Page 7 of Alpha's Runaway Mate

“Hey, hey, hey, take it easy,” I moved closer to her, reaching for her arm to help but she flinched, pulling away from me as though I had a disease.

I deserved that.

Eyes filled with hostility locked onto mine, and in a tone as sharp as a wolf’s claw, she asked, “Where’s Leo? Where’s my son?”

“He’s fine, Lyra. He is with the other kids in the pack playing under the moonlight.” A half-hearted smile touched my lips as I recalled other moments between us. Talking to Lyra had always been effortless—no overthinking, no filters. So, when the thought surfaced, I let it slip before I could stop myself.

“Remember when we used to act as chaperones for them, watching the pack’s children play under the moonlight? They would play hide and seek and some of them would sneak into the forest to hide, then it’d be up to us to find and bring them back?” I chuckled. “Remember when that one kid, Elvis, made us search the entire forest three times, only for us to later find him fastasleep underneath a pile of leaves? That was the longest night of my life.”

Lyra’s expression darkened. “Of course it was the longest night of your life. You haven’t had to worry about anything in your life other than being Alpha.”

I drew back at the sharpness in her voice cutting through whatever lightness I had tried to summon. Maybe I was lying to myself, thinking time would have healed the past between us. And maybe, after all these years, she hated me.

I watched as her gaze flickered to the wound on her side. I could tell from the way she suppressed a wince that she was in a great deal of pain but was trying to mask it.

“You were poisoned,” I informed her, keeping my voice calm. “The healer hasn’t given you the antidote yet, but she should be on her way back.”

Her eyes met mine briefly and in the fleeting moment, I saw nothing. No warmth. Her eyes were hollow, as if the fire that once burned within her had long been extinguished. A part of me feared that she had lost herself, but even worse, she had lost herself because of me.

“How did you find me?” she asked, sinking back into bed and pulling the sheets over her body.

“Leo led me to you,” I told her. “It’s a bit of a story, which I would be happy to tell you over dinner once you’re better.”

“Don’t bother. I won’t be staying.” She paused, then added. “But thank you…for helping me.”

She didn’t appear thankful, no. She appeared pissed.

Sighing, I took a seat in the chair next to her, making sure to keep a bit of distance between us. Even if this wasn’t the first conversation I envisaged us having after all these years, it was enough that she was here. And that she was talking…sort of. Since we were having a “sort of” conversation, I decided to ask one of the questions that had been gnawing at me since I found her in the woods.

Leaning forward, I cleared my throat. “Lyra, can I ask you something?”

“Would you not if I said no?”

I chortled lightly but admitted. “Not likely. No.”

She didn’t say anything more, so I took this as a good sign to go ahead.

“Leo,” I started, and immediately, her body went still. She didn’t even blink a wink. “Who is his father?”

She was tense, I could tell. Even as she snapped her head in my direction, her face contoured into a deep frown, and her voice was laced with fury.

“Why the hell do you care, Kaine? Why the hell do you care what I have done with my life during the last six years?”

“It’s just that, Lyra…we both know what happened the night before—”

“The night before what?” she spat. “The night before you betrayed me? The nerve of you to bring that up!”

“Come on, Lyra. I’m just trying to have a conversation.” I tried to placate her but she wasn’t having any of it.

“Snap out of it, Kaine. He’s not yours, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Her words sliced through the air and that should have been enough to erase my doubts ,because Lyra had never lied to me. Lyra could never lie to me. Then again, the woman in front of me wasn’t the same person I once knew. And something about Leo, the connection I felt when I looked into his eyes, made me question everything.

“I needed to forget about you, Kaine,” she continued coldly. “So, when I left the pack, I hooked up with a random guy. And we weren’t being very careful. You could say it was uh…mind blowing.”

My fists clenched. The thought of her being with another man made rage surge through my veins. My teeth gritted, and I was about to say something when the door creaked open and the healer walked in.

Noticing and probably feeling the palpable tension between us, she asked, “Uh…everything okay?”

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