Chapter 222: Family
“No,” Magnus cut him off sternly, refusing to let the word hang in the air. “If that were true, my trackers would have recovered a body. Damian, listen to me. Professionals are running this search—not one or two men, but an entire coordinated network. Doctors across every hospital and morgue are monitoring admissions around the clock. Police, private investigators, and volunteers are all working on this. Divers combed the sea floor three times, and we brought in hydrological teams to map the underwater currents.
This sea has no large predators, and it’s artificially maintained. Very few major rivers feed into it, and it’s cleaned thoroughly—it’s essentially a giant reservoir. Jane started this search, and I expanded it tenfold. We will not stop looking. She is alive. If we haven’t found her yet, it means she was taken far away immediately and given a new name. That happens when a decent family finds a child with horrific injuries and decides to protect her from the authorities.
She’s younger than you and was likely terrified out of her mind. If the people who took her in learned what was done to her, the odds of them handing her over to the police are nearly zero. They would be terrified she’d be returned to her torturers or silenced as a dangerous witness.”
The boy stopped crying. He stared at Magnus with inflamed, tear-streaked eyes that were far too old and perceptive for an eight-year-old.
“You really won’t stop searching?” Damian asked stubbornly, sniffling.
“No. I’m your father—how could I stop when you’re asking me not to?” Magnus said softly, reaching out to ruffle the boy’s damp hair. “But in return, you have to give me a real promise: no more driving yourself to exhaustion, no more hurting yourself, and no more lying that you have to bear this alone.”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to break those windows…” the child murmured softly, looking down in shame.
“To hell with the windows, we can replace glass,” the Alpha exhaled, catching himself and slapping a broad hand over his mouth. “Don’t tell your mother I swore in front of you. She’ll have my head.”
“I won’t,” the boy replied with a tiny, faint smile. “But… why do you say you’re my father? I’m not really yours.”
“Whose else would you be? You live in our house with us, and you’re a child. It’s obvious—you are my son,” the Alpha said, his tone softened with rare tenderness.
Rising to his feet, he easily lifted the boy beneath his arms, carefully placing him onto his broad shoulders and holding his small legs securely before setting off on the long trek back. Magnus had anticipated the distance, having quietly instructed Sayan to trail them at a safe, discreet distance. Sayan had grumbled over the line, of course, but followed dutifully behind.
“And… you really don’t mind if I call you Dad, and Jane Mom?” the child asked hesitantly, his heart beating in his throat as his small fingers tightened around Magnus’s large hands.
“Not at all. I’d like nothing more. We’re a family,” Magnus replied gently. “And Jane will be overjoyed—she loves you dearly.” Spotting the dark silhouette of Sayan’s SUV waiting in the deepening twilight, Magnus directed his steps toward it.
“I love her so much, too…” Damian whispered softly into the cool air.
A faint, trembling hiccup caught Magnus’s ear—the boy was weeping again, letting the built-up pain escape at last. It was better this way. Meanwhile, a risky plan began taking shape in Magnus’s mind—one for which his pregnant wife would undoubtedly strangle him with his own belt, assuming she could catch him.
Settling into the backseat with the exhausted boy, Magnus instructed Sayan to drive them into the city center; his own SUV had already been driven back to the pack estate by guards.
His strength utterly spent, Damian drifted off to sleep, resting his head trustingly in Magnus’s lap. Looking down at the sleeping child, Magnus unlaced his dusty sandals. Seeing the bloody blisters raw on the small heels, he reached into the seat pocket for a pack of wet wipes. With painstaking care so as not to wake him, he cleaned away the dirt and grit, placing the boy’s feet gently onto the cushioned seat.
𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
“There’s a blanket hanging off the headrest behind you,” Sayan said quietly, casting a sharp, appraising glance in the rearview mirror. “That address you gave… do you really plan on asking Ulvar to take the kid in?”
“Yeah,” Magnus replied succinctly, pulling the soft blanket over the boy’s shoulders up to his neck.
Perhaps he wasn’t a completely hopeless father when it came to care, though he scolded himself for not noticing the boy’s footwear before they set out. He still had much to learn.
“Jane is going to dismember you and bury the pieces right next to the trash cans in the courtyard,” Sayan grunted, steering the vehicle onto the highway.
“To dismember me, she’d have to catch me first,” Magnus smirked, watching the city lights flare into view as they crossed into town.
“Pfft. She won’t even have to run. You’ll come sprinting back the second that stubborn girl of yours pouts her lips,” Sayan snorted with a dry laugh, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Says the man who drove to every 24-hour store in the district looking for pistachio ice cream last week, and when he couldn’t find any, broke into my house,” Magnus raised an eyebrow, enjoying the way his friend’s face flushed red in the rearview mirror. “Didn’t you wake old Derek in the middle of the night and threaten horrific vengeance after he knocked you flat?”
“That old codger ran his mouth?” Sayan growled. “I knew he was a blabbermouth!”
“He didn’t say a word. The night guard described every single detail to me.”
“Ah. Right.”
Pulling up to the worn, shabby building, Magnus felt a pang of genuine regret as he gently shook the sleeping boy awake. As soon as they stepped out of the SUV, he gathered Damian into his arms, refusing to subject those raw, blistered heels to the torture of sandals. Damian nodded off against his shoulder, but the loud, echoed shouting echoing from beyond the heavy doors quickly brought him back to cautious alertness.
Nudging the gym door open with his shoulder, Magnus stepped inside with measured authority. The training hall had changed dramatically since the days when he and Sayan had beaten each other bloody here as young cubs. Ulvar himself had changed, too; his hair was entirely silver now, and his imposing posture had softened slightly, his broad shoulders rounding forward beneath the weight of years.
“Well, look who finally graced us with his presence! The mighty Alpha Magnus himself, coming to visit his pathetic old coach,” the old man drawled sarcastically, taking slow, heavy strides toward them. “I didn’t think I’d live to see such a monumental honor.”
“Age hasn’t softened your tongue one bit, old man,” Magnus smirked, refusing to bite at the bait.
“Then why’d you bring your soft ass here, kid? It’s not like this is the only gym left in the city,” the silver-haired man grunted, crossing his massive arms over his chest.
Damian darted a fearful look between the formidable old wolf and his father. He had never heard anyone dare speak to Magnus in such an insolent tone. For a second, the boy almost feared for the old man’s life—until, to his absolute astonishment, Magnus merely let out a low, warm laugh.
“I brought you my son. I was thinking… maybe I’ll fund a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility for you. Complete with a glowing sign outside that reads: ‘The Great Magnus Rainn Training Complex.'”
Ulvar’s jaw dropped. He stared at Magnus in stunned silence before bright red blotches of fury flared across his weathered, wrinkled face.
“And what else would your highness like?!” the old man roared, his voice booming off the rafters. “A solid-gold statue of your ugly ass erected in the courtyard?!”
“Well, if you’re offering so generously…” Magnus drawled, making no effort to hide his amusement.
“You arrogant little bastard! I ought to drag you by the ears like I used to!”
“My pregnant wife will beat you to it if she finds out I enrolled our son in combat training,” Magnus chuckled, his expression turning serious as he met his former coach’s eyes.
“Four days a week. Fill out the intake forms with the secretary and get the hell out of my gym—you’re disrupting my session!” Ulvar barked, spinning around on his heel to face the frozen class behind him. “What are you idiots gawking at?! Ten laps around the mat in a deep squat! Move! And since you like listening to adult conversations so much, everyone grab a five-kilo dumbbell! Marco, take two kilos before you mess your shorts!”
“Are you sure I even belong here?” Damian asked dubiously, turning toward his father.
“He’s a miserable old bastard, but nobody in this city will teach you how to defend yourself better than Ulvar,” Magnus murmured as he carried the boy back toward the exit. “This gym looks small and run-down, but it’s a factory for champions. He’s a former undisputed world combat champion. Nobody ever defeated him on the mat—he retired undefeated because no fighter risked stepping into the ring with him anymore.”
“Do you think I can be like that?” the boy murmured, his wide eyes tracking the other kids groaning as they waddled around the floor with heavy weights. “What if he kicks me out on my first day?”
“Not ‘what if.’ I am absolutely certain he’ll kick you out,” Magnus smirked, pushing through the doors into the cool night air. “Don’t look at me like that. He threw me out at least fifteen times.”
“And you just walked away?”
“Of course not. We bickered through every damn training session. He used to hurl heavy dumbbells at my head whenever I disobeyed, but I pushed through to the very end and graduated at the top of my class. And you will, too. You desperately need an outlet for your emotions and anger, and you must learn how to protect yourself and the people you love.”
“All right. I think you’re right, Dad,” the boy murmured thoughtfully as they climbed back into the warmth of the car.
Scarcely five minutes later, completely emotionally and physically spent, the child drifted off to sleep once more. At that exact moment, Magnus’s phone began to vibrate violently with an incoming call.
Flipping the screen and answering, the Alpha went entirely pale, as though every drop of blood had been drained from his body in a single second.
“M-Magnus? I think… I’m going into labor…” his wife’s voice whispered through the speaker, breathless and trembling with fear.