Chapter 5

"Where has the tramp from my room gone?"

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about? I'm too hungover for your morning drama." I keep staring at the woman in my bed, her hair spread across the pillow like a red canvas. All this time, I'm ignoring my beta.

"Hey, whatever your name is, get up," I say, pushing her by the shoulder. She moans, turns around, and shows us her breasts. I growl at her, and Cassian Vale snorts.

"Get rid of it," I tell Cassian Vale as I get up to go to the bathroom. I push open the bathroom door and my senses go on high alert. I can smell a faint scent. My mouth waters, but it's barely noticeable. I wonder if the cleaning lady has changed her cleaning products.

"Ronan, the girl who's in my room, where is she? —Cassian Vale asks, following me to the bathroom."

"What girl?" I mutter, jerking off before pulling up my pants. I glance in the trash and see a used condom. Thanks, bitch, for that, I think.

"The rebellious girl, Elara. I picked her up last night and brought her here," Cassian Vale says, and I pinch the bridge of my nose trying to remember last night.

My head hurts; I remember coming home and finding that bitch in my bed complaining about how rebellious I was.

Then everything clicks, and I remember him. But I don't remember his face. Yet something about the situation bothers me.

"Wait, did you bring her here?" I ask, looking at my Beta as he leans against the bathroom door.

"Yes, and her name is Elara. She and her son; I found them sleeping in The Ashen Quarter —Cassian Vale replies."

"What?" I ask, horrified, looking at him." She didn't have any children with her," I tell him, and he looks at me with his lips curled over his teeth.

"Ronan?" he grunts.

If it were anyone else, I'd punch him for talking to me like that. He's lucky to be my best friend; otherwise, I'd be lying unconscious on the floor.

"Here are my keys. I didn't know I'd a damn son."

I would never have fired her last night if I had known.

"Really? It was pouring rain," Cassian Vale tells me.

Suddenly, I feel terrible as I vaguely recall what happened. I pray I didn't hurt you; I don't remember it at all. My memory is blurry, and I'm sure I'm still pretty drunk because I can feel the floor pitching beneath me.

The woman in bed stirs, sits up, rubs her eyes, and runs a hand through her hair. I look up at the sky as I grab a pair of shorts and a shirt from my closet.

"Pick up your things and leave," I say as I pick up your dress and throw it at her.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"Don't pamper me, get out of my bed and out of my life." Damn, why do they have to be so clingy? I make a mental promise to myself to avoid redheads. She's not part of my pack. The goddess knows where I got her from.

"Get out of here!" I yell, imposing my alpha aura on her. She jumps up and pulls her dress over her head before grabbing her shoes.

As I leave, I shove Cassian Vale by the shoulder; I grab my keys from the dresser. I hope I haven't wrecked the car again by driving back drunk." Don't drive, you still look half-drunk. Hurry up, he might have gone back to his car," Cassian Vale says.

I feel incredibly guilty for having kicked that girl out with a baby in the rain. If Cassian Vale brought her here, she must be in a desperate situation, because Cassian Vale never takes anyone to the The Ashen Quarter for conditioning.

"What was her name?" I ask, wondering why I was so interested in that criminal.

"Every time. It had a familiar smell..."he says thoughtfully." And I can officially say that you're not the only monster with eyes like your father's."

"What do you mean?"

"Your son had the same eyes as you, incredibly strange. I could almost pass him off as your son," he says, laughing.

I put on my shoes, grumbling at his words. The last thing I need is an illegitimate child. It would be one more thing my father would scold me for.

"What? You never know, you have a new girl on your arm every night. You probably have fifty kids you don't even know about," he says, laughing.

"How old is he/she?"

"I don't know, but it was obvious that he hadn't changed yet, so he must be young," he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, I'm not going near the prison seductresses."

"Cassian Vale: He wasn't that young, he was probably eighteen. Well, almost, since he hadn't moved," he says.

"Did he say which pack he came from?"

"No."

"Well, let's see if we can find her. Maybe they have a place in one of the homes where they can house her for a few weeks."

They really need to get rid of that law. In our pack, there are some of what others would call outcast mothers; it's disgusting to see them get turned away.

I sit in the passenger seat of Cassian Vale's car, and the movement makes my stomach churn as I rest my head against the window. I must have fallen asleep, because I wake up to Cassian Vale shaking my shoulder. When I look up, I see that we've arrived at the The Ashen Quarter, in no man's land.

"That's your car," he says, pointing to a dilapidated car.

"Well, go ahead, see if your damsel in distress wants to be rescued," I say, gesturing for him to walk away. It's quite cloudy today; last night's storm was very strong, and there are huge puddles in the parking lot with ducks swimming in them, which increases my guilt when I remember forcing a woman and a baby to go out in this weather. He looks out the window, I sigh, open the door, and walk toward him.

"She's not here," Cassian Vale says, looking around before heading toward the The Ashen Quarter." I wonder where she's gone," he says, glancing around." I'll see if the guards are there and if they've seen her." He sighs over his shoulder.

I look out the windows of the wrecked train car. The place looks like a death trap.

The back of the train car looked like a mini grocery store filled with baby items: boxes of powdered milk and diapers, canned goods, a comforter, and a pillow. There were hardly any personal belongings, though I could make out a photo album wedged between the passenger and driver's seats. Cassian Vale came back, shaking his head." Security cameras show she left this morning with a bag and her son."

"Maybe you should go home," I suggest, and he shrugs. He heads to his car, opens the back door, and takes out a baby carrier. I help him put it next to his car before I grab a pen and paper.

"Leave a note with your number. Do you think she'll contact you?" He nods, finds an old envelope, scribbles his number on it, and puts in some money for a payphone if she doesn't have one. He places the note on the car seat, and I look up at the clouds. It looks like it's going to rain again.

"It's going to get wet. Give the ticket and the baby seat to security so they can give it to her," I tell him, and Cassian Vale nods, heading toward the The Ashen Quarter with the baby carrier in his arms. There's not much we can do when she's not around and I have to go back to bed or get my stomach pumped; either way is fine, if it means getting rid of this nausea and this splitting headache.

ELARA'S POV

We settled into the room and I gave Milo a bath with a damp cloth; it was too cold for a bath today. After he'd finished his nap, I took the longest, hottest shower I'd felt in ages, trying to wash away the memories of the night before.

I found your partner, saw him, and he didn't recognize me. But the worst part was learning he was with another woman. The agony it caused me on my way home was heartbreaking and painful. When Cassian Vale took me there, I hoped he would recognize our son, that we could get the help we needed, and that everything could be fixed, especially once he realized I was his partner. That gave me hope for the first time in a long time, and I had a glimpse of it, only to have it snatched away. Now I'm abandoning my son once again, and that's all I know.

I can't help feeling this way: Milo will never have a father, and I'll never have mine again. How I miss my home, where I was Alpha's beloved and adored daughter. Now, instead, I feel ashamed and dirty, and my father forbids me from speaking to my sister. Not even my mother will fight for her grandson or for me. I know she's suffering, but I could never choose anyone over my son, so how could she choose my father over me?