Chapter 12: When the Past Shows Its Teeth
Fiona’s POV
The world tilted beneath my feet.
It wasn’t the sun or the heat or the long run through the park-it was him. Alpha Dorian. Standing there like he hadn’t torn my heart to pieces and walked away without a second glance.
For a second, everything around me blurred, like the entire pack fair faded to white noise. All I could see was him. My past. My mistake. My once-fated mate.
And just like that, the memories hit me like a silver-tipped arrow to the chest.
The hospital room. Cold. Sterile. My scent still laced with pain and labor. I’d looked to the door, waiting, hoping-howling inside-but he never showed. Not even once.
Alpha Dorian had left me there. Left us there. Like we were just a bad decision he couldn’t be bothered to face. Jamal had come into this world without his father’s howl to welcome him.
But that wasn’t even the worst part.
The worst was later. Walking into our bedroom and seeing him in our bed, tangled up with Cecilia like I’d never existed. Her scent was everywhere. It clung to the sheets. To him. Her moans still echoed in my head. I’d stood there frozen, as if my body refused to believe what my eyes were seeing. That was the moment my wolf had gone quiet. The moment something inside me had snapped-and stayed broken ever since.
Now, here he was.
My wolf didn’t snarl or growl. She just… watched. Cold. Wary.
And me? I just stood there, fists clenched at my sides, my heart thudding with every beat of remembered betrayal.
A small tug on my hand pulled me back to earth.
“Mummy?” Jamal’s voice was soft, unsure. “Why are you looking at this man like you’ve seen a ghost?”
I blinked hard. My pup’s scent grounded me. His presence, his warmth-it shoved the storm back behind my ribs, where it belonged. I crouched down to his level, forcing a smile that trembled with the effort.
“It’s nothing, sweetheart,” I said, though the words tasted like ash on my tongue. “Just someone I used to know.”
Jamal, in all his innocent nosiness, tilted his head. “You used to know this man? Oh wow, Mummy. How?”
Oh, pup.
I felt that one like a punch to the gut.
“Jamal…” I reached out, brushing a curl from his forehead, my smile faltering. “Why don’t you and Daniel go sit over there for a moment, alright? Grown-up talk.”
He hesitated, smart little thing that he was. He could feel the tension, like a good wolf pup should. But eventually, he nodded, grabbed Daniel’s hand, and wandered off, glancing back at me.
And that’s when Chloe stepped forward.
My best friend. My ride-or-die. My chosen sister.
She’d been silent this whole time, but I knew her. Knew the way her jaw tightened when she was barely holding back a shift.
Without warning, her fist flew.
Crack.
It hit Dorian so hard I heard the bone shift in his jaw. He stumbled back, hand flying to his face, eyes wide and watering. “What the hell,
Chloe?!”
Wrong question.
Because Chloe wasn’t done.
She stalked forward, eyes blazing gold, teeth just beginning to clongate. Her wolf was there, right at the surface, ready to tear into him like
meat.
“You have the audacity,” she snarled, “to touch our pups?! Were you planning to kidnap them, huh? You think playing the hero for five minutes makes up for what you did to Fiona? To Jamal?”
Alpha Dorian blinked like he’d just been yanked out of a fever dream. Gone was the cocky swagger that used to make the she-wolves swoon. Now, he looked dazed. Human. Lost.
He swiped at the blood trickling from his lip-courtesy of Chloe’s right hook,.
“I wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to kidnap them,” he stammered, his voice cracking in a way that used to make me pity him. Not anymore. “I saw them wandering alone, and I just-”
“You just what?” Chloe stepped forward. Her fangs were half-shifted now, and even the pups nearby instinctively quieted. “Thought you could swoop in and play daddy? You think that erases what you did to Fiona? To Jamal?”
Dorian winced.
He turned to me, those eyes searching mine like they might still find the girl I used to be. The one who used to believe his lies. The one who used to dream about a family with him. Goddess, I hated that girl.
“Fiona, I swear, I wasn’t trying to cause trouble. I just… I saw the boys and wanted to make sure they were safe.”
Safe. That word hit me like a slap.
I laughed-sharp and bitter. “Safe?” My voice wobbled, but I stood tall, my wolf bristling just beneath my skin. “You don’t get to talk about safety, Dorian. Not when you’re the reason I had to become a one-wolf army to protect Jamal. You left. You didn’t say goodbye. You didn’t even ask if he survived the birth. So don’t stand there and act like you care.”
His lips parted, but I didn’t give him the chance.
“You chose her.” I said, stepping closer, my voice low and vibrating with rage. “You chose Cecilia. While I was carrying your pup. You made your decision, Dorian, and I made mine. I raised our son without you, and guess what? He turned out amazing. We turned out amazing.”
Chloe edged closer beside me, all steel and loyalty. Her presence bolstered me, kept me from crumbling even as my hands trembled. She jabbed a finger at him like she was ready to shift and rip out his throat. “You’re not the hero here. You’re a coward. And nobody missed you.”
That one hit him. I saw the way his shoulders sagged. But I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. Not after everything.
His eyes flicked toward Jamal, who was laughing as he tried to chase Daniel around the playground like the fearless little wolf pup he was. Dorian’s gaze softened, and I knew what he was thinking before the words even left his mouth.
“Is that… is that my son?” His voice was barely a whisper, like saying it too loud might break the illusion.
And that was it.
My wolf snapped.
I stepped forward, eyes blazing, every muscle in my body thrumming with fury. “Don’t you dare,” I growled, low and dangerous, “open your filthy mouth and call him your son. You lost that right the day you walked away. You didn’t stay up with him through fever shifts. You didn’t hold him through his first night terror or teach him how to breathe through his first partial shift. He’s mine. Only mine.”
He stumbled back like I’d physically struck him again, and maybe I had-just not in the way he expected. Shame twisted his face, but he didn’t argue. What could he say?
And then my phone rang.
The screen lit up with Xavien’s name, and my breath caught in my throat. Dorian still stood there, but the moment I heard Xavien’s voice on the line, I felt like I could finally breathe again.
“Hey babe,” he said, his voice warm, familiar, and steady-everything Dorian wasn’t. “Sorry I missed your calls. My phone died. How’s my little Superman? Is he okay?”
okay.”
He paused, then exhaled. “Thank the Goddess. I’m on my way. I’ll be there in five.”
“Okay. We’ll see you soon.”
I hung up, and Chloe was already eyeing Dorian like she was five seconds from shifting and sinking her canines into his jugular.
“That Navien?” she asked without taking her eyes off the man who once shattered me.
“Yeah, I murmured. “He’s almost here.”
Chloe stepped forward and planted herself like a wall between me and Dorian. “You need to leave. Now. Whatever sliver of dignity you think you’ve got left? Take it and go.”
I raised a shaking hand, pointed toward the exit, and locked eyes with the man who once held my entire future in his hands-before crushing it.
“Get out, Dorian. You don’t belong here. Jamal doesn’t need you. He already has a father. One who didn’t run.”
Dorian’s eyes landed on Jamal again. There was a look there-something soft, mournful-but I didn’t care. I was done caring.
“Jamal… that’s a beautiful name.”
My body went rigid.
“Shut up!” I snapped, the pain bleeding through every word. “You don’t get to say his name like you know him. Like you’re proud. You’re nothing to him. Just a stranger with the same eyes.”
And then-thank Moon Godness-Xavien arrived.
I felt him before I saw him. His scent-warm pinewood, leather, and mint-wrapped around me, grounding me instantly. He rushed over, his arm sliding protectively around my waist, eyes scanning the scene like a seasoned warrior.
“What’s going on here, babe?” he asked, voice tight.
I flinched at his touch.
And whispered. “Oh, shit.”
