Page 70 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

His voice is steady, but there is a weight in his voice that makes the hair rise on my arms. “Callum!”

“He is much too possessive of you!” Callum snaps at me. “The boy is an alpha born. His possessiveness is not something to be taken lightly.”

I fall silent at that, the realization hitting me that this is a world I know nothing about. I swallow, looking down at the child in my arms, and the retort gets stuck in my throat.

Salar chooses that moment to intervene, his voice gentle. “Miss Reyes, why don’t we go out for a walk? Let the alpha talk to his son.”

I want to protest, but once again, I don’t know what to say. Carefully, I disentangle myself from Luca’s hold, and his soft sobs make my own eyes water. I keep my voice calm even though it almost breaks me. “Luca, listen to what your father has to say. I’ll be outside.”

He looks up at me, and his forehead scrunches. His eyes flash gold, but before he can say anything, Callum growls deep in his throat, and the boy falls silent, a sulky look on his face.

Salar takes my arm to pull me out of the room, and two faces turn toward him, snarls on their lips. Dazed, I look at father and son. It’s like I’ve walked into another reality. Before I lose my mind, I grab Salar this time and leave the room. Outside, I release his wrist and keep walking, my head spinning.

He follows me to the garden and then says, “Luca’s going to be fine. What he’s going through is very normal.”

I stop walking, looking straight ahead, my voice tense. “I don’t even know what he is going through. I don’t know why Callum is so harsh with him. He’s his son. Even if he was born through a surrogate, just to be his heir, he’s still a child. Children cling to their parents. It’s the most normal thing—”

“But you are not Luca’s birth mother.” Salar’s voice is quiet. “That matters in our world. You did not feed him your milk. That matters. Our world is not as simple as you might think. Luca thinks of you as his mother, but you don’t smell like it. Since he has alpha blood in him, that distinction will make him more possessive toward you in the future. It can even harm you. The child needs to understand that you don’t solely belong to him. Especially now that Alpha Vance…”

He trails off, clearing his throat, and I close my eyes briefly. Of course. He can scent Callum on me. Of all the inconvenient things to—

“There’s nothing going on between me and Callum,” I say abruptly. “We’re just two consenting adults blowing off some steam.”

Even as the words leave my mouth, they feel wrong.

When Salar doesn’t say anything, I turn to look at him. His face is pale. “I don’t think you understand what it means for an alpha to take—” He cuts himself off as if trying to regroup his thoughts. “Alpha Callum has not taken a woman to his bed since his mate died. Do not take this lightly, Miss Reyes.”

I press my lips together. Mine. You are mine.

What does that mean? His how? I can’t help the thrill that runs through me when I think of his words. However, the situation comes crashing down on me. I don’t know a thing about Callum. He’s cold, analytical, and cruel. I understand now that most of this probably stems from him being an alpha. But he and I have nothing in common, aside from Luca. And the way he treats Luca, his staff—

“Callum is a good alpha.” Salar’s serious voice cuts across my thoughts, and I realize I must have been speaking aloud. “He was just twenty when his father was killed by Silas Thorne’s father in a struggle for the alpha position. The pack didn’t want to kill Callum but make an example of him and his mate. The political atmosphere within the pack was terrifying. The Thorne family and three other powerful ones wanted the resources owned by the Vance family. The pack would have been destroyed in their power struggle.”

Salar’s expression is grave. He tilts his head up to look toward Luca’s bedroom window, and I follow his gaze. “Callum fought to stabilize the pack. He had to become the thing they feared, a monster even the other monsters were terrified of. He seized the alpha position and killed the Thorne family head. He would have spared the others involved, but they started sending assassins.” His expression tightens. “It was six months of constant bloodshed. This whole estate carried the stench of blood. It was not an easy transition, but he saw it through. And once it was over, not even a year later, Elena, the luna, was killed in a rogue attack.”

My throat tightens. “He went through a lot.”

“More than any alpha his age should have to,” Salar agrees. “But he’s stabilized the pack, and while he is known for cruelty, he is also fair and just.”

“You think he treats Luca so coldly because—?”

“Coldly?” Salar sounds surprised. “He’s being quite considerate of him. He’s deferred a lot of his rearing to you, and he hasn’t left Luca in the hands of tutors and nannies like he was left.”

I blink. I didn’t realize this was such a huge concession. “He hardly spends time with him…”

“This is new for Callum as well. And news of Luca’s condition has leaked to the pack elders. There are those who still wish to control Callum, those who believe he is vulnerable with a child, a sick child at that. The alpha is protecting both of you right now.”

His words make my chest tighten. “I didn’t know.”

My words are whispered, and Salar looks uncomfortable. “We are not human, Miss Reyes. Don’t expect us to act like it.”

He’s right. Callum is not going to be the kind of father I want Luca to have, but he’s a good one in his own way. I can’t put my own expectations on who he should be, how he should act.

I look toward the window again and press my lips together. I am still Luca’s mother, so if Callum doesn’t know how to be a father, I’ll just have to teach him.

❦ ❦ ❦

Luca is silent and subdued when I’m allowed to see him again. Callum is nowhere in sight, though. I sit beside my son and check his forehead. “Are you really feeling better now?”