Page 35 of The Alpha Wolf’s Secret Baby Boy

“I will find you at your cabin after the meeting!” he calls out, and I immediately shift into wolf form.

I need the distance. I need the fresh air. I cannot possibly consider that the Damian behind me is the same man I fell for in the past.

He’s just pretending to be something he’s not, a shadow of his former self. Or maybe he was never good to begin with.

That’s why he hesitated to claim me in the past.

Whatever vendetta he’s carrying out now by mating with me is going to come to an end when I leave Nightclaw tomorrow. With my son. And with my dignity still intact.

***

Taking a deep breath, I stand outside Ingrid and Connor’s house and knock on the door.

“Poppy…?” Ingrid appears, her face instantly paling as she steps out immediately and pulls me into her arms. “Where the hell have you been? We were worried sick!”

She draws back and stares at me with a frown, and I grimace.

“Where’s Daniel? Is he okay?” I ask, and just as Ingrid opens her mouth to say something, Daniel comes racing out onto the porch.

The tightness crushing my chest finally loosens. For the first time in nearly two days, it feels like I can finally breathe.

“Ma!” he squeals, flying into my arms with a huge grin. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better! I was worried about you!”

A wave of relief washes over me, and I chuckle nervously as I hold my son tightly, trying to read Ingrid’s grim expression before I set Daniel down.

“Oh, shoot. Cindy’s alone inside,” Daniel says quickly. “I’m gonna go back in.”

“You do that, Danny. I’m gonna have a quick chat with Aunty Ingrid, and we’ll join you inside.”

Daniel nods, his broad grin remaining, as if he’s equally relieved to see me.

Ingrid sighs and turns to me, crossing her arms. “Are you feeling better?”

“I’m fine, Ingrid, I—”

“You disappeared, Poppy,” she says quietly under her breath, glancing over her shoulder tentatively. “Connor came looking for you with Daniel yesterday morning, and you weren’t there. We were going to put out an alert for your disappearance if you didn’t show up today.”

A shiver runs through me, and I instinctively touch the scarf on my neck to make sure it’s still covering the mate mark.

“It’s…complicated. But I’m figuring it out.”

Ingrid’s brows furrow. “Are you in some kind of trouble, Poppy? You know you can tell me if you are.”

“I’m afraid I can’t exactly tell you about this, Ingrid. It changes everything.”

Ingrid purses her lips and nods reluctantly. “You know I trust you, but you also need to know that you’re not alone. You have us in your corner, and whatever you’re going through, you can tell us. You can tell me.”

I gulp hard. “I wish I could tell you. I really do.”

Ingrid steps forward and slips her arm through mine, then leads me down the porch toward the garden.

“I didn’t want Daniel to hear this. But you went missing, and so did Dorian’s brother.”

I let out an unsteady breath. “Ingrid, it’s not—”

“I’m not an idiot, Poppy. I wasn’t born yesterday, and my husband is this pack’s second-in-charge. It’s his job to notice things, and naturally, I notice them, too, because he talks to me.” Her eyes flit to the yellow scarf around my neck. “You’ve been touching that scarf since you got here.”

I stiffen immediately, my eyes widening in horror.