Chapter 316: Someone Else’s Life

"What exactly are we supposed to be waiting for here?"

Derek’s voice was flat, the tone of a man who had been dragged out of bed for reasons he found deeply unconvincing. He sat in the passenger seat of Kai’s car, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the empty street ahead of them.

Kai, sitting behind the wheel, simply smiled. "Calm down, cuz. Patience is an art form."

"Is it?" Derek turned to look at him. "Because from where I’m sitting, patience is what I’ve been practising all morning. You called me at five in the morning, told me you had a surprise that would change my life, and made me drive all the way to your territory before sunrise."

"And I stand by that."

"Then I helped you train your gammas in the mud." Derek’s voice rose with each word. "I am a King, Kai. I have people who do mud for me."

"You enjoyed it. I saw you smiling during the final lap."

"I was baring my teeth in frustration. There’s a difference."

Kai chuckled at that, the sound light and easy. "Ah, what are favourite cousins for if not for the inconveniences?"

Derek let out a long breath, but despite himself, the corner of his mouth twitched. "You’re lucky I love you. I would have ripped you apart by now." His eyes shifted to Kai, studying him properly for the first time that morning. "You look good, though. Better and happier than I’ve seen you in years. Does this have anything to do with this mysterious surprise?"

Kai didn’t answer immediately. He just tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in a rhythm that matched his own internal humming, and smiled out at the street like a man enjoying a private joke.

"We’ll see," he said. "We’ll see."

Derek’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Please don’t tell me this is another Jessica sighting. If you’ve dragged me out here to watch a red-haired woman walk past and claim it’s her, I want you to know in advance that I love you very much and I will still hit you. There aren’t even any cameras out here for—"

He stopped talking because Kai had reached over and tapped his arm.

"Look ahead," Kai said quietly. ℯℯ𝑙.

Derek turned.

Forty metres down the road, a woman had just stepped out of an apartment building. A woman with ginger curls. She stepped down onto the pavement, adjusting the strap of her bag, and even from this distance, Derek could see the line of her profile clearly.

Then another woman—a brunette—came jogging out behind her. They greeted each other like old friends, and whatever was said made them both laugh. The brunette shoved her friend’s shoulder. The ginger one shoved back. Then they linked arms and started walking down the pavement in the direction of the car.

Derek’s mouth fell open.

"Is that—" He leaned forward, gripping the edge of the seat as though the extra centimetres would help him see better. "Kai, is that not her?"

Kai’s smile widened. "That’s her."

"That’s Jessica."

"Very good, cousin. Your eyesight has not failed you."

Derek turned to look at him, his face a mixture of shock and something close to awe. "How—how did you find her? When? Where has she been?"

"Fate is on my side," Kai said with a small shrug. "Or the moon goddess has finally decided to stop abusing me. Take your pick. The important thing is that she is working in my building, at the staff restaurant. "

"Your building?" Derek looked back at the two women, still laughing as they moved closer. "She’s been working in your building under your nose, and you only just found her?"

"It’s been a complicated week."

"Then why are we sitting in this car?" Derek’s hand went to the door handle. "Why aren’t you out of this car? Why haven’t you—" His hand went to his pocket instead and came out with his phone. "Kira. I have to ring Kira, she’ll lose her—"

Kai’s hand shot out and caught Derek’s wrist.

"Stop." His voice was calm but firm. "You can’t."

Derek froze. "What do you mean I can’t? You’re telling me Jessica is alive, and I’m supposed to just—sit here? Kira has missed her so much."

"She doesn’t remember us." Kai’s smile had faded now, replaced by something quieter, more serious. "She doesn’t remember anything from her old life. Not me, not you, not Kira, not the pack. If you go over there now and start calling her Jessica, she’ll think you’re insane."

Derek put the phone down slowly. His eyes followed the two women as they passed, still talking, still laughing, completely unaware that they were being watched.

"Have you at least spoken to her?" he asked quietly.

Kai nodded. "I have." He paused, and when he spoke again, the playfulness had drained entirely from his voice. "Something is wrong, Derek."

"Wrong how?"

"Something is very wrong. She doesn’t smell like a werewolf anymore. She smells human. Completely human. And there is no sign of her wolf at all. Ginger is gone."

Derek’s brows drew together. "Gone? That isn’t possible."

"There is more." Kai’s jaw tightened. "She’s not even living as herself. She goes by Sidonie Hart now. A real woman, Derek. A real identity with a birth certificate and history. Twenty-three years old. Born somewhere in Creek Town. Jessica is wearing someone else’s life."

For a long moment, Derek simply stared at him, absorbing the weight of it. "How is that even possible?"

"I don’t know." Kai shook his head. "But I intend to find out. And the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that the accident was not an accident at all. Someone took her, Derek. Someone pulled her from that river and hid her from me for three years."

"Why? And who did it?"

Kai shrugged. "The answers to those questions would tell us everything we need."

Derek considered this. "If somebody’s gone to that much trouble to keep her from you," he said slowly, "why would they allow her to come to Aethelwulf? To work in your company, of all places?"

Kai was quiet for a moment, his eyes still fixed on the rear view mirror, at the figures moving further away down the pavement. "I don’t know that either. But I will find out." He turned to look at his cousin, and some of the old fire had returned to his eyes. "But first, I need to win my woman back. She has no idea who I am, and I need to make her remember."

He started the engine, reversed the car, and allowed it to ease into motion, rolling slowly along the road, keeping a careful distance behind the two women as they walked and chatted towards the bus stop.

From the passenger seat, Derek let out a long, slow breath. "This is the strangest morning I have had in a long time."

"Welcome to my life," Kai said, and despite everything, he was smiling again.