"You can meet him," I continued, my voice firmer now, drawing on every ounce of strength I possessed. "You can even spend time with him. But you cannot tell him you're his father."
He was quiet for a long moment, his jaw working. "Does he... does he look like me?"
"So much it breaks my heart," I admitted, and my voice cracked.
Something like panic crossed his face. "Then he'll notice. He'll see me and know..."
"Teddy has never met another Stranac," I said quickly. "We can tell him you all look alike if he asks."
Cristox stared at me, and I watched as tears gathered in those honey-brown eyes—the same eyes I saw every time I looked at our son, the eyes that haunted my dreams. One slipped down his cheek, catching the light, tracing a path through his fur, and my heart nearly shattered in my chest.
In all my fantasies, if I ever saw him again, he would want us both. Love us both. We'd be a family, somehow, against all odds.
But this would have to be enough.
"When?" His voice was barely a whisper, rough with emotion, yearning. "When can I meet my son?"
Chapter 7
Cristox
I paced the length of Ruby's dining room for what felt like the hundredth time, my tail lashing behind me, betraying the anxiety coiling tight in my chest.
I'd faced down hostile forces on a dozen different planets. I'd survived combat situations that would've killed lesser warriors. I'd spent years as a top gladiator in the pits, staring death in the face more times than I could count.
But nothing—absolutely nothing—had prepared me for this moment.
My son was coming home. My son. A cub I hadn't known existed until an hour ago.
Ruby sat at the table, watching me with those beautiful hazel eyes. She'd shown me a photo, and the world had tilted beneath my feet. The cub—Teddy—had my eyes. My pelt coloring. The distinctive color and pattern of my mane, even at such a young age.
"He's beautiful," I'd whispered, my voice trembling with emotion I couldn't contain.
"He is," Ruby agreed softly, her voice thick with maternal pride. "He's the best thing that ever happened to me."
And now I understood why she'd asked me to keep the secret of Teddy's parentage. Why she'd been so protective, soguarded. She wasn't just protecting herself—she was protecting our son. A son who didn't know his father. A son who'd grown up without me.
The guilt was crushing. Even though I hadn't known, even though the fates had conspired to keep us apart, I felt the weight of four missed years pressing down on my soul. First words. First steps. Birthdays and scraped knees and bedtime stories—all of it, gone. Lost to time and circumstance and the cruel twist of fate that had separated us.
I stopped pacing and turned to Ruby, my heart in my throat. "What if he doesn't like me?"
Ruby's expression softened, her eyes full of an understanding that made my chest ache. "Cristox."
"What if he's afraid? I'm a stranger to him. A Stranac stranger." I ran a hand through my mane, the gesture agitated. "What if I say the wrong thing? Do the wrong thing?"
"You won't," Ruby said with quiet certainty that warmed something cold inside me. "Just be yourself. Children are more perceptive than we give them credit for."
I wanted to believe her. Goddess, how I wanted to believe her. To believe that somehow, despite everything, this could work. That I could be the father Teddy deserved.
But the fear remained, sharp and insistent in my chest.
Ruby thought I'd be leaving in a couple of weeks. Back to the Historia. Back to my duties, my crew, and the endless expanse of space.
But I didn't want to leave. Not anymore.
The thought of boarding the shuttle and watching this planet shrink in the viewport made my chest constrict with a pain I'd never experienced before. I wanted to stay here, on Tau Ceti, at their side.
I considered telling Ruby the truth—that she was my mate. A fact I'd known since that night on planet Kwado, whenour bodies had moved together in the darkness, and something fundamental had shifted in my soul. That I'd thought of her every single day since, remembering her touch, the way she'd looked at me with those warm hazel eyes. That I wanted to stay with her forever, to build a life together, to wake up beside her every morning for the rest of my days.
