Page 2 of Framed and Forgotten
The question hit me like a jolt. I couldn’t understand why the event had shaken him so much, but it still made my heart heavy. “I don’t know, Koen,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “He’s a kid. Maybe he just saw you as some sort of fatherly figure, someone he could trust.” I shrugged. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
When he stayed quiet, showing no signs that my answer had soothed him, my uneasiness grew. As irrational fear crawled beneath my skin, I couldn’t hold my tongue. “You said you’d never slept with anyone before me. Not even her,” I pointed out, my tone sharper than I intended as I leaned in, forcing his gaze to meet mine. “Then, whoever that pup was, he’s not your son. It can’t be possible, right?”
Silence.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five seconds.
When his answer finally came, it was faint and uncertain, coated in hesitation. “...Yeah, right,” he murmured, his eyes flicking away from mine, as if trying to hide the doubt, but I could see it. His voice lacked any confidence.
And it made my stomach sink.
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A V R I L
“Is mate…lying to us?”Kea’s thought was a quiet, fearful whisper in my mind, like a winter breeze chilling me to the core.
She had caught the subtle signs of dishonesty, her disheartened feelings mirroring my own. Still, I found myself defending him.“Koen would never lie straight to our face like that.”
Despite the semblance of conviction in my voice, I couldn’t say I’d bet my life on it. Deep down, I was more afraid of even entertaining the possibility that he could do such a thing than I was rationally certain of his innocence. Kea lowered her ears, not reassured, but resigned.
As I stared blankly back at Koen, still processing his hesitant response, I contemplated confronting him. Desperation urged me to ask how he couldn’t be sure if he had a son out there when he had insisted he was a virgin until I came along. But I fought the impulse. I didn’t want to blatantly accuse him of lying without proof. Besides, even if he had lied to me on our first night together, it didn’t - itshouldn’t- matter what he had done before we got together.
For now, I preferred to attribute his uncertainty to the stress he was under rather than to him genuinely believing such a possibility could exist.
Suddenly, Koen cradled my face between his hands, bringing my attention back to him. He seemed aware of how his answer had struck me as he looked into my eyes, whatever reservations he had now gone. I remembered how to breathe again, drawing in a small gasp.
His fingers brushed my hair as he said, “I’m sorry. You’re right - I shouldn’t be worried. I’m just confused about this whole thing, but…” He released a sigh before asserting, “I’ll let it go.”
I managed a half-smile as I nodded at him, trying to silence the thousands of questions that had erupted in my mind. We were both overwhelmed after the past few days. I wouldn’t hold anything against him until he gave me a strong reason to.
As he lowered his hands to find mine, I suggested, “Why don’t we take a nice, hot, relaxing bath before heading to the cafeteria?”
His lips curled in response as he agreed, “I’d love that.”
K O E N
As the days passed, I tried to stay true to the promise I had made to Avril - if not for my own sanity, then for hers. At first, it wasn’t too difficult. I spent my days helping Avril with packbusiness or training, focusing on adapting to my newly-acquired power.
The real challenge began at nightfall. Every time I closed my eyes to try and sleep, I saw those bright emeralds staring back at me. It felt as though the little pup was trying to reach into my soul. That image was imprinted on my mind, his sweet, innocent voice echoing on repeat. I simply couldn’t shake it.
Columbus did little to aid my attempts at forgetting. It felt as though he were the one replaying the memory, refusing to let me move on. His behavior shifted after our encounter with Elias. I could have sworn he sensed some kind of bond between us and the pup. Since then, he had been on edge, a primal protectiveness keeping him perpetually alert.
On the same day we met the little boy, I asked Col if the tug at our chest could be the family bond. Although he couldn’t confidently confirm my hypothesis, the sensation too faint for proper analysis, he couldn’t discard it either. Over time, my doubts only grew.
When I realized the feeling wouldn’t go away, I pretended to forget about it. But, as I was usually proud to admit, I was a bad liar. Avril was already sensing that something was off, and I knew I could only keep up the act for so long.
The truth was, I hadn’t been entirely honest with my mate when she confronted me about the possibility of me fathering a secret child. I just had never even considered that it could have happened. However, once I stopped to think about it, I couldn’t deny there was an incredibly slim chance - but a real one nonetheless. And it was eating me up.
Roughly a week after the meeting, I decided I couldn’t keep living this way anymore. While Avril was sound asleep in the alpha chambers, I carefully crawled out of bed, sneaking out to go to her office. I closed the door before turning the lights on andheading to the landline, hesitating one last time before dialing the number.
It took a while for Alpha Hector to pick it up, but he did. As much as I’d prefer not to involve him in this story, I had deleted Nerine’s contact, leaving me no other way to connect with her. Of course, the leader was confused getting a call from me in the middle of the night.
“Alpha Hector, is your niece there? I have very important matters to speak with her about.” I kept my explanation brief.
The man’s voice was laced with drowsiness, curiosity, and disorientation as he replied, “Yes. She’s asleep in her room.” He paused. “Would you like me to let her know you called?”
