Chapter 60

Darren & Aria

Darren

The night Lucas was born was a night I would never forget.

But not necessarily for the right reasons. What should have been a joyous occasion was instead filled with heartbreak and loss.

My sister had been fighting for hours. The baby was turned in her belly—or at least, that was the best guess I had. But we were alone, and the only understanding I had of such things were the books I’d read leading up to the birth. In truth, I had no idea as to how to deliver a baby.

“Emilia,” I said when her hand was gripping mine so tight I thought she might break my fingers, “we have to call the—”

“No!” my sister shrieker, her eyes like daggers. “Call the midwife, and I swear to the Goddess Darren, I will kill you!”

I should have ignored her. I should have called anyway, her wishes be damned. Maybe if I had, she would have survived.

But I listened to her. I was young and stupid and scared. And I knew that the midwife likely wouldn’t make it in time, anyway.

There was no one else here to help—her human husband, Michael, was dead. Killed in a mugging just a few months prior. No one else even knew about the pregnancy with him gone. Not even our father or our grandmother. Just us.

So it was just me who was by her side that night.

Within minutes, her eyes had grown glassy and distant and her breathing labored.

“I don’t think… I don’t think I’m gonna make it, Darren,” she whispered. Her voice was painfully soft—she was slipping away already. “But… you can.”

I gritted my teeth, shaking my head. “Don’t say that. You’ll be fine. You’ll see—Lucas will be here, and you’ll be there to hold him.”

She just gave me a weak smile, her hand tightening around mine. “Promise me, Darren. Promise me you’ll keep him safe. Raise him as your own… make sure no one ever finds out who he really is.”

“Emilia…”

She exhaled a shaky breath, her grip slackening as her eyes flickered. “Please. Just… tell him I loved him. Tell him I’d have stayed if I could.”

Her voice faded, her strength slipping away. And then, with one last, heart-wrenching cry, Lucas was born. A tiny little thing, his skin purple and wrinkly. I caught him just in time, wrapping him in a warm towel, just as she’d instructed.

“See, Em? He’s—”

I looked up, and my smile faded. “Em?”

She had gone still. I didn’t even get to hold her hand while she died.

My breath hitched, and I looked down at Lucas’s tiny body squirming in my arms. My sister’s son—half-human, half-werewolf. An orphan.

I held him close, vowing that I would protect him with everything I had. I promised her that he would be safe, that he’d never know what it was like to grow up without love, and I intended to keep that promise.

From that moment on, Lucas was my son.

Liam helped me take care of her body. We cleaned her up and held a closed casket funeral, claiming that she had died of a strange illness and we couldn’t risk it spreading. My father was too beside himself with grief to even want to look at her, anyway, and as for my grandmother…

Well, I think my grandmother knew, deep down, what had really happened. But she never asked, and I never told her.

The truth was, people talked. They whispered that I was a fool, that I had a one-night stand with some random woman and got stuck with a kid.

But I didn’t care. I let them believe it, because that was the only way to keep Lucas safe. Only Liam knew the truth, and he had made an oath to keep the secret.

To the rest of the world, Lucas was my son, born from a mistake I’d never made.

…

Aria

I sat in stunned silence as Darren finished his story. At some point, a tear had slipped down my cheek, but I hadn’t even noticed. The whiskey sat untouched in front of me, my hands trembling too much to pick it up.

“He’s really your nephew,” I murmured.

Darren nodded solemnly, his eyes fixed on the empty glass in his hand. “Yes. I promised my sister that I would keep him safe, so I raised him as my own.”

“Does he…” I swallowed hard. “Does he know?”

Darren paused, then shook his head, looking a little guilty. “Not yet. I do plan to tell him, just… When he’s a little older. Partially because I fear that the secret would get out if he knew.” He let out a wry chuckle. “The kid likes to yap, as you well know.”

I couldn’t help but snort at that. “As for his human heritage—”

“Only Liam—and now you—knows that he is half human. He shifted into his pup form shortly after birth, so no one ever questioned it.”

I nodded, taking a deep breath. My mind was racing, but at this point, I’d learned so much about Darren, werewolves, and… well, everything, that it hardly even fazed me anymore. I was just glad that Darren had kept his sister’s promise.

And I planned to keep it, as well.

“Your secret is safe with me,” I said with a small smile.

Darren’s eyes flicked up, widening slightly. “Aria—”

“I mean it,” I said softly. “And… Thank you for telling me the truth.”

A brief silence fell over the room at that. I couldn’t help but feel a pang for Darren in those moments, thinking about everything he had been through for his family. He was a good man, truly. I respected him a lot.

But there was something else on my mind.

I took a deep breath as I thought back to that picture I’d seen on his dresser. “I… have a confession,” I admitted. “The picture in your room—”

“I know you snooped,” Darren said with a soft laugh. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I have nanny cams installed all over this apartment. For safety purposes, mind you. Not to peep on you or anything.”

My cheeks flushed, and I quickly looked away, biting my lip. Before I could say anything else, Darren stood and walked away. A few moments later, he returned with the picture—the one of him and that beautiful woman.

“That’s your sister,” I said quietly as he held it out to me.

He nodded.

“But Lucas has your eyes—”

“Heterochromia is a family trait,” Darren explained. “Our mother had it, and Emilia and I both had it. Lucas inherited it from her.”

I stared at the picture for a few moments, realizing the resemblance now. “Lucas must be her carbon copy,” I mused.

Darren chuckled. “That’s putting it lightly. They’re not just twins in appearance, but in spirit as well.” He paused for a moment, his gaze softening, then added, “He doesn’t have any memory of her, of course. But in some ways, you act a lot like her. Emilia was… playful, kind. Maybe that’s part of the reason why Lucas latched onto you the way he did.”

I looked down, a faint smile tugging at my lips as I recalled Lucas’s little voice telling me he loved me earlier. But I couldn’t help but ask, “Do you think… he’ll look at me differently once we break the mate bond?”

Darren hesitated, looking a bit unsure. “Honestly… I don’t know.”

My smile faltered a little, a sharp pain lancing through my chest. But I managed to hide it.

…

The next morning, I went into work early, hoping to keep busy and distract myself from the ache left by our conversation. But when I got to my desk, I was greeted by a surprise—a thick stack of paperwork piled high, almost spilling over the edges.

Upon flipping through it, I saw that it was pages and pages of what looked like advanced statistical data, something way beyond anything I usually handled. My brow furrowed as I glanced at the numbers, not really making sense of any of them.

Surely this was a mistake. Someone else must have left their work on my desk.

I grabbed the stack and made my way over to Tracy’s desk, where she was already typing away at her computer.

“Tracy,” I said, holding up the papers, “this paperwork… was it meant for me? I don’t usually handle this kind of stuff.”

She looked up at me, her eyes narrowing slightly before a sweet smile curved over her lips. “Oh, yes. I put that there for you this morning.”

I blinked, surprised. “Really? I…” I flipped through the pages. “I just thought maybe it was meant for someone else, since it seems a little… outside of my skill set.”

Tracy cocked her head. “Oh. I thought you’d be able to handle it. But… unless, of course… you can’t?”