The Brooke Pack territory looked like entirely different from what I had known it to be from three years ago.It was beautiful, impressive, and completely foreign to the place I'd once called home.

My hands trembled as I approached the main gates, every instinct screaming at me to run.The last time I was here, somebody attempted to murder me, and for all I know,

the person could still want me dead.Now I was walking back into the zeke's

mansion, and neither he nor Layla knew I was alive."State your business," the guard said, his voice bored but professional.

"I need to see Alpha Zeke," I said, surprised by how steady my voice sounded.

"It's urgent."

The guard's eyes swept over me dismissively."Yeah, you and half the unmated females in the territory.The Alpha doesn't take walk-in appointments, especially not

from-" He paused, his nostrils flaring as he caught my scent.His face went white.

"What's your name?"His eyebrows arched in confusion.

"Cecelia Mayers."The name felt strange on my tongue after three years of just being 'Cecelia' or 'Golden's mama.'

The second guard stepped forward, his hand moving to his weapon."That's impossible.Cecelia Mayer is dead.We buried her three years ago."

"Clearly, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."I kept my voice level

despite the panic clawing at my chest."I need to see Zeke.My son; our son has been taken."

Both guards exchanged glances, and I could practically see the wheels turning in their heads.Dead Luna shows up claiming to have the Alpha's child?This was either the truth or the most elaborate con in pack history.

"You're lying," the first guard spat."Luna Cecelia died in the sea.The Alpha led her funeral himself.You're just some desperate she-wolf trying to-"

"Trying to what?"I snapped, the composure I was trying so hard to keep cracking.

"Get myself killed?Because that's exactly what walking back here will accomplish if I am lying.I need to see Zeke."

My voice broke on the last words, and I hated myself for the weakness.But the truthwas, I was terrified.Terrified of seeing him again, terrified of what he'd do

when he realized I was alive, terrified that he'd refuse to help find Golden out of spite.

I remember Layla was pregnant for him before I was pushed out to sea.He must have his own child now.I doubt he'd be any willing to help me.He might not even believe that Golden is his child.

For that reason, I carried a picture of Golden in my bag.He was a carbon copy of Zeke and hopefully,that was enough proof."Please," I whispered, all my pride crumbling."My little boy is missing.He's only

three years old, and he's scared and alone, and I'll do anything to get him back."

The guards stared at me, stunned.

Finally, the second one spoke.

"Wait here."He disappeared into the guard house, and I could hear him making frantic phone calls.The minutes stretched like hours.I wrapped my arms around myself,trying to ward off the

memories that threatened to drown me.The last time I'd stood on these grounds,

Zeke had rejected me.I could still feel the excruciating pain that came with

that experience, and even when I tried to be alone to clear my thoughts, my sister came to insult me-adding salt to injury- and throw me over a cliff.The sound of approaching footsteps snapped me back to the present.A whole contingent of

guards was marching toward the gate, their faces grim.My wolf instincts kicked in, screaming at me to run, but I forced myself to stand my ground.

"Luna?"The head guard's voice was uncertain.."I'm just a mother trying to find her son."

"The Alpha... he'll want to see you immediately."The guard's face was pale."But I have to warn you, he's not the same man he was three years ago.The grief... it changed him."

Grief?I almost laughed at the irony.He'd grieved for the woman he'd rejected?

What kind of twisted psychology was that?

"I can handle Zeke," I lied smoothly."I just need five minutes to explain about Golden."

As we walked to the palace, everybody stopped whatever they were doing to look at me in something like reverent awe.I heard whispers of "I thought she is dead?""We

attended her funeral."The throne room doors loomed ahead of me, and my handssweated in anticipation of seeing Layla and Zeke again.I'd walked through them

countless times as Luna, but never like this; never as a stranger, never as someone who'd risen from the dead.

"He's in a meeting," the guard said apologetically."But given the circumstances..."

"Just open the doors," I said, steel creeping into my voice."My son doesn't have time for Zeke's schedule."

The doors swung open, and I stepped into the room th

at had once been my second home.It

was different now, something about it felt colder, more detached.The room

erupted in gasps as I stepped in.And there, at the far end of the long table, sat the man who'd haunted my dreams for three years.Zeke.

He was exactly as I remembered and completely different all at once.He was still devastatingly handsome, still radiating that dangerous alpha energy that had

first drawn me to him.My eyes scanned around for Layla, but she wasn't here.I walked closer to him, the council elders chattering like a hive of bees.But he was deep in conversation with his Beta, papers spread across the massive desk.He hadn't seen me yet.

"Alpha," the guard called out."There's someone here to see you.Someone... important."

"I said no interruptions.Whatever it is can-"

He looked up.

Time stopped.

The color drained from his face so completely I thought he might faint.The papers in his

hands fluttered to the floor as he rose slowly from his chair, his eyes-those gold eyes that Golden had inherited-fixed on me in shock.

"Impossible," he breathed.

"Hello, Zeke."My voice came out steadier than I felt."We need to talk."

For a moment, neither of us moved.The air between us crackled with tension.

"Everyone out," he commanded, his voice hoarse."Now."

The room cleared instantly, leaving us alone with nothing but the sound of our thundering heartbeats."You're dead," he whispered, taking a step toward me."I buried you.I

mourned you.I-"

"Layla tried to kill me," I said simply."But I survived.And now I need your help."

"Cecelia..."

"My son has been taken," I continued, I couldnt help the tears pouring down my cheeks."You have to help him Zeke.He's also your son."

He stood up, alarmed."What do you mean, also my son?"

"I had him before Layla tried to kill him.He's three years old now."My tears must have really moved him because there was a concerned expression on his face."How can I help?"

"I need your resources, your connections, your pack's strength to find him."

"Your son?"He was still trying to grapple what I had said earlier..

I met his eyes directly, seeing my own pain reflected there."Our son, Zeke.His name is Golden, and he has your eyes."

CECELIAS POV

The silence in Zeke's office pressed against my ears like water.He stood behind his massive oak desk, the same one that had belonged to his father, studying the photograph I'd handed him.Golden's face smiled up at him from the glossy paper.My son's eyes, those unmistakable molten gold eyes, stared back at his father for the first time.

I watched Zeke's face carefully.His jaw tightened.His fingers gripped the edges of the photo until the paper crinkled slightly.Whatever he'd been expecting when the guards dragged me into his council meeting, it wasn't this.

"How old is he?"His voice came out rough, like he'd swallowed gravel.

"Three years and four months."

His eyes snapped up to mine.

I saw him doing the math, counting backward to that last month before I disappeared.Before Layla pushed me off that cliff and left me to drown.

"He looks exactly like you," I added,though it was obvious.Golden could have been Zeke's clone, right down to the stubborn set of his chin and the way his hair fell across his forehead.

Zeke set the photo down on his desk with deliberate care, like it might shatter if he wasn't gentle."When did he go missing?"

"Yesterday afternoon.He was at preschool in Seacreek Pack.When I went to pick him up, he was gone."

"Seacreek," Zeke repeated.He walked around his desk, moving closer.My body tensed

My voice cracked despite my best efforts.

automatically."That's where you've been all this time?Living in Seacreek?"

"Yes."

"And you never thought to send word that you were alive?"His tone stayed neutral, but I caught the edge underneath."Never thought to mention that I had a son?"

My hands curled into fists at my sides."Send word?To the man who rejected me?To the pack where my sister tried to murder me?"I forced myself to breathe slowly."I built a life there, Zeke.A safe life for my child.Away from all of this."

"My child," he corrected, his voice dropping lower."He's my child too."

"Only by biology."The words came out sharper than I intended."You weren't there when I was pregnant and alone.You weren't there when I gave birth with only Fatima to help me.You weren't there for his first word, his first step, his first anything."

Zeke's eyes flashed.For a moment I thought he might argue, might throw his Alpha authority at me like he used to.But instead, he nodded

once."You're right.I wasn't there.

Because I thought you were dead."He paused."We buried you, Cecelia.There was a body.A funeral.I stood over your grave and..."

He didn't finish.I didn't want to know what he'd been about to say."The body wasn't me," I said flatly."Obviously."

"Obviously."He studied my face like he was trying to memorize it, comparing it to whatever memory he'd carried for three years."You look different."

"I am different."

"How did you survive the fall?"

"Does it matter right now?"My voice cracked despite my best efforts."My son is missing.Someone took him.I came here because you have resources that Seacreek doesn't.I came here because as much as I hate it, you're the only one who can help me find him."

The admission tasted like ash in my mouth.Coming back here, asking Zeke for anything, went against every instinct I'd developed over the past three years.But Golden was more important than my pride.

He was more important than anything.Zeke moved to the large window behind his desk, his hands clasped behind his back.The late afternoon sun cast his profile in sharp relief."I'll help you find him."

Relief flooded through me so suddenly my knees almost buckled."Thank you."

"But I have conditions."

Of course he did.I straightened my spine."What conditions?

He turned to face me fully."Youstay here at the palace during the search.I need you close in case we get leads that require your immediate input."

"Fine."

"And you submit to a healer's examination."

My stomach dropped."Why?"

"To confirm the child's paternity."His expression gave nothing away."You show up after three years claiming to have my son.I believe you, but my pack council will want proof.Medical proof."

Heat crawled up my neck."You think I'm lying?"

"I think I need documentation," he said evenly."Blood tests, genetic markers, whatever the healer requires to establish that Golden is biologically mine.It's not personal, Cecelia.It's protocol."

Everything with Zeke was protocol. Duty and protocol and the pack's needs before anything else.That's why he'd married me in the first place.That's why he'd never loved me.

"Fine," I bit out."Examine me.Test

my blood.Do whatever you need to do.Just find my son."

"Our son," he corrected again.

I said nothing.

Zeke pulled out his phone and made a call."Ryder, get in here."He ended it without waiting for a response.Within seconds, the door opened and a tall man with dark hair entered.I recognized him vaguely from before.Ryder had been one of Zeke's best trackers.

"Send a team to Seacreek Pack immediately," Zeke ordered."A three year old boy went missing yesterday afternoon.His name is Golden.I want our best trackers on this.Treat it as a priority alpha case."

Ryder's eyes flicked to me briefly, widening in recognition and shock, but he was too well trained to comment."Yes, Alpha.

What's the last known location?"

"Seacreek preschool," I supplied."He was supposed to be in the playground.When the teacher checked on the children, he was gone.""Any witnesses?"Ryder asked.

I shook my head."None that we could find.The Seacreek pack searched everywhere.We found nothing."

"We'll find something," Ryder promised.

He nodded to Zeke and left quickly.

The door had barely closed before it opened again.Layla swept in without knocking, her face flushed with anger.She looked exactly as I remembered, beautiful and perfect, except now there were lines around her eyes that hadn't been there before."Zeke, what is the meaning of this?"she demanded."The entire pack house is buzzing with rumors that Cecelia is alive and you're just entertaining this fantasy?"

I met her gaze directly.She froze mid step when she realized I was really standing there.Her face went white, then red, then white again.

"Hello, Layla," I said calmly.

She recovered faster than I expected.Her shock morphed into fury so quickly I almost missed the transition."How dare you show your face here?What kind of sick game are you playing?"

"No game," Zeke said sharply."She's alive.And she has information about my son."

"Your son?"Layla's voice went shrill.She gestured toward the doorway where a small blond boy stood partially hidden.Cameron."Your son is right there.That's your son.This woman is clearly lying to manipulate you."

Cameron peered around his mother's legs, his blue eyes wide and confused.He looked so much like Layla it hurt.Not a trace of Zeke in him that I could see.

"Cecelia has a child," Zeke said, his tone hard."A boy named Golden who is three years old.He's missing.I've agreed to help find him."

"Oh, how convenient."Layla's laugh was brittle."She disappears for three years, supposedly dead, and now suddenly reappears with a mystery child that she claims is yours?This is obviously a ploy to get back into your life."

"The child looks exactly like me," Zeke said quietly."So what?She could have found any blond child and coached him.She could have fabricated the entire story."Layla moved closer to Zeke's desk, her hand reaching out to touch his arm."Think about it rationally.Why would she wait three years to tell you about this supposed child?Why show up now, claiming he's been kidnapped?It's manipulation, Zeke.Pure manipulation."

CECELIAS POV

I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood.Every instinct screamed at me to defend myself, to shout that I wasn't lying, that Golden was real and terrified somewhere without his mother.But I forced myself to stay quiet.Zeke needed to make this decision himself.

Zeke pulled his arm away from Layla's touch."She's agreed to a healer's examination.That will settle any questions about paternity."

"A healer's exam?"Layla's voice rose another octave."You're actually giving credibility to this insanity?"

"A child is missing," Zeke said coldly."Whether he's mine or not, that's reason enough to investigate."

"She probably doesn't even have a child," Layla insisted."This is all an elaborate scheme to worm her way back into your bed, into your life, into this pack.Can't you see that?"

"What I see," Zeke said, his Alpha

authority bleeding into every word, "is that you need to leave my office.Now."

Layla flinched like he'd slapped her. "Zeke, please.You have to listen to me.She's dangerous.She's going to destroy everything we've built together."

"We haven't built anything together," Zeke said flatly."Now get out."

"But Cameron-"

"Take Cameron to his room.I'll speak with you later."Layla looked between us, her face twisting with emotions I couldn't name.Finally, she grabbed Cameron's hand and yanked him out of the office.The little boy stumbled, looking back at us with frightened eyes before the door slammed shut.

The silence that followed felt heavier than before.

"She's terrified," I said quietly.

Zeke turned to look at me."Of what?"

"Of me.Of what my return means for her position here."I wrapped my arms around myself."She tried to kill me once, Zeke.She pushed me off that cliff.She wanted me dead so she could take my place."

"I know."

The simple statement made me blink."You know?"

"I suspected," he corrected."Things never added up about your death.The body we found was badly decomposed but the timeline was wrong.The injuries didn't match a fall from the cliffs.There were inconsistencies everywhere."He rubbed his face tiredly."But I had no proof.And Layla was pregnant,

or so I thought.I couldn't exactly accuse her of murder without evidence."

"So you just let it go?"

"No."His voice hardened."I investigated quietly.But everyone's stories matched.The pack accepted that you'd fallen, that your body had washed up weeks later.Without proof, without your testimony, I couldn't pursue it."

"And now?"

"Now you're here."He moved closer, close enough that I could smell his scent.It hit me like a physical blow,familiar and foreign all at once."Now I can protect you properly.That's another reason you're staying at the palace."

"I don't need your protection.""Three years ago you didn't think you needed it either," he said bluntly."Look how that turned out."

The words stung because they were true.I'd been naive and trusting.I'd believed my sister loved me despite her jealousy.I'd believed Zeke when he said our marriage could work.I'd been stupid.

"I'm not that person anymore," Isaid.

"I can see that."Something in his expression shifted."You're stronger now.Harder."

"I had to be."

"Tell me what happened," he said."After the fall.How did you survive?"

I didn't want to talk about it.Didn't want to relive those terrifying moments in the water, the cold certainty that I was dying, the shock of waking up in Fatima's house weeks later.But maybe he needed to know.Maybe it mattered.

"Fatima found me," I said simply."She's a fisher in Seacreek.She was checking her nets when she saw my body washed up on the shore.She pulled me out, brought me to her home, kept me alive until I woke up."

"How long were you unconscious?"

"Three months."

His eyes widened."Three months in a coma?"

"Yes.When I finally woke up, I didn't remember what happened at first.Didn't remember falling, didn't remember who I was."I swallowed

hard."The memories came back slowly.And when they did, when I remembered Layla pushing me, I knew I couldn't come back here.Especially once Fatima told me I was pregnant."

"You were already pregnant when you fell?"

"About a month along," I confirmed."I didn't know.We'd been trying but nothing had happened and I just assumed..."I trailed off.No need to finish that sentence.

Zeke's jaw worked."If you'd come back, if you'd told me-""You would have what?"I interrupted."Welcomed me with open arms while Layla was here playing house with you?While she was pregnant with your child?"

"She lost that baby," Zeke said quietly.

The information hit me sideways."What?"

"Two months after your death, she miscarried.Stress, the healers said."His expression was unreadable."Cameron came later.Almost a year after you disappeared."I did the math in my head.Cameron looked about three years old, maybe slightly younger.If Layla had miscarried and then gotten pregnant again almost a year later, the timeline made sense.But something about it felt off.I couldn't put my finger on what exactly.

"I'm sorry she lost the baby," I said, and meant it.Whatever Layla had done to me, losing a child was its own kind of hell."That must have been difficult."

"It was."Zeke moved back to his desk, putting distance between us again. "She blamed herself.Said if she hadn't been so upset about your death, if she'd taken better care of herself..."

He didn't need to finish.I understood.

"But none of that matters right now," I said firmly."What matters is finding Golden.Everything else can wait."

Zeke nodded."Agreed.I've arranged for you to see the pack healer tonight.She'll do the examination and run whatever tests are needed."

"Fine.""Until then, I'll have someone show you to your quarters.You'll be staying in the guest wing."

Not the Luna's chambers.Not anywhere close to where we used to sleep together.Good.I didn't want any reminders of what we'd had and lost.

"The guest wing is fine," I said.

He picked up his phone again but hesitated before making the call.

"Cecelia.

What?"

"I meant what I said. I will find our

son. I promise you that."

Our son. He kept saying it like that, claiming Golden as his even though he'd never met the boy, never held him, never heard his laugh or wiped away his tears. Part of me wanted to rage at him for it. Part of me was grateful.

"Just find him alive," I whispered.

"That's all I care about."