I Left With Son After Vampire Mate Chose Human Lover

Kaelan paused mid-step.

He turned around slowly, eyes cold.

"You really think that's gonna work?" A thin smile. "Go ahead. File it. Let's see what happens."

Then he walked away without looking back.

Late that night, I was redressing Luka's bandages when an unknown number called. I picked up.

Photos came first.

Kaelan at a private dinner, relaxed in a way I hadn't seen in years, Vivienne across the table. Then Kaelan with Vivienne and Damian at some daytime event — outdoors, full sunlight, Kaelan standing at the edge of the frame in the shade, watching them like they were the only things worth watching.

Then a video.

I watched three seconds of it and stopped.

I knew what it was. I didn't need to see the rest.

Then screenshots.

Messages Kaelan had apparently sent Vivienne. I read through them once and set the phone face-down on my knee.

Then I picked it up and kept reading, because I needed to see all of it.

One message stopped me cold.

His phrasing, his syntax — unmistakable.

She's fought too hard to walk away now. She knows which side her bread is buttered on. She'll push, she'll threaten, but at the end of the day she needs me more than I'll ever need her. She's not going anywhere.

I set the phone down.

Then I laughed.

Quietly, so I wouldn't wake Luka.

Kaelan. You have had this completely wrong from the beginning.

For four years while he was gone, I ran this territory. Community disputes, blood supply negotiations, hunter threat assessments, compound operations — every single piece of it landed on my desk and I handled it without complaint, without asking for anything in return. This city functioned because I kept it functioning.

And he thought I was still here because I needed him.

He thought the woman who'd built everything in his absence was too scared to leave.

He thought I'd see those messages and come crawling back.

I set the phone on the nightstand and looked at Luka's sleeping face for a long time.

Then I picked it up and called Aurora.

"That position you've been holding for me. Chief Healer, full territorial authority. Is it still open?"

She didn't hesitate. "I've been saving it for you. But Kaelan's back — will he agree to a transfer?"

I looked at Luka.

"He won't see it coming," I said. "That's kind of the whole point."