Page 10 of Forever Mine

"Mr. Westin," Jacob corrected.

"Liam's fine, really. Preferred even. Mr. Westin is my father," I joked. In actuality, since taking over as CEO of the Westin Foundation, I was "the" Mr. Westin of the family, but it didn't feel right to me coming from the kid.

"Well okay, then. You're sure he's not bothering you?"

"Nah, I love kids and I'm here for a few days early to enjoy the city. No plans or anything for today."

"Okay, if you're certain. I'll be just over there."

I gave him an encouraging smile and turned back to the kid, briefly wondering where the hell his mother was.

Aside from Zander, who was much smaller and didn't talk as much, I hadn't really spent much time around pups. Sure, there were always kids around San Marco, they just hadn't really affected me since the time I was one. If Oscar was any indication, they were pretty easy though. I just listened and kept feeding him coins while he prattled on.

He told me his mom was single and they lived with his grandparents who weren't his Mom's mom and dad. He was seven years old and in second grade, but was homeschooled, and he was obsessed with basketball.

I quickly realized the kid had no filter and began to question him being a shifter pup at all. Maybe I'd been completely wrong about the mom, too, and it was only her resemblance to Maddie that had me imagining it all, but then the kid hit me with something that had me second-guessing that theory too.

"I knew it was you the moment I smelled you." He shut his mouth quickly and turned wide, worried eyes towards me. "I wasn't supposed to say that. Mommy doesn't like me to talk about it."

I glanced at him, understanding what he was telling me. "How about I tell you a secret then, too?"

He nodded, still serious, but a little more relaxed.

"I can smell you, too."

"You can?"

I nodded. No idea why I had just told him that.

He leaned in and lowered his voice, very seriously asking, "Can you tell what I had for breakfast?"

The little pup was actually testing me. "Pancakes." I smiled. "But the dribble of syrup on your shirt would have made me guess that anyway." I wiped off the spot and he giggled.

Suddenly very serious, he leaned in and took a big whiff of me. "You only had coffee and your tummy's saying you're hungry,” he whispered, a second before my stomach growled in protest. We both laughed. "I have good ears, too," he whispered. "Do you have good ears?"

I smiled. "Yeah, I do."

He got very excited about that. "You smell a little like me and Mommy."

It was only a statement. All wolf shifters had a hint of that woodsy, natural scent. It was the smell that alerted us most easily to others of our kind.

"Are you my father?"

I had just taken a sip from my water bottle and started to choke. It took me a moment of hacking and coughing to be able to talk again. "No, Oscar, I'm not your father," I told him, watching his big, brown, hopeful eyes turn sad. "How about another game?" I asked, not knowing what else to do.

"Okay," and just like that he transformed back to the sweet, chatty kid.

He won the game with only a little assistance from me. I gave him a high five, then was showing him how to do a secret victory first bump, when I smelled her. We both turned at the same time to meet furious, shocked brown eyes. It felt like I'd been kicked in the ?nads.

Mate.

The word played over and over again in my head. I was staring at Oscar's mom, Jane, the Madelyn Collier doppleganger, my mate.

She was clearly just as shocked to see me. "Liam," I heard her whisper, making my heart flutter in a weird and unexpected way.

"You know my mom?" Oscar whispered, grounding me back to reality. His grandparents were standing just behind her, watching us closely.

I knew without a doubt I was staring at Madelyn Collier. Maddie was my one true mate. Knowing it didn't absolve the shock of it, but with all eyes on us, I chose the safest route.

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