Ethan Stone POV
The pack doctor's bag slipped from Ethan's hands as he reached for the front door handle. Dr. Martinez bent to help him pick up the scattered medical supplies, but Ethan barely noticed. Through the window, he could see them.
Lily sat on Emma's bed, smoothing the little girl's hair while Dominic held a cool cloth to their daughter's forehead. They looked like a beautiful family. Like the family Ethan would never have.
"You okay, Ethan?" Dr. Martinez asked softly.
"Fine," Ethan lied, his chest feeling like someone had hit him. The mate bond pulled at him, demanding he go to Lily, but seeing her with Dominic and Emma made everything hurt worse.
He knocked on the door anyway. He had to. Emma needed help, and that mattered more than his broken heart.
Lily's mother answered, her face tight with worry. "Oh, thank goodness. Dr. Martinez, please hurry. The fever won't break."
Ethan followed the doctor upstairs, each step harder than the last. The mate bond got stronger as he got closer to Lily, making his skin feel electric and his wolf restless.
When he walked into Emma's room, Lily looked up at him. Their eyes met, and the world seemed to stop. Even with everything else happening, even with Emma sick and Dominic right there, the connection between them was hard to ignore.
"Ethan," Lily whispered, and just hearing his name from her lips made his heart race.
"How is she?" he asked, forcing himself to focus on Emma instead of how beautiful Lily looked, even exhausted and worried.
"Better, I think," Dominic said without looking away from his daughter. "Her fever broke about an hour ago."
Dr. Martinez checked Emma's temperature and pulse, asking questions while Ethan stood uncomfortable by the door. He wanted to help, but this wasn't his family. No matter how much the mate bond screamed that Lily belonged with him, she had a child with another man. A child who needed her father.
"The worst is over," Dr. Martinez announced, packing up his supplies. "She should sleep peacefully now. Alpha show fever is scary, but she's through it."
"Thank you," Lily said, relief clear in her voice.
After the doctor left, the room got quiet except for Emma's soft breathing. She was sleeping peacefully for the first time in days, her little face relaxed instead of red with fever.
"I should go," Ethan said, backing toward the door.
"Wait." Lily stood up, careful not to wake Emma. "Can we talk? Outside?"
Dominic's jaw tightened. "Lily, you should rest. You've been up for three days straight."
"I'm fine," she said, but Ethan could see the exhaustion in her eyes. "Please, Ethan. Just for a minute."
They walked out to the front porch, where the cold night air made their breath show in white puffs. Christmas lights twinkled on houses down the street, making everything look magical. But Ethan felt anything but magical right now.
"Thank you for bringing Dr. Martinez," Lily said, putting her arms around herself.
"Of course. Emma needed help." Ethan put his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her. "I'm glad she's okay."
"Ethan, about what's happening between us—"
"Don't." The word came out sharper than he meant it to. "Please don't say it's not real or that we should ignore it. I can't handle that right now."
Lily stepped closer, and the mate bond flared so strong it made him dizzy. "I wasn't going to say that. I was going to say I don't know what to do."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I feel it too. This pull between us. It's not like anything I've ever experienced." She looked back at the house, where light glowed from Emma's window. "But Emma needs her father. They're building a bond, and I can't mess that up."
"I would never ask you to," Ethan said quickly. "Emma deserves to know Dominic. I just... I don't know where that leaves us."
"I don't either."
They stood in silence, both feeling the impossible situation crushing down on them. The mate bond wanted them together, but life was more complicated than ancient werewolf magic.
"Can I ask you something?" Lily said finally.
"Anything."
"Why did you come back to Pine Ridge? Really?"
Ethan was quiet for a long moment. "Because I was tired of living in Dominic's shadow. Hockey was supposed to be my thing, you know? The one place where I wasn't 'the other Stone boy.' But after my accident, I realized I was running away from home instead of running toward something better."
"And now?"
"Now I've found my mate, and she's the one person I can't have."
Lily's eyes filled with tears. "Ethan—"
"It's okay," he said, even though it wasn't. "I understand. Emma comes first. She should come first."
"What if there was another way?" Lily asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. I just... there has to be something. Some way we can all be happy."
Before Ethan could answer, the front door burst open. Dominic stood there, his face dark with anger.
"We have a problem," he said. "A big one."
"What's wrong?" Lily asked, running toward the house.
"I just got a call from the pack council. They know about Emma. They know she's my daughter."
Ethan's blood went cold. "How?"
"Someone at the holiday party must have reported it. The council is meeting tonight to discuss Emma's future."
"What does that mean?" Lily demanded.
Dominic's face was grim. "It means they're going to vote on whether Emma should be removed from your care and brought to live with the pack. As the Alpha's heir, they think she belongs with me full-time."
"No." Lily's voice was barely a whisper. "They can't take her."
"They can if they vote that it's in the pack's best interest," Dominic said. "And with the mate bond between you and Ethan complicating things, they might decide Emma needs to be protected from the situation."
Ethan felt sick. "When is the vote?"
"Tomorrow night. Christmas Eve."
"That's not enough time," Lily said, fear rising in her voice. "We need to fight this. We need—"
"There's more," Dominic interrupted. "The council is also calling for a formal challenge to the mate bond. They want to test whether it's real or just proximity attraction."
"What kind of test?" Ethan asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"A binding ceremony. If the mate bond is true, you'll both survive it. If it's not..." Dominic's voice trailed off.
"If it's not what?" Lily demanded.
"If it's not real, the false bond will kill you both."
The words hung in the cold air like a death sentence. Ethan looked at Lily, seeing his own fear reflected in her eyes. They had less than two days to prove their mate bond was real, fight for Emma's custody, and somehow find a way to make everything work.
"There's something else," Dominic said quietly. "The council meeting is being held at the pack house. If you want to fight for Emma, you'll have to face the entire pack leadership. Together."
Lily grabbed Ethan's hand, the mate bond sparking between them even in the middle of the crisis. "We'll do it," she said firmly. "Whatever it takes."
But as they stood there holding hands, Ethan couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking into a trap. The pack council had never approved of outsiders challenging their traditions. And tomorrow night, he and Lily would have to bet their lives on a bond they barely understood.
From inside the house, Emma's small voice called out, "Mommy?"
They all rushed inside to find Emma sitting up in bed, looking confused and scared.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her big eyes moving between the three adults. "Why does everyone look so worried?"
Lily sat on the bed and pulled Emma into her arms. "Everything's fine, baby. We're just talking about Christmas plans."
But over Emma's head, Lily's eyes met Ethan's, and he saw the same frightening thought he was having: What if this was the last Christmas they'd all be together?
What if the pack council's choice would tear their small, strange family apart forever?