Chapter <b>265 </b>


    Alexander


    Something about Ste’s story didn’t sit right with me.


    I watched her disappear around the corner, moving more quickly than she should have on that injured leg. This time, it wasn’t her sour attitude about the Luna Trial—an opportunity most women of her status would have jumped at that had me perturbed.


    She’d been awfully evasive when I’d asked about her old pack. She’d clearly been about to say the name, only to stop herself and try to im that it was part of her amnesia.


    If that was true, then she had some very selective amnesia indeed.


    I knew I couldn’t let this rest, so I went straight to my office and pulled up the file on myputer with the pack records from all the territories. I recalled Ste mentioning something about a house fire when I first asked how she wound up as a rogue, so I began searching through the territorial records to see if there were any major fires in recent history.


    After searching for a little while, I found nothing devastating enough to take down an entire house and cause such distress for someone like Ste. She’d said that her wolf took over and she’d woken up as a rogue, and the only fires I could find were small and not terribly destructive.


    The only big one I found was the Stormhollow estate fire.


    My throat constricted as I quickly looked over the police photographs of the burnt estate. I hated thinking about that day–about how E had gone there and gotten so upset that herbor came early, killing her so I only looked for a few moments before closing out the file.


    –


    That fire couldn’t possibly be rted to this, anyway. Ste had mentioned she’d woken up from her haze miles and miles away from here, far away from Stormhollow. If her wolf had taken over during the traumatic event, she couldn’t have run that far.


    Still, none of it made sense. This strange woman with features and mannerisms far too much like myte wife was tending to my son and clearly withholding important information. If it could have any impact on Lucien, then I wanted to know who exactly I was dealing with. And maybe that would exin her apparent hatred of the idea of joining the Luna Trial.


    It waste, but I decided to see if Ste was up anyway. I went straight to Lucien’s nursery, figuring that if she was still awake, she would probably be in there with him. She was almost always with him, tending to him like he was her own child.


    As I approached the nursery, I heard something that made my footsteps slow: singing.


    Ste’s soft hums emanating from behind the closed door forced me to stop in my tracks. My wolf immediately went wild at the sound of that sweet voice, blocking out all other coherent thoughts.


    She sounded… perfect. Like an angel.


    Like a voice that I could never forget.


    Thest time I’d heard a voice like that was when E was still alive and with child. She only did it when she thought no one could hear her, but I had stumbled upon her singing softly to her pregnant belly on numerous


    asions.


    And now… Now, not only did Ste’s voice sound eerily like E’s, but she was also singing the same song. An umon luby that I hadn’t heard anyone else sing but her.


    Everything else slipped away as I heard that voice singing those familiar words. It was as if I could open the door and E would be sitting there, alive and well, holding her son in our arms.


    My fingers tightened around the doorknob. I wanted to fling the door open and find E and pull her into my embrace and never let her go.


    Spying be damned. Contracts be damned. I didn’t care anymore if she had been conspiring against me all this time. Hell, I wouldn’t care if she slipped a knife between my ribs during that embrace. As long as I got to hold her onest time, I would be happy.


    Afraid to shatter the moment, I opened the door silently, just enough to peer through the crack so I could get a glimpse.


    Of course it wasn’t E. It was Ste who was sitting in the rocking chair I’d ced beside Lucien’s crib with my son cradled against her chest. She was swaying gently, one hand supporting his tiny head while the other gently patted his back.


    But the way she held him… Goddess, it really was like watching a real mother with her child sometimes. There was something so natural about the way she handled him, so tender and protective. And right now, Lucien wasn’t fussing at all–he never settled this easily for anyone, not even me. <fn7aab> Content originallyes from F?ndNovel</fn7aab>


    But Ste was different. From the moment she’d first held him, it was like they formed the unbreakable bond of a mother and son. It was why I had hired her on the spot without a moment of hesitation.


    I knew Ste wasn’t his real mother, of course. Logically, I knew that–E was gone and she wasn’ting back


    And yet, watching her now, seeing the way she touched him, hearing her sing the words E used to sing in the voice E used to have with a face that looked so much like E’s…


    I almost went to her on instinct just then. I could have kissed her if I was naive enough to think it was truly E, my E, in disguise.


    But I stayed still. I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling no trace of the dying mate bond within–only a deep and unending agony. Whatever strange posthumous tug I had felt a couple of times before was quiet and dormant and wasn’ting back.


    I was just being foolish, and all of this was nothing more than a coincidence. Perhaps even a sick joke from the


    universe.


    For a few moments, though, I allowed myself to pretend that it wasn’t. I shut my eyes and just listened to the gentle sounds of Ste’s voice, even if only for a few precious seconds.


    Just long enough to ease some of the pain in my chest…


    “Alpha?”


    I jerked my head up, eyes snapping open to see Hunter standing a few paces down the dark corridor.


    “What are you doing?” he asked quietly.


    I blinked, suddenly unable to remember why I’de upstairs in the first ce. All I could think of was that voice. Those words. That face. Those arms holding my son.


    Careful not to disturb Ste and Lucien, I quietly shut the door and stepped away. “Nothing. Just checking on Lucien.”


    Hunter frowned. “Are you alright? You look exhausted.”


    He was actually right. The exhaustion was beginning to eat away at me, which was probably why I was imagining things. It had been weeks now of little sleep, and with all the Luna Trial business, I was burning the candle at both ends.


    “You’re right. I should get some rest. Goodnight, Hunter,” I said, already walking toward my bedroom.


    “Good night, Alpha.”


    Once I was in my room, I closed my door behind me and leaned against it, my eyes falling shut once more. In the distance, I could still hear Ste’s voice, soft and soothing as she sang my son to sleep.


    And for just one moment longer, I let myself pretend it was E.