Chapter 7

Only then did I let myself breathe.

Over the years, the men chasing me ranged from industry heavyweights to younger pups. I kept every relationship polite and shallow. None of them got close. The only one I couldn't shake was Jace Blackwood, youngest son of the richest Alpha family in the Territory. I'd turned him down more times than I could count, and still he didn't take the hint.

This time, Jace invited me and my son to Moonlight Park.

We had just come off a ride when a cold, worn-down man walked toward us.

I didn't even need to look. I knew it was Damon.

Three years. He'd found us.

Slow of him.

When Damon saw us, he broke down crying on the spot.

People around us stared. Some whispered.

He didn't hear them. He took my son's small hand.

"Pup. It's your dad. You're not dead. I knew you couldn't be dead."

Then he stood up and looked at me, unable to get the words out.

"Ivy. You're alive. That's the greatest luck of my life."

"These three years — every single day I've been looking for you. After Callum told me the truth, I went from place to place, city to city, country to country. I couldn't find you. I went through records in every city. I didn't know what else to do…"

"Thank the Moon. I saw one of your awards."

In three years I was no longer the soft Luna he'd walked all over.

I calmly took my son's hand, turned, and smiled.

"Husband. Let's go."

Damon, thinking I meant him, reached for my hand.

I gave a cold laugh and looked at Jace, whose face had fallen.

"You, Jace. Aren't I your mate?"

Damon went still. Something torn showed on his face.

"Ivy. I know you'd never forgive me. I don't even dare hope for it. Just — can you give me a chance to be part of yours and the pup's life going forward?"

I wanted to laugh and shoot it down. My son beat me to it. He shoved Damon away with a sneer.

"You old loser! My mom's beautiful and surrounded by good-looking Alphas. What are you? You got money? You got a face? You got what it takes to make my mom happy? You've got nothing. Get lost!"

I covered my mouth, laughing quietly. Jace, now officially named, stepped up to scold Damon too.

"Old man, who are you? Ugly as you are — you think you're hotter than me? Richer than me? Better at making her happy? You're nothing. Get out of here!"

Father and son, side by side. I pressed my palm to my forehead.

Damon couldn't believe his own pup had ganged up on him with a stranger.

Crushed, he stumbled out of Moonlight Park.

After that, every day he tried to make it up to me and the pup.

Every time we blocked him with a different ridiculous excuse. He'd come in hopeful every time. He'd leave frustrated and mortified every time.

Fifty years went by and Damon still didn't stop apologizing.

He apologized for fifty years.

I never forgave him.

And Helen Thorne — the one who had once felt like a mother to me.

All those years, to see the pup, she would bow her head and board a flight halfway across the Territory.

Every time she saw me, her eyes went red. She'd cry, then hurry off to wash her hands and cook for the pup.

At fifty, on one more trip to see him, her plane went down.

She died on her way to see her grandson.

I didn't hate her anymore.

But what I once felt for her was gone too.