Selene’s POV
At first I hadn’t realized what Drake was doing when he joined my rebuttal about the status of my marriage, but as soon as Bastien turned away from me, I understood. If there’s one sure-fire way to distract an Alpha, it’s to provoke their possessive instincts regarding their mate, and my friend’s willingness to enrage a bigger, stronger wolf gave me time to slip away.
By the time I get to the apartment I’ve changed routes and laid so many false trails I’m actually a bit afraid the Nova wolves might have beaten me home, but I’m counting on Drake to safeguard my location and force Bastien and his men to track me the old fashioned way.
I push into the apartment with a sigh of relief, dropping my keys on the table by the door and kneeling to intercept the tiny bundle of love already rushing my legs. I scoop up my giggling daughter, my heart swelling with happiness despite the urgency of our situation. I’ll never get used to the rush of joy I feel every time I return home after being parted from her, as if it’s been years and not hours since I last cuddled her.
“Hello my sweet pup.” I croon, breathing in her perfect scent as I drop a few kisses to her hair. “I missed you. Did you have fun with Mrs. Brooks?”
The babysitter stands on cue, tidying up the kitchen table and smiling over at me. “She was a doll.” The elder woman reports, gathering her bag. “Same time tomorrow?”
“No actually.” I correct, “I’ve decided to take the weekend off, but I’ll call you about next week.” I promise.
As soon as the door closes behind her, I look into the miniature mirror-image in my arms. Lila really is my carbon copy, in all ways but one: She has my hair and eyes, my skin and bone structure, my voice – but her expressions and mannerisms are all Bastien’s. I’m not sure how it happened, after all, aren’t those traits learned rather than inherited?
Apparently not, because though my own features are gazing up at me, they’re wearing Bastien’s smile. It strikes me today more than ever. I still can’t believe he’s here, and I can’t believe how viciously Luna has been fighting me to be near him. Even now, holding the most important thing in my world, she complains.
I want to go back, she whines, I miss him.
You don’t know him well enough to miss him. I snipe internally, I do and I promise, you don’t.
Liar.
I stride into the nursery, setting Lila down and beginning to throw clothes and toys into a bag while she tells me about her day in half-formed sentences and misshapen words. As much as I usually adore this part of the day, right now I don’t have an inch of brain space to focus on tales of coloring, puzzles and petting zoos.
I have to figure out my next steps. I know we have to get out of the house, but I don’t have the first idea where to go. My immediate concern is Bastien, but there’s also the Calypsos to worry about. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? The words play over and over in my head.
Go back to Bastien. Luna offers unhelpfully. Our mate will protect us.
Our “mate” didn’t want me at my worst, he doesn’t get to have me at my best. I argue.
My phone pings, and I scramble to open the screen, certain Drake is texting me with a warning about the Novans imminent arrival. Instead I find instructions of a different kind.
Get out of Asphodel.
A car and driver will be waiting at the first land crossing out of the Lethe Lagoon. Take the car, leave the driver.
The GPS has been pre-programmed with an address known only by me, follow the directions and drive to the intended location. A secure safe house has been prepared for your arrival. The residence is equipped with one month’s worth of supplies.
Do not leave until the “all clear” has been given.
Further instructions will arrive as events develop.
Be safe.
Mommy,” A little voice sounds to my right, “Are listen?”
“I’m sorry angel, Mommy was distracted.” I confess with a gentle smile, “I’ll tell you what. If you can play by yourself for a few minutes, then we can go for a car ride, and you can tell me absolutely everything about your day.”
“Car ride?!” She squeaks excitedly, her blue and violet eyes wide and excited. Cars are such a rarity in Asphodel that even a short trip out of the marsh can be truly thrilling.
“That’s right.” I grin, “in fact, we might be in the car for a very long time.”
______________________
Bastien’s POV
By the time I track down Selene’s apartment, they’re already long gone.
After my mate snuck out of the Pack House and left me squabbling with her new – well, whatever Drake is to her, my Betas’ reminder about the full extent of the tip we received threw me through a loop. I’d been so stunned to learn Selene was alive that everything that’s happened in recent months flew out of my head. Even after I remembered the reason we came to Asphodel, my thoughts were too scattered to recall everything.
Axel had immediately started vying to chase after Selene, but all I had time to do was send out a mental command to one of my sentries with orders to track her. I turned on Cavanaugh then, “I thought you said Selene was the only Volana in the territory?”
“I did.” He confirmed curtly.
“Then there isn’t a Volana child in Asphodel?” Aiden clarified.
“Listen, I don’t know what all your tip comprised, but you said yourself that there have been a great many false sightings or mistaken reports.” He shrugged, “For all we know the tipster saw Selene standing next to a kid in a shop and assumed it was hers.”
It does not escape me that he has not truly answered the question. “Why did Selene run out of here the way she did?”
“You’ll have to ask her that.” He smirks, “If you can find her.”
In the end it took my sentries three hours to find Selene’s home. In the three years since we parted, my little wolf has learned a thing or two about evasive maneuvers, and I can’t deny part of me is proud of how difficult it was to track her.
We found the cafe first, where I lingered to stare at the photo of the venue’s grand opening. Selene stood beaming next to the Alpha and his family, appearing almost exactly as she had when I saw her last. Other photos surrounded the first: of notable visitors, special events and staff birthdays. The changes in my mate became more visible with every new snapshot, as she transformed from haunted halfling to confident she-wolf.
My men scoured the space while I gazed dumbly at my beautiful, lost little wolf, wondering why she never talked about opening a cafe, or even working in Elysium. After it became clear she had not been to work in hours, we continued down the road to a modest apartment building covered in her scent.
We were on the stairs the first time I caught a whiff of a new aroma: like Selene, but decidedly not. The same delicate blend of snow and flowers, muddled with balsam and ash. Axel perked up at the first trace, What is that?
I think you mean, who is that.
We have to find it. He urges. It feels important.
By the time we entered the apartment, the second scent had risen to equal the strength of my mates, as deeply ingrained in the home as she is.
Clearing the rooms one by one, we confirmed what was already obvious, Selene is not here. I moved through her cozy home even more slowly than I explored her cafe, taking in every sight, every detail. Her life here is so different than our life was in Elysium. I’m beginning to think I was an even worse husband than I knew. Was this what she always wanted, and I just never saw? Never listened?
Axel has been whining from the moment we stepped inside, from the moment I realized to whom the second scent must belong. It’s obvious a child lives here. Even if it were not for the toys and sippy cups scattered through the home, the photos reveal all. Selene, glistening with sweat and exuding pure bliss as she cradles a newborn in the hospital; a baby with two different colored eyes, smeared with birthday cake and a blown out candle in the shape of a one; my beloved mate cuddled up with a toddler at yuletide, their faces so similar there could be no doubting they were mother and daughter.
“Alpha.” Aiden’s voice calls to me from down a long hallway, and I follow the sound until I’m standing beside him in the doorway of a nursery, complete with a mural of the full moon over Elysium.
I turn to Drake Cavanaugh, consumed by a riot of emotions too numerous to settle on just one. “No Volana children in Asphodel, huh?”
