"I won't."
She stepped aside, revealing the small boy behind her.
Eli was beautiful. Dalvin's slender build in miniature, with Vernon's dark curls and amber eyes that must have come from the grandmother Dalvin had mentioned. He clutched a purple dinosaur against his chest, pressed tight against Rosa's leg, his face turned away from the room.
"Hey, baby," Dalvin said softly, crouching down but keeping distance. "Hey, it's Daddy. I missed you so much."
Eli's head turned. When he saw Dalvin, his whole face transformed, fear melting into desperate relief. He launched himself forward, small body colliding with Dalvin's chest, arms wrapping tight around his neck.
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." The words came out in a rush, muffled against Dalvin's shoulder. "You came back. You said you would come back and you did."
"I did, baby. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."
They held each other for a long moment, Eli's small body shaking with emotion, Dalvin's hand stroking his hair with infinite gentleness. I stayed on the couch, kept my body still and my breathing even, and did nothing to draw attention to myself.
Eventually, Eli's grip loosened. He pulled back and looked up at Dalvin with those amber eyes, so serious in his small face.
"Rosa said you found a new alpha." His voice was barely above a whisper. "She said he's nice. Is he nice, Daddy?"
"He's very nice, baby. He's gentle and patient and he wants to meet you. But only if you want to meet him. Okay? You're in charge."
Eli's gaze shifted to me for the first time.
I felt the weight of his attention, the fear and curiosity warring in his expression. I kept my posture relaxed, my handsvisible in my lap, my face carefully neutral. No smile, because a smile could be interpreted as aggression. No direct eye contact. Just calm, patient stillness.
"He's big," Eli whispered to Dalvin.
"He is. He works with metal, with hammers and fire. It made his arms very strong."
"Is he loud?"
"No, baby. He's quiet. Listen."
We all fell silent. The only sounds were distant, muffled, the white noise of a building going about its business. In that silence, Eli relaxed slightly, his death grip on Chompers loosening by a fraction.
"I'm not going to come closer," I said softly, pitching my voice low and gentle, keeping my eyes on the wall behind Dalvin. "I'm going to stay right here. You can come say hi if you want to, or you can stay with your daddy. Whatever makes you comfortable."
Eli stared at me for a long moment. I could feel Dalvin's tension through the bond, his desperate hope that this would go well, his fear that I would somehow fail this test.
Then Eli turned back to Dalvin and whispered something I couldn't hear. Dalvin whispered back. A negotiation happening in voices too low to parse.
Finally, Dalvin straightened up, Eli balanced on his hip, and walked slowly toward the couch. He sat down beside me, close enough to touch but not touching, Eli still clinging to his neck.
"Eli wants to show you Chompers," Dalvin said. "If that's okay."
"I would like that very much."
Eli hesitated. Then, slowly, he extended the purple T-rex toward me, still keeping a firm grip on its tail.
"This is Chompers," he whispered. "He's my friend."
"Hi, Chompers." I kept my voice soft, my movements slow, my attention on the stuffed dinosaur rather than the child holding it. "I like your color. Purple is a good color for a T-rex."
Eli blinked. "You think so?"
"I do. Purple means he's special. Not like all the other dinosaurs."
Something shifted in Eli's expression. Not trust, not yet. But a slight easing of the fear, a crack in the wall he'd built around himself. He pulled Chompers back against his chest and studied me with those serious amber eyes.
