Chapter 14: My Son Has Seen Three Winters

A rare, knowing light danced deep within the Matriarch's ancient, wise eyes.

She had deciphered with absolute certainty that Clara Thorne did not harbor a true, primal hatred toward Dominic; rather, she was intentionally weaponizing distance to guard her territory, driven by a deep complication she had yet to unmask.

As the realization settled, Evelyn finalized her judgment.

Throughout their interactions, she noted that Clara possessed flawless discretion and sharp instincts; if she was hiding her tracking lines, she undoubtedly endured her own profound burdens.

"My girl, your scent does not carry the mark of a chosen partner at this hour, correct?"

At the question, Dominic’s sharp ears instantly pricked up in the front seat, his dark amber eyes locked onto the rearview mirror as he awaited her response in tense suspense.

Clara, however, offered a perfectly poised, unhurried answer. "I do not run with a chosen partner, Grandmother, but I have already brought a perfect little pup into this world. A sudden bloodline illness compromised his system yesterday and forced him into the medical ward, but I shall escort him out to bask in your presence the exact hour he is cleared."

"Splendid. How many seasonal cycles has the little one survived?"

"He has seen exactly three winters."

In truth, she possessed the leverage to mask Leo's true age from the Matriarch, yet her spirit fiercely rejected the concept of weaving a direct lie to a revered elder who looked upon her with genuine, ancestral devotion.

Hearing the pup’s precise age, a sudden, inexplicable tremor vibrated deep through Dominic’s core.

His predatory mind instantly retraced the path to that catastrophic night four cycles ago—recalling the breathless, desperate pleas of the female pinned beneath his unyielding frame. Throughout the shifting seasons, he had continuously commanded his scouts to unearth her lineage, but she had vanished from the territory like mist, leaving zero sensory traces behind.

On that drug-fueled night, his primal instincts had claimed her without a single shred of restraint or caution.

Initially, a dark dread consumed him that the female would harvest his dominant bloodline, utilizing his heir to extort power from the Vance Empire; instead, she had chosen absolute exile.

Over the passing cycles, as the elite wolves within his inner circle claimed fated mates and brought forth strong offspring, a faint, uncharacteristic ache of longing would occasionally compromise his cold chest.

Particularly after encountering that little pup at the terminal, his instinctual craving for a true heir of his own blood had violently reawakened.

He even calculated that if the boy were Leo, he would willingly accept him into his pack covenant and grant him his name, even if the pup carried another male's blood!

"What toxic element disrupted your pup's system?" his deep baritone cut through the silence, rich with an unbidden protective edge.

Clara directed an icy, sharp look at his profile. "He merely consumed some tainted human rations along the border limits, resulting in a minor stomach purge."

To his face, she felt zero societal pressure to maintain a polite mask, unleashing her unedited thoughts at will.

Yet, Clara never calculated that the careless, fabricated excuse she threw out at this exact hour would later serve as the prime spark that triggered his wolf's lethal suspicion.

"Is the pup's condition severe?"

Clara offered a flat, dismissive nod to smooth over the interrogation. "Pups frequently suffer minor digestive purges; it is a standard occurrence. My pack allies shall escort him back to the den before the midnight hour."

The casual detachment written across her features struck Dominic's protective instincts in an entirely different light, triggering an immediate flash of dominant irritation.

Her pup was afflicted with illness, yet her posture remained completely unaffected, projecting an aura of absolute carelessness.

His large hands tightened violently around the leather steering wheel, the image of Leo's dark, midnight eyes manifesting before his mind. A sudden wave of raw worry seized his chest; so the little pup had been suffering from a broken aura when he crossed paths with him at the hospital desk!

Had his instincts been sharper, he would have violently overridden protocol, tracking the child straight into the recovery ward rather than leaving him to endure such torment under the guidance of such an irresponsible mother.

"Dominic, has your vision failed you? The fleet has bypassed the central crossing." Just then, Matriarch Evelyn cast a sharp glance through the window, her voice carrying a distinct note of confusion.

Dominic stiffened, instantly executing a sharp, aggressive correction to the vehicle's trajectory. "A rogue transport attempted to breach my lane; to guarantee the Matriarch's absolute security, I redirected the fleet along an alternate perimeter."

His supreme pride refused to confess to the formidable Matriarch that, for the first hour in his cycle of rule, his focus had been so thoroughly shattered by the illness of a strange child that his senses had entirely missed the road.

"The Alpha King’s tactical vigilance is truly unmatched."

Clara unleashed a flat, biting compliment from the rear, a mockingly amused light dancing deep within her emerald eyes. She had mapped his movements flawlessly through the mirrors; the supreme Alpha was completely spacing out, a total strong-man act!