Lysander's POV
The office is too quiet. Boxes stacked against walls I've been avoiding for two weeks, furniture still wrapped in plastic, the kind of fresh start that feels more like running away.
Colorado. Three states between me and Seattle. Between me and watching Kieran and Thalia build the life I wanted.
The Fenris Group expansion needed someone to lead it—Dad's words, though we both knew what he really meant. I need distance before I do something stupid. Before watching my brother's happiness destroys what's left of my composure.
I tell myself it's for the best as I unpack law books and arrange them on empty shelves. The mate bond chose Kieran. Ancient, absolute, undeniable. The DNA confirmed he fathered all three kids—Orion, Luna, Phoenix, the children I loved like my own but never were.
Biology, destiny, whatever you want to call it. All of it pointed to my brother, not me.
I'm the uncle now. The friend. The one who almost had her but wasn't meant to.
My hands still on a framed photo I'd packed without thinking—the five of us at the park two months ago, before the bond completed. Phoenix on my shoulders, Orion showing me something on his tablet, Luna holding Thalia's hand. We look like a family in this picture.
We weren't. We never were.
That first month after the bond completed was torture. Watching them together at pack functions, seeing the way Kieran's hand never left her lower back, the way she leaned into him like he was gravity. Feeling the pull between them that I'd never share, that singular connection that excludes everyone else.
Loving those kids—Orion with his endless questions about how things work, Luna with her empathy that saw straight through my smiles to the pain underneath, Phoenix with her chaos and laughter that made everything better—knowing they weren't mine. Would never be mine.
Seeing Thalia look at Kieran with that bone-deep recognition. Mate. The word that changed everything and nothing at once.
I know I did this to myself. Was too weak in high school to defend her when Lia turned everyone against her. Too cowardly to stand up to my brother when he made her life hell. Too afraid of losing my comfortable position to risk everything for her.
During her heat, I had my chance. Could have claimed her properly, marked her, made it clear she was mine. Instead I played it safe, shared her with Kieran because I was too weak to demand she choose.
And when it mattered most—when the bond was forming, when she was deciding between us—I was too soft to fight for her the way Kieran did. Too comfortable being the gentle option, the safe choice.
Kieran's always been the ruthless one. Takes what he wants and destroys anyone in his way. I'm the playboy, the easy one, the brother who makes everyone comfortable because he never demands too much.
Turns out that's not enough when it comes to mates.
My phone buzzes against the desk. Video call. The kids.
My chest tightens as I answer. Three faces fill the screen—Phoenix in the middle, Orion and Luna flanking her, all of them clearly in Kieran and Thalia's living room.
"Uncle Lysander!" Phoenix shouts, waving so enthusiastically the phone shakes. "Guess what! I broke a training dummy today! Like completely broke it! Dad said I need to control my strength better but Mom said it's progress!"
Dad. She says it so naturally now, like Kieran's always been Dad instead of the man who didn't know they existed six months ago.
"That's great, firecracker," I manage. "Proud of you."
Orion leans closer to the screen, serious face more pronounced than usual. "How's the new office? Did you set up the server infrastructure yet? What about cybersecurity protocols for client data?"
"Working on it. Want to help me design the system remotely?"
His face lights up. "Really?"
"Really. I'll send you the specs tomorrow."
Luna hasn't spoken yet. Just watching me with those too-knowing eyes, feeling everything I'm not saying. When she finally talks, her voice is quiet. "I miss you."
The words crack something in my chest. "Miss you too, sweethearts, all of you. But your mom and dad need family time. I'll visit soon."
They chorus goodbyes and disconnect, leaving me staring at my reflection in the black screen.
I let the pain settle fully instead of pushing it away. It's sharp and real—but beneath it, something shifts. Not relief or acceptance. Something harder and clearer.
I love Thalia. That truth doesn't weaken just because fate chose someone else.
I understand the mate bond. I would never try to tear it apart or challenge Kieran openly, but loving her doesn't disappear simply because destiny says it shouldn't exist. Stepping aside entirely was another form of cowardice…
Yes, I don't have Kieran's world-burning devotion—the willingness to destroy everything for one person, the obsessive need that drove him to search for eight years. But that doesn't mean my love is lesser. It's different.
What fate dictates and what the heart insists on are not always the same thing.
Maybe struggle doesn't mean conquest but presence. Honesty. Refusing to erase myself from her life emotionally just because it's easier for everyone else.
There's a knock on my office door. "Mr. Fenris?"
The new associate I hired last week—Claire, human, absolutely brilliant mind for contract law. She's holding a file folder and looking mildly annoyed.
"The Harrison case has a jurisdictional issue I need your input on. Do you have a minute?"
I gesture her in. She's completely unimpressed by the Fenris name, by my title, by the fact that I'm technically her boss. Treats me like a colleague instead of Alpha heir, which is refreshing.
We spend twenty minutes dissecting the case. She challenges my interpretation, makes excellent points, concedes when I'm right without ego. When she smiles at the solution we find, it's uncomplicated—no history, no heartbreak, no mate bonds or pack politics attached.
Just two people working well together.
"Thanks," she says, standing. "I'll draft the motion and send it for your review."
"Sounds good. And Claire? Good catch on that jurisdictional issue. I almost missed it."
She grins. "That's what you pay me for."
After she leaves, I stare at the blank wall where photos should go, boxes I should unpack, a life I should start building.
I'm not walking away anymore. I will be the uncle, but I will stop pretending that loving Thalia was a mistake I need to outgrow.
Even if fate puts me on the losing side, I will struggle anyway—to be honest about what I feel and who I am.
My phone buzzes again. Text from Kieran: Thanks for taking the kids this weekend. Means a lot.
I stare at the message. He's thanking me for giving him alone time with his mate, his family, his life. The one I wanted but was never meant to have.
I type back: Anytime. They're great kids.
They are. Because of her.
Yeah. She did good.
A pause, then: You okay out there?
The question surprises me. Kieran asking if I'm okay, like he actually cares about the brother he beat.
Getting there. Colorado's good. Clean start.
Good. You deserve that.
I almost laugh. Deserve. Like I earned this consolation prize of distance and starting over. I set down the phone and look at my empty office. Time to start unpacking. Time to build a life that's mine instead of almost-theirs.
The kids will always be mine in the ways that matter. Thalia will always matter. This time, I won't disappear to make everyone else's story simpler.