Chapter 34
Lyra watched this interaction with shrewd eyes. After a moment of silence, she stood. “I’m going to grab us some coffee from that cart over there. Alex, come help me carry everything?”
Before either of us could respond, she was walking away, clearly expecting her brother to follow. Alex hesitated, looking at me
with concem.
“Go,” I said with a small smile. “I’m fine here watching Felix.”
Once they were out of earshot, I took a deep breath of the garden air, savoring the scent of herbs and flowers that helped mask the hospital smell. I kept my eyes on Felix, who was now sitting in a circle with three other children, their heads bent together in conspiracy over something one of them held.
“He seems to be thriving here,” Lyra’s voice startled me as she returned alone, holding out a paper cup of coffee. “Alex got waylaid by Dr. Miller. Something about insurance paperwork.”
I accepted the coffee with murmured thanks, making room for her on the bench. We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, both watching Felix interact with his new friends.
“You know,” Lyra finally said, “I’ve known my brother all my life, and I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at
you.”
Heat crept up my neck. “Lyra-”
“No, let me finish.” She turned to face me directly. “When we were teenagers, he used to talk about you all the time. Summer this, Summer that. It drove me crazy.” A small smile played at her lips. “Then when you left with Alpha Foster… something in him changed. He became harder, more focused on pack business. Less… Alex.”
I swallowed hard. This wasn’t information I was prepared to handle–not now, when everything between Alex and me was so tenuous, so calculated.
“What I’m trying to say,” Lyra continued, her voice gentle but firm, “is please don’t break his heart. This might have started as some kind of arrangement for Felix’s sake, but my brother has been waiting for a second chance with you for a very long time.”
My stomach clenched. I opened my mouth to explain that what Alex and I had was practical, not passionate–a strategic alliance rather than a love match–but the words died in my throat as I met Lyra’s knowing gaze.
“I don’t want to hurt him,” I said instead, which was at least the truth. “Things between us are… complicated.”
“Love usually is,” she replied with a soft laugh. “But I’ve seen how he looks at you, and more importantly, I’ve seen how you look at him when you think no one’s watching.”
Before I could formulate a response, Felix’s voice called out to us. “Mom! Aunt Lyra! I’m tired now.”
Aunt Lyra. The title came so naturally to him, despite having just met her hours ago. Something warm spread through my chest at the easy acceptance children showed–the lack of walls, the willingness to embrace new connections.
“Coming, sweetie!” I called back, grateful for the interruption.
As we guided Felix back to his room, his steps gradually slowed, his earlier energy ebbing away. By the time we reached his bed, his eyelids were drooping beneath the bandages. The nurse helped him get settled, checking his vitals and making notes in his
chart.
“I think someone’s ready for a nap,” Lyra observed with a smile.
“Not sleepy,” Felix protested through a yawnI.
“Of course not,” I agreed, tucking the blanket around him. “You’re just resting your eyes.”
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Chapter 34
He smiled at the familiar joke between us, then reached for my hand. “Will you stay until I fall asleep?”
“Always,” I promised, settling into the chair beside his bed.
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Within minutes, his breathing deepened and evened out. I carefully extracted my hand from his grasp and stood, stretching muscles that had grown stiff.
“I should go find Alex,” I whispered to Lyra. “See what’s happening with that paperwork.”
She nodded, but her expression was thoughtful as she studied Felix’s sleeping form. “I’ll stay with him. You go.”
I found Alex near the nurses‘ station, deep in conversation with Dr. Miller. His powerful frame dwarfed the doctor’s slighter build, but there was nothing intimidating in his posture–just focused attention as he absorbed whatever medical information was being shared.
He sensed my approach before I reached them, his head turning, eyes finding mine with an intensity that made my pulse quicken. Dr. Miller followed his gaze and smiled at me.
“Luna summer, perfect timing. I was just updating Alpha Alexander on Felix’s progress.”
The title–Luna summer–sent an unexpected shiver through me. It was strange how words that had once felt like shackles when associated with Alpha Foster now carried a different weight when connected to Alex.
“How is he doing?” I asked, coming to stand beside Alex. His hand immediately found the small of my back, warm and steadying.
Chapter 35
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