he can do. The reason I have kept him hidden all these years, moving from town to town whenever someone looked too closely or asked too many questions.

My mind flashes back to the alley three months ago, the rascal who cornered us behind the inn, their eyes shining with malice and hunger as they closed in. Auren's small body vibrating against mine, his terror a tangible thing in the air between us. And then, the moment his fear cracked the night like thunder, the way the wolves were thrown backward, as if they were hit by an invisible striking ram, their bodies defeating into brick walls with enough force to shatter bone.

"He can push things away," I say carefully, choosing each word with deliberate precision. "Without touching them."

Draven does not react right away. He processes the words, his brows jointly together as if they were piecing together fragments of a puzzle he should have recognized long ago. Something sparks in his eyes, recognition, understanding, and behind it all, a dawning realization that makes my skin feel uneasy.

"Nyra." His voice drops lower, almost cautious. "Has he ever?"

"I have tried to suppress it," I interrupted, my own frustration bleeding through the cracks in my composure. I taught him how to control it, to make sure no one ever saw what he could do. Because I knew this would happen." I met his gaze directly, heat burning behind my eyes. "I knew that if the wrong people found out, they would not see him as a child. They would see him as a weapon."

Draven's jaw tightens, a muscle jumping below the shadow of stubble. "You think I see him that way?"

I exhaled sharply, the sound like a laugh but too bitter, too dull. "I do not know how you see him, Draven. Seven years ago, you made it very clear where your priorities lay."

Something sparks across his face: guilt, pain, maybe even regret, before it is swallowed by the mask he wears so well. But I refuse to let myself care, refusing to acknowledge the way my heart still twists at the sight of his pain. That weakness almost destroyed me once. I will not let it happen again.

He exhales heavily, running a hand through his hair, a gesture so rare but familiar that I have to look away. "His abilities are not random, Nyra."

I narrowed my eyes, alertness moving along my spine. "What do you mean?"

He hesitated for only a heartbeat before continuing, his gaze never leaving mine. "Before you arrived, the seer spoke of an ancient threat aroused in the east. She said that something long suspended had awakened, and that the key to stopping it lay in what was lost and forsaken." His gaze sharpens and becomes more intent. "Nyra, the signs she described, match the old stories. The legends of the first bloodlines."

I shivered, raising goosebumps around my arms despite the fire's heat.

The first bloodlines. The original wolves, born not of bite or heritage but of heavenly energy, were the children of the moon and earth, gifted with abilities that surpassed anything a normal werewolf could possess. Their descendants were rare, their bloodlines concentrated over centuries until they were little more than myths whispered around pack fires. Nearly extinct.

Draven continues, his voice sounded serious with significance. "Auren's power is not just strange, It is bloodline magic."

My stomach twists with fear and disbelief. The implications were over me like icy water.

I shook my head, refusing to accept it. "That is just a myth. Stories to frighten pups and impress humans."

"No," Draven says, with such certainty that it startled me to my core. "It is not."

His conviction unsettles something deep inside me, a truth I have been running from since the first time I saw Auren move objects with nothing but his fear.

I grabbed the edge of the table, my nails biting into the ancient wood. "Even if that is true, what does it have to do with Kael?"

Draven's expression hardens, becomes something carved from winter stone. "Kael has spent years hunting for something, artifacts, knowledge and power tied to the old ways. If Auren is part of that legacy, then Kael might see him as the missing piece he has been searching for."

I stared at him, my mind racing through terrible possibilities. The missing piece to what?

A weapon? A sacrifice? A key to unlocking something that should remain forever sealed?

Boil rises in my throat. "No." I shake my head passionately, stepping back as if distance could somehow make the truth less frightening. "I will not let him be dragged into this. He is just a child."

Draven's gaze softens, the hard lines of his face soften. "I know."

I dodged the quiet sincerity in his voice, not prepared for the way it slipped past my defenses.

It is the first time since I returned that he has looked at me not as an ally, not as a bitter memory of what could have been, but as something else and someone else. A mother desperate to protect her child.

Draven breathes slowly, his shoulders remaining tense below the weight of unspoken responsibility. "I will not let Kael take him, Nyra. No matter what it costs."

I want to believe him. I want to trust that he means every word, that his promise is not just another pretty deception that will shatter the moment something more important claims his attention. But I have learned the hard way that promises, even those made with the best intentions, are fragile things. They are easily broken when tested against duty, loyalty, and the expectations of others.

A sharp knock at the heavy oak door makes us both turn, the moment breaking between us.

Gareth steps inside, his unpleasant face cruel in the firelight. The Beta's eyes are shadowed with concern, his usual unrelated behavior cracked by something that looks like fear. "Draven, we have a problem."

I do not like the way he looks at us, the indistinct hesitation in his manner, the way his eyes sparked with unease. A cold vision moved down my spine.

Draven straightens, instantly reversed to Alpha posture. "What happened?"

Gareth hesitated, his eyes directed towards me before returning to his Alpha with visible reluctance. "It is Auren."

My breath catches in my throat, my heart tripping over its next beat.

"What about him?" I demand, stepping forward, every maternal instinct floods to the surface.

Gareth's lips pressed into a thin line, his expression looking serious. "He is gone."