Page 6 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

“But that was years ago,” I whisper to myself as Luca slips into unconsciousness. “Surely whoever is looking has stopped.”

But I just can’t convince myself.

Luca’s temperature settles at a hundred and three and stays there, neither climbing nor falling. I put a cold cloth on the back of his neck, pull the covers off him, and sit on the floor beside the bed with my back against the frame and my hand around his ankle because touching him is the only thing left I know how to do.

At some point, I go out for my keys and get as far as the door with them in my hand. The chain is off and the door is open six inches before I stop moving.

“You take him,” I tell the empty stairwell. “You take him right now and you sort the rest out later.”

I close the door and put the keys back on the hook. I keep checking on Luca, but his condition isn’t getting better. One hour. I’ll give him one hour. If he doesn’t get better by then, then fuck it. I’ll just take him to the ER. Damn the consequences! At some point, I end up on the floor with my back against the door itself, knees pulled up, my eyes on the wall clock as I count down the last ten minutes. When the clock strikes midnight, I let out a shuddering sigh. Right. I go to check on Luca, and he’s still shivering. Swallowing, I head back to the door to grab his jacket when I hear footsteps in the stairwell. The building has no elevator, and every sound in it travels straight up five flights. Four years here, and I know exactly what each of my neighbors sounds like coming home. This is none of them. These footsteps take the stairs slowly, unbothered by how long it takes, and my heart is going before they’re halfway up. They stop outside my door.

Nobody knocks for several seconds. Then a single knock, just the one.

I don’t move. In the bedroom, Luca’s breathing stays even, and I’m counting my own in my head when a man’s voice comes through the door.

“Ariela Reyes?”

I pull myself to my feet slowly and make my way to the door. I don’t answer, just stand there on the other end, my body cold as ice.

After a moment, he continues, “Miss Reyes, open the door. Please do not make me break it down.”

The hair on the back of my neck rises at the cold, controlled threat, and my hand is reaching for the locks before I can stop myself.

Swallowing, I look through the peephole on legs that don’t feel like mine. A man stands out in the hallway, far enough back that I can see the whole of him. Dark suit, dark hair, and a stillness that makes the hall light look wrong where it touches him. He’s tall enough that the lens can’t fit all of him in without bending the edges. He isn’t checking a phone, and he isn’t glancing back at the stairwell behind him. Most people shift their weight eventually, waiting. This man doesn’t.

“Who are you?” My voice is not steady in the least.

“Callum Vance.” The name means nothing to me at all.

“What do you want?”

The silence on his side of the door stretches long enough that I start to wonder whether he’s still standing there. Then he speaks, and there’s no lead-in to it, nothing at all to soften the ground first.

“I’m Luca’s father.”

Chapter 2

Callum

“There’s an unregistered child in Ashgrove.”

I put my pen down. “Ashgrove throws one of those up twice a year.”

“Yara’s desk logged an inbound at ten past ten.” Damien, my beta, is looking down at his screen. “She reported it to my assistant, who gave me a heads-up.”

I furrow my brows and pick up my pen. “We’ve searched the entire city, Damien. That woman was smart enough to leave.”

“It’s worth checking out.” My friend puts his hands on the desk, leaning forward. “Six-year-old male, fever that won’t come down, fingers curling.”

I go still, trying not to get my hopes up.

“Who called it in?”

“A woman. She seemed human.”

Damien’s words have me focusing on him. “How could Yara tell?”

My beta’s eyes glitter with excitement. “She didn’t know what registration meant. No shifter can have a child with a human and not have it registered. Human partners are also aware of the laws. So if this woman doesn’t know anything…”