The little boy stood there, his small fra caught in the heaviness of a room teetering on the edge of history. His grip on the pillow tightened, eyes wide as he looked from his mother to the stranger with a dagger at his throat, and then to the man beside them who he had co to know as Grandpa, holding a gun that had just been lowered.
He didn’t understand the undercurrent, the shadows stretching long between the three adults, but even in his innocence, he understood danger. He understood tension.
Williams swallowed hard, his gaze locked on the boy. Ti seed to warp around him. He didn’t breathe. Couldn’t. Not with that face staring back at him. The child was most definitely not human he’s got werewolf blood running in his veins and not just any werewolf blood alpha blood.
Although the boy looked like his mother there was no mistaking that face of the younger version of Williams Xander with his slightly different color. The child was the living embodint of sothing he didn’t even know he’d left behind. A presence he hadn’t realized had been missing until now. His mind scread at him to move, to speak, to do sothing, but his body refused to obey.
Dera’s uncle did not say another word but he keenly watched Williams reaction to the presence of the boy. He had first noticed the stark resemblance between Williams and the boy the mont he turned on the light but had purposely not said anything about it. It was also the sa reason he lowered his gun when Williams introduced himself.
Dera’s hand which held the dagger shook slightly and dropped to her side, her chest heaving as she took a shaky breath. Her feet shuffled towards the boy in what looked like a hurry and she dropped the daggers on the table.
"Dexter, go back to your room," she said softly, kneeling slightly to level her face with her son’s.
The boy didn’t move. "Why is that man here, Mommy? Did he hurt you?"
The question nearly broke Williams. His mouth opened, but no words ca out. Emotion clogged his throat.
Dera gently reached out and touched her son’s shoulder.
"He didn’t hurt , my love," she said, her voice steadier now, the tension in her body lting only slightly. "He’s just... soone I used to know."
Dexter looked at her, then back at Williams, as though trying to decide whether to believe her.
"Go back to your room, okay? I’ll co read you a story later," Dera repeated and this ti the boy nodded his head once. He turned and padded back the way he ca, the pillow still gripped tightly in his small hands. The mont he disappeared around the corner, silence fell again.
Dera straightened slowly, her eyes hardening as they settled back on Williams. The softness she’d shown her son vanished like it had never been there.
"You have a child?" Williams finally managed to ask, still reeling from the shock.
"That is none of your business" she said, her voice quiet but cutting. "I don’t know why you are here but I think you should leave."
Williams still hadn’t moved. His hand was now gently touching the place on his neck where the dagger had rested. It stung, but not because of the blade. Her words stung even more.
"You think I should leave?" he said finally, voice raw. "You’re really prepared to raise our child all by yourself."
Her face twisted into an ugly frown. "What do you an by our child? What give you the slightest idea that he’s your’s?"
"He isn’t?" Williams asked, brows lifted.
"That’s enough, you two." her uncle cut into the blooming argunt. "Go check on Dexter, Chidera. Let talk to the young man."
Dera clenched her jaw but said nothing more. She grabbed her daggers turned around and headed towards the kitchen.
"Please sit down, Williams," the man said pointing towards an empty chair. Williams, who followed Dera with his confused eyes, finally moved to take a seat just as the man asked.
Before the man could say another word, Dera walked out of the kitchen and headed toward the bedroom, throwing them not a single glance as she walked gracefully and srizingly until she disappeared from their line of sight.
Despite his confusion, Williams found himself captivated by the re sight of her. She was no longer the little nineteen year old girl he used to know at Monero. This was a full-grown woman whose presence now had double the impact it used to have on him years ago.
"Welco to our abode and sorry for the initial rough welco we gave to you. We are usually not like that, but you were initially perceived to be a threat and that prompted us to receive you as one." The man clarified, also taking his seat the very one opposite the one Williams was seated on. "I am Dr Abel Nkem." The man stretched out a handshake.
"It’s a pleasure to et you, Dr Abel, and I take no offense from the earlier welco. However, a lot of things are still unclear to ," Williams responded, receiving the handshake firmly.
"My niece is going through a tough ti so please forgive her manners. She usually isn’t like this. She is a sweet girl." Dr Abel explained, knowing that was part of the things that were unclear to Williams.
"I know Dera very well. She is the sweetest girl I have ever t," Williams confird nodding his head. "But you also seem to know quite well, and I wonder how I don’t rember eting you anywhere before today," William’s pointed out even though he already had an idea what the answer was.
"Chidera told about you. She told everything, which is why I am prompted to ask why exactly you are here today after all these years."
"The first reason I’m here is because of her. I have been trying to find her for years, ever since she disappeared, without any success. I only just found out yesterday from her father what they did to her," Williams explained, his voice low but firm. It was only now that things were beginning to click in his mind. Maybe Casper’s camp was why she was acting this way. But even as the pieces fell together, a knot still twisted in his gut. Why was she taking it out on him?
That question, he couldn’t answer.
"Her father is still alive?" Dr. Abel asked, brows slightly furrowed, clearly surprised.
"He is," Williams answered. "But not for long. He’s already on his dying bed."
"And his witch of a wife?" the man asked again, the scorn in his voice obvious.
"She’s also still alive, and doing well," Williams replied with a grim nod.
"You said that was the first reason. What is the second reason?" Dr. Abel leaned back, studying Williams like a man trying to decide if the storm outside was worth walking into.
Williams inhaled deeply, steadying himself. "Taking into account that you said she told you everything, and the fact that you mistook for Casper earlier, I believe you already know anything concerning Casper is never good news." He paused, letting the weight of his words settle. "Before she left the camp, she did sothing... sothing big. She put Casper in a coma. And he stayed that way for years."
Dr. Abel’s brows lifted slightly, but he didn’t interrupt.
"However, right now, as we speak, Casper is alive. Up. On his feet. And wrecking havoc everywhere he steps." Williams’ jaw clenched. "A war is brewing. And the only person who can stop him is Dera."
His gaze turned to the closed hallway door where she had disappeared.
"She has to complete what she started, or we’re all going to be in serious trouble. Humans, non-humans... no one will be safe," Williams concluded, laying it all out in the open. There was no longer any need to mask the truth. Dr. Abel clearly knew more than most humans should. It was clear Dera had done well in that regard, keeping her guardian inford and prepared, even if just a little.
A long mont of silence followed, thick and heavy. Then Dr. Abel let out a slow sigh, the kind of sigh that ca from soone who had already carried too many burdens for far too long.
"It’s going to be hard to convince Dera to involve herself with anything that has to do with your world anymore," he said, finally breaking the silence. His tone was calm but laced with unyielding certainty. He gave Williams a long, deliberate look. "You saw for yourself how unwelcoming she is. It’s not because she hates you. It’s because she wants absolutely nothing to do with your kind anymore."
Williams looked away, jaw tightening. His kind.
He let the silence return for a heartbeat before responding.
"Isn’t it a little too late for that?" he asked, his voice lower now, tinged with sothing fragile beneath the surface. "She has a child that belongs to my world. My child."
Dr. Abel gave him a hard look, one that was almost sympathetic, but not quite.
"Don’t be too sure that the child is yours," he said, the words dropping like a hamr. "Looks can be deceiving, Williams. Only a woman can tell you who the father of her child is. And according to Dera..." His eyes locked onto Williams. "Dexter does not belong to you. He belongs to Casper."
The words landed with brutal force, and for a second, Williams forgot how to breathe. The air in the room seed to thin out as his heart gave a hard, painful thud.
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