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[Many Years Ago]

She had taken to visiting the lake on mornings like this when the fog settled over the water and the cold bit at her skin.

There was loneliness in the air.

A quiet between the nocturnal animals climbing into their burrows to sleep, and the diurnal creatures just starting to wake.

But in this quiet, lonely existence, she could hear something. A hum. A soft, delicate hum like a song being carried on the breeze.

It wouldn’t last long, only about a minute, and only on mornings like this. But something about it always reached out to her.

Within that song, her own loneliness faded away for just that minute.

Which was why when she heard the loud splash of the lake being disturbed, just as the hum had begun, she found herself quite agitated.

No one should have been there; this was the one place in all of the territory that was hers alone. Not even her demanding and restrictive mate would follow her out here.

She sat up and looked around angrily. At first, she saw nothing, but another splash drew her attention across the water. There she saw him.

A small boy with dark hair gathered stones along the water’s edge. He couldn’t have been more than six years old.

That old familiar pain settled over her heart, and the anger fizzled away.

She swallowed and licked her lips, taking a deep breath before she called out to him.

“You!” she said. “Boy!”

The boy lifted his head, and their eyes met.

She gasped at the sight.

Eyes of sunsets and fire. A rare color. Noticeable even at this distance, while her own were much darker. Often mistaken for a golden brown rather than the dark orange she had inherited from her father and gifted to her son.

Her heart beat loudly in her chest, and her lungs seemed to lack the strength needed to keep her breathing even.

She began to walk toward the boy, wringing her hands nervously as she did so.

He straightened up, dropping the rocks and tilting his head to the side as she approached.

‘What a curious puppy,’ she whispered in her mind affectionately.

There were only a few feet between them now. She swallowed, and a smile crossed her lips.

“Hello, little one…” she said softly. “What is your name?”

The boy took a step closer.

“Roman!” an angry voice shouted.

The boy’s eyes widened, and he ran behind the tree closest to him.

“No, wait..” she called, reaching toward the boy.

A man suddenly stepped in her way. She looked up and clenched her jaw as she recognized his Cheshire cat grin.

“What are you doing here, Holden?” she asked.

“I was helping Alpha Tomas find his… lost pack member,” Holden smiled. “But you needn’t get involved, Luna Irina. We wouldn’t want to upset Alpha Gorn with any curious behavior.”

Irina growled, leaning forward, so their faces were only inches apart.

“So, you may long to have that creature beside you, but I cannot even look on my son?” she snarled through clenched teeth.

Holden leaned just a bit closer.

“My daughter is not a creature…!” he growled quietly. “And you have no son. It was Alpha Tomas that received his gift from the Blood Moon.”

Irina took angry breaths through her nose. The sound of leaves rustling and heavy footfalls drew her attention. She looked up to see Tomas looking around angrily. Their eyes met, and she saw the disgust that stared back at her.

Their time together had only been one night, the Blood Moon. They fulfilled their needs and went their separate ways.

But Irina had conceived that night. She had every intention of keeping and raising her child on her own, but she met her mate only two weeks before his birth. Alpha Gorn of Spring.

She was given no choice in the matter. Pulled away from her home, her family. The pup was born, and she saw him only for a moment, long enough to see his eyes and hear his cry. Then he, too, was ripped away from her.

Alpha Gorn had no interest in raising another wolf’s cub. So, Holden took her son and gave him to Alpha Tomas. A man that had not planned to be saddled down by the responsibility of another life. He would not acknowledge the pup, keeping him as a servant or a pet at best.

Irina heard the sound of struggles and a low growl. Soon, Tomas was dragging the boy away. It pained her, but she knew there was nothing she could do for him right now.

“That boy is useless to Alpha Gorn,” Holden said with a playful arrogance in his voice. “You know how he hates to have useless things around him.”

He once more flashed that Cheshire grin before turning and walking away into the trees.

Irina was left alone. Without her son, without love, without even the comforting hum of this place.

It was another five years before she had the chance to see him again. But oddly enough, it was at the same place and at the same time.

Irina was resting in the grass, waiting for the sound that soothed her heart. But there was an early riser. A bird, already keen on chirping away her peace.

She sighed in frustration. It seemed she would miss it again.

Then, the bird stopped.

And as she listened to the quiet, once again waiting for the soothing hum, she discovered a new sound. A soft thrumming of a heart that didn’t belong to her but felt like her own. She sat up, looking toward the water and then up into the trees.

She felt his eyes on her, but she couldn’t see him.

Irina closed her eyes and listened. The soft hum was in the air, but beside it, his heartbeat. She turned her head slowly before she looked again. Staring straight back at her, tucked inside a bush, was a pair of fiery eyes.

‘What a curious pup,’ she smiled.