Page 104 of Alpha's Impostor Bride

“Is it because of him?” There’s a wealth of anger in his voice. He comes to stand in front of his mother protectively, and his tone turns a little rude. “Why are you here? Go home! We don’t want you here!”

“Finn!” Leanna quickly slaps her hand over his mouth, muffling his next words. “You can’t speak to him like that!”

He pulls her hand away. “Why not? Because he’s my dad?”

I freeze at his words, and Leanna pales. “Who—Who told you that?”

“I’m not stupid, Mom. He looks like me, and I heard you talking.” Finn glares at me. “I don’t need a dad who makes my mom cry. Go away!”

I’m torn between feeling hurt and proud. He’s protecting her. Our son is shielding his mother, even if it is from me.

Right now, though, both of them are upset. I know I should leave. Leanna needs to handle this situation, and I—well, I don’t have a place in her life. Maybe that’s something I should accept.

It’s amusing to think that I have spent my life seizing what I want by force, but the one thing I need, I can’t take. Because if I drag this woman back with me, it’ll kill her spirit.

A slave. A prisoner.

“Go!” Finn yells at me, clutching his mother’s hand. “We don’t need you.”

“Finn!”

“I’m going,” I say calmly. My wolf slumps within me, aching, miserable.

“No, you’re not!” Leanna says fiercely. “You’re not going anywhere. Finn, you don’t talk to your father like that.”

“But he made you cry!” Finn’s face is red with anger. “We don’t need—”

“He is your father. And he didn’t make me cry. We were having a discussion. Which we”—her voice softens—“which we shouldn’t have been having here. You shouldn’t have heard any of that. I’m sorry.”

“Mom—”

Leanna crouches before him and cups his face. “He’s a good man, Finn. And it’s high time you two had a proper introduction. Cedric?”

She looks at me, and the previous anger and frustration in her eyes have disappeared. Instead, she looks nervous. It would have been so easy for her to use this opportunity to turn my son against me. The easiest thing in the world. And given her conflicted feelings toward me, that would have been the route I expected her to take.

Why does she keep defying my expectations? Where do I stand in this woman’s eyes?

When I don’t move, Leanna propels Finn toward me. “Finn, this is your father, King Cedric Raine.”

“King?” Finn’s eyes widen, and he studies me. However, he doesn’t seem too pleased. “I don’t care if you’re a king. I don’t care if you’re my dad. You made my mom cry!”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Leanna lightly chastises him. “Look, he came all this way to see you. And”—she pauses before continuing—“he’s going to take you out every night so that you can run and play in your wolf form. He’s going to teach you a lot of things, so I want you to behave.”

“But Mom—”

She shakes her head. “No. Whatever happens between your father and me does not concern you. He’s your dad, and he wants to get to know you. And”—another struggling breath—“I know you want to get to know him. That’s what I want, too.”

Finn crosses his arms over his chest, his lower lip jutting out in a petulant manner. “If he makes you cry again—”

“I won’t,” I finally say. “I won’t hurt your mother again. You have my word. And a man’s word is his bond.”

Finn looks doubtful, and when he steals a glance at his mother, she nods. “He’s right. And he didn’t do anything to hurt me before.”

My son holds on to his mother for a few seconds before asking her quietly, “So, why is he here now? Why not before? And what’s he king of? Where’s his crown?”

“My kingdom is in the North, on the other side of the Veil,” I explain.

“I’m not allowed to go near the Veil.”

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