CHAPTER 30: FAMILY

Elias stirred before dawn, a faint whimper breaking the tense atmosphere of the healing room. The little boy’s lashes fluttered, his pale cheeks still mottled with traces of fever, but the redness around his eyes had faded.

Lucien, who had not moved from Devon’s bedside all night, snapped his head toward the sound, his body reacting before his mind could catch up.

"Elias?" Lucien whispered, voice uncharacteristically raw.

The child blinked up at the blurred ceiling, then at the room, then finally, with trembling confusion, at his father. "Daddy...?"

Lucien swallowed, brushing the boy’s hair back. "I’m here. You’re safe."

But the child did not lean into him this time.

Instead, Elias’s gaze swept the room, sluggish and searching, until it landed on the bed where Devon lay unconscious beside Lucien. In an instant tears welled up in the boy’s eyes.

"M–Mommy... Mommy Devon..." he croaked, voice breaking.

Lucien stiffened.

The healers, lingering at the far corner, froze. Rowan, who had slipped in to report the toxin’s properties, went silent.

Elias reached a shaking hand toward Devon. "Daddy, Mommy won’t wake up... I want Mommy... Please..."

Mommy?

Lucien’s heart twisted painfully, an unfamiliar, unwelcome ache. He glanced at Devon, taking in the pale skin, the cold sweat, the faint glow under the bandages covering his arms where the magical backlash had devoured him from within.

He looked almost smaller than usual.

Fragile.

Breakable.

Lucien swallowed hard. "He’s just tired, Elias. He used too much strength protecting you."

The boy hiccupped, shaking his head. "But I’m scared... Mommy always comes when I call..."

Lucien reached out, gathering the boy gently into his arms.

Elias clung to him, but his tear-streaked face remained turned toward Devon. "Daddy... don’t take me away... I want to stay with Mommy..."

Lucien felt something buckle inside him. After everything, after the poisoning, the near-death, the fear, his son’s instinct wasn’t for his father’s protection. It was for Devon.

Lucien exhaled slowly.

"Alright," he murmured. "We’ll stay."

Elias sagged in relief, his small body trembling.

Rowan watched from the side, the faintest wince crossing his features. He murmured quietly, "Alpha... perhaps you should rest..."

Lucien shot him a glare honed from years of command. "I’m not leaving."

Rowan immediately shut his mouth. The healers quickly lowered their heads and exited. When the door closed, silence fell again.

Lucien settled Elias beside Devon, but the child crawled forward on unsteady limbs, gently touching Devon’s hand with both his own, as if his tiny warmth could summon him back.

"Mommy... wake up... I’m okay now... I don’t want you to be sick..."

Lucien watched the scene, watched his son clinging with desperate love to a man who had been a stranger just weeks ago. A man who was technically his political spouse. A man he had kept at arm’s length. A man he had nearly lost last night.

Lucien swallowed the rising tightness in his throat and sat down again beside Devon, so close their knees brushed. He did not move away.

Devon lay still, breath unsteady. His exhausted body trembled even in unconsciousness, magic flickering beneath his skin like dying embers.

Lucien found himself staring at his face again, the soft curve of his cheekbones, the way his hair had fallen messily over his eyes. He brushed the strands back gently, almost reverently.

"Idiot," he murmured quietly. "Why do you risk yourself like this?"

Elias sniffled, leaning against Devon’s side.

"Because Mommy loves me," he mumbled stubbornly.

Lucien froze completely. For a long moment, he said nothing. Couldn’t say anything. The words echoed in his skull, ridiculous, impossible, saccharine, yet something inside him clenched like a fist.

He wasn’t prepared for this. He wasn’t prepared for any of this. Slowly, Lucien exhaled.

"...Yes," he said eventually, voice nearly inaudible. "He does."

Elias lay down beside Devon, curling protectively around him until the boy finally drifted into a shallow, exhausted sleep.

Lucien stayed awake, watching both of them.

Hours passed.

He never moved.

Devon woke faintly near midday, his consciousness drifting up from darkness like a leaf rising to the surface of a lake. His body was heavy, his limbs leaden, the lingering sting of magical backlash humming under his skin.

He groaned softly.

Immediately, someone gripped his hand.

He opened his eyes and froze.

Lucien was sitting right beside him, elbow propped on the bed, his chin resting against the back of his arm. He looked tired, not the usual stern, polished exhaustion of an Alpha bearing responsibility, but a quieter, more human tiredness. Eyes slightly red-rimmed, as though he hadn’t slept at all.

Devon’s heart stuttered in confusion. Then a small weight shifted against him. He turned. Elias was asleep against his side, small fingers still curled around Devon’s wrist like a lifeline. Devon’s breath caught.

"What... happened?" he rasped.

Lucien lifted his head slowly. Their eyes met, and for the first time, Lucien didn’t mask anything. Not the fear. Not the relief. Not the... something else flickering there.

"Elias was poisoned," Lucien said quietly. "He nearly died."

Devon paled, throat tightening. "Is he..."

"He’s safe." Lucien’s voice softened in a way Devon had never heard. "Thanks to you."

Devon blinked rapidly. "...Me?"

"You stabilized him until we arrived." Lucien held his gaze steadily. "If you hadn’t been there, Devon... he wouldn’t have survived."

Devon looked down at Elias again, guilt and tenderness swirling painfully in his chest. "I-I didn’t do enough..."

"You did more than enough," Lucien murmured. "You always do."

Devon stiffened at the tenderness in his voice, tenderness that didn’t align with the coldness he’d shown after the marriage contract.

He looked away. "Alpha... why are you here?"

Lucien’s jaw tightened. "Because you wouldn’t wake up."

Devon’s breath faltered, confusion deepening. "But you... you made it clear you wanted distance. You barely..."

"I was wrong."

The words stunned Devon into silence.

Lucien leaned closer, voice low and unguarded.

"I thought keeping my distance would protect you. Protect Elias. Protect the pack." His eyes softened, despite the exhaustion weighing them down. "But last night proved all I did was make you suffer."

Devon swallowed hard, unable to meet his eyes.

Lucien hesitated, then said even more softly, "I’m not leaving your side again."

Devon’s heart hammered painfully because he wanted to believe it, despite himself. Despite knowing Lucien was cold. Despite knowing Lucien had signed the marriage contract for political reasons. Despite knowing their bond had been forged in necessity, not love.

Yet Lucien stayed. Lucien held his hand. Lucien watched over him the entire night.

Devon exhaled shakily. "I... I don’t understand you."

Lucien gave a tired, almost broken smile. "Neither do I."

Elias stirred faintly, burrowing deeper into Devon’s side. Lucien reached out and gently stroked the boy’s back.

Then he spoke quietly, voice trembling with the truth he no longer bothered hiding, "But I understand this, you’re family now. Whether or not you believe that. Whether or not you think you deserve it."

Devon closed his eyes. A tear slipped out anyway. And Lucien caught it before it could fall.