Chapter 4

“Don't raise your voices! You're going to wake him up!” Mila warned, and a deep scowl appeared on her face. She took a breath and sighed. “Look, even if you don't believe it, everything we're telling you is true. Amely is a werewolf, the daughter of the Alpha of Mooncoven. This pack is one of the strongest in the vicinity and one of the few that works with a witch coven. My coven. That's why our names have merged into one. We're the pack that protects the peace between the witches and the werewolves.”

Jared's eyes squinted in disbelief, and he looked at the blonde woman again. She tensed by his scrutinous gaze and swallowed.

“This is not a joke, Jared.” Amely shut her eyes for a second, returning to her fearless self, and when she opened them again, they were slightly shining, and their beautiful blue color was dark and deep, darker than it usually was. “My name is Amely Davidson, daughter of Alpha Derek Davidson and future Alpha of Mooncoven.”

Her voice boomed through the room, and its power almost made Jared cower in fear and lower his head. Almost.

He stared at her, his mind blank.

“I wanted to tell you before. I wanted to tell you you're my mate... But, you're just a human,” she said, as if that was the worst possible thing on this earth.

Jared snorted and averted his gaze. His eyes were stinging with tears and insult, but he vowed them not to show it.

“It's very rare for a werewolf, especially of my rank, to be mated to an ordinary human. It's unnatural. And dangerous.”

Jared glared at her again, and she continued, “A war is coming. Something has been happening in the werewolf world, so many deaths and disappearances have occurred in the last two years... I didn't want to get you involved in that.” Amely shook her head and stepped closer to him.

When he saw this, he shot up on his feet and turned to the other side. He hadn't realized when he had been freed from the... sorcery Mila put on him.

“Why are you telling me all this?” he asked with his back to her. Why now, when it was all over and he wanted to disappear and forget she ever existed? When he finally gave up.

“Because I want to fight. I don't want to hide anymore. And I don't want to leave our child without a father.”

Jared spun around and stared at her, his guts close to blowing up. His mouth went dry, and he found it impossible to swallow. Everything stilled for a moment, and the only thing that existed in his world was agonizing horror. Sweat started dripping down his face, and his chest constricted in misery.

“W-what?” Jared whispered, trying to process the words she had spoken. They were repeating in his mind like a curse.

Amely put her hand over her chest, clutching it in pain, and a tear slid from her eye. A tear! She never cried.

“His name is Mason. He will turn one in two months. He's upstairs.”

At that moment, a crying voice echoed through the walls. It was a child. A young child.

Jared laughed again and put a hand over his face.

“Show me!” he ordered, his mad eyes shooting hammers at Amely, and she nodded.

When they entered a room on the second floor, he confirmed it was a child's room. It was painted in a warm brick color, and there was a crib next to the wall. Something in the bed shuffled, and a tiny toddler stood on his small chubby feet, peeking curiously. He outstretched his arms, and Amely went to him.

It was a beautiful boy with blue eyes and light brown hair. It was a few shades lighter than Jared's. Amely took him out of his crib and propped him on her hip, holding him with her arms. He grabbed his mother's hair and pulled lightly. The boy's eyes found Jared, and he smiled, a tiny tooth showing in his mouth.

The world started spinning and twisting, and Jared grabbed the closest thing next to him to support himself. Mila ran to him, trying to help, but he stopped her with his hand. It felt like his lungs had been ripped out from him, and no matter how much he tried to breathe, he couldn't take in even a slight speck of air.

The child, seeing his reaction, started to cry, but in a few short moments, his outburst escalated to loud wailing.

“Mase!” Amely started dandling him on her lap. “It's okay. Don't cry! Daddy's okay!” she cooed.

“Stop!” Jared jumped out of his panicked state and stood straight on his feet. Tears started sliding down his eyes, but he knew he had to hold on. He didn't want to spend even a second more in this disgusting house. He was done. “Stop it with these atrocious lies! This child is not mine! I don't have a son whose birth and first breaths on earth I've missed!” he said in a loud voice, but still tried to be quiet because of the boy. It was an innocent pawn in all of this.

“I can't do this!” Jared wailed in overwhelming terror and stormed out of the house.

...

Jared was lying in his bed with his arm draped over his eyes. His world had fallen apart. Even if it was the beginning of the summer and his bed was fairly warm, his body was freezing cold. How come in a matter of a day, everything as he knew it disappeared?

Jared had always wanted a family. And yes, at some point, he had hoped it would happen with Amely. But this thought went down the drain a long time ago.

Something next to him clattered, and he jolted up, glaring. Amely was standing there, her arms limply hanging to her sides.

“Is that how you always managed to climb to the second floor and come here? You never used the front door. Because you're a werewolf?” he quietly said, but his voice was full of venom.

“Yes,” she murmured.

“I see.” He looked to the side, not bearing the sight of her. “When did it happen?” he asked, his heart thundering in his chest. His child, his own child... He was a father now.

“On your birthday,” her resigned voice returned.

“When I told you I didn't want to see you again, but you still came to my room in the middle of the night?” His brows arched up in irony. This was so fucked up.

“Yes,” Amely whispered and bristled, biting the corner of her lip.

Jared chuckled, but his laughter was filled with pain.

“Okay, let's go to him.” He stood up and towered over her. “Through the door this time. And no excuses because of your father,” he warned through clenched teeth.