Sorry, Alpha. You’re Not His Dad Anymore Chapter 06

Sorry, Alpha. You’re Not His Dad Anymore Chapter 06

During my first week at the Northern Medical Center, nine job applications arrived from Blackthorn Hospital.

They came from three nurses, two pediatric healers, and every member of my former trauma

team.

“We’re not following some Luna,” Nurse Mara told me over video. “We just want to keep working with a chief healer who puts patients first.”

I hired them all.

Blackthorn Hospital promptly sent a strongly worded protest accusing the North of poaching its

core staff.

Rowan asked me only one question. “Do you need them?”

“Yes.”

“Then they stay.”

He approved an expansion of the emergency center on the spot and turned his own council chamber over to pediatrics.

No one reminded me that I owed him for it.

And I didn’t reject the help merely to prove I was independent.

True equality between adults didn’t mean refusing every offer of help. It meant that both people had the right to say yes or no.

Theo started classes at a Northern school.

He still fell silent when his teachers mentioned fathers, but he was no longer jolted awake by nightmares where he called Damian wrong.

Rowan visited the medical center 3 times a week.

On the first visit, he inspected the construction.

On the second, he brought Theo’s complete allergy list and ordered the kitchens, school, and guard barracks to keep copies on file,

On the third, he crouched in the courtyard with Theo to watch a nest of newborn snow rabbits, missing a territorial meeting attended by six Alphas.

“You don’t have to stay with him all the time,” I reminded him.

“I know.”

“Then why are you still here?”

Rowan looked toward Theo, who was hard at work naming the rabbits.

“Because I want to be.”

I thought about those words for a long time.

Damian finally remembered that he could acknowledge Theo publicly.

He issued a statement on the Blackthorn Pack’s page, admitting that I was his fated mate and Theo his only biological pup. He also announced that our titles as Luna and heir would be restored.

6 years ago, I might have cried all night over that belated acknowledgment.

Now I simply called him after reading it.

He answered before the first ring had fully sounded.

“Aria.”

“Did you ask Theo before you made his bloodline public?”

Silence filled the other end of the call.

“I’m protecting him.”

“No. You’re protecting your claim to him.”

“He is my son.”

“His blood is the only thing about him you know.”

I hung up.

That evening, Damian requested a supervised visit.

He brought the moonstone of the Blackthorn heir.

This one hadn’t been worn by the baby girl, nor was it a discarded piece with its engraving ground

away.

It came from Damian’s own moon-naming ceremony, and the names of generations of Alphas

were carved into its back.

“It should always have been yours,” he told Theo.

Theo didn’t reach for it.

“Then why did you give my place to her?”

“I made a mistake.”

“Do you want me now because she isn’t your child?”

“No.”

Theo looked up, his clear eyes almost cruel in their innocence.

“But I don’t want to be your second choice.”

Damian slowly lowered the hand holding the moonstone.

Before leaving, he gave me an application.

Blackthorn had petitioned the High Council to determine custody of Theo’s bloodline.

I read the final line and signed my formal response.

“Since you still don’t understand,” I said, “Theo can tell you himself.”