Ashton's POV
"Is that my daddy?"
The little boy's question echoed through the airport like a gunshot. My legs nearly gave out. The roses I'd been holding scattered across the floor, white petals everywhere like snow.
My son. That was my son.
He had my eyes. My face. Even the way he tilted his head when he was confused—I'd seen that expression in the mirror my entire life. Four years old, maybe a little older. Which meant—
Oh god. Oh god, what had I done?
"Kieran." His name came out broken. "Were you pregnant? When I—when we—"
"Storm, don't talk to strangers." Kieran's voice was ice cold as he pulled both children behind him. The little girl was crying now, scared by the tension. But the boy—Storm, his name was Storm—kept staring at me with those gray eyes that were exactly like mine.
"I'm not a stranger," I said, my voice shaking. "I'm—"
"You're nothing to us." Kieran cut me off. His honey-colored eyes—eyes I used to dream about—were filled with pure hatred. "Stay away from my children."
"Our children." The words burst out of me. "Kieran, if you were pregnant when I ended things, if these are—they're mine. I have a right—"
"You have no rights!" Kieran's shout made several people turn to stare. "You ended those rights when you called me a mistake in front of everyone! When you destroyed my life to please your mother! You want to talk about rights, Ashton? Where were your parental rights when I was throwing up every morning, alone? Where were they when I gave birth alone? When I stayed up all night with two screaming babies while you were probably celebrating your freedom?"
Each word was a knife to my chest. The mate bond, which had been a dull ache for five years, suddenly flared to life. Pain shot through me so sharp I almost fell to my knees.
Marcus appeared beside me, grabbing my arm to steady me. "Ash, you need to breathe."
But I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. The math was screaming in my head. Five years since the breakup. Four-year-old twins. Which meant Kieran had been pregnant at the gala. Pregnant when I'd stood on that stage and humiliated him. Pregnant and alone while I'd been too weak to stand up to my mother.
"You were carrying my children," I whispered, staring at Kieran's face. "And I left you. I destroyed you while you were pregnant with my—"
"Don't." Kieran's voice cracked. "Don't you dare try to make this about you feeling guilty. You don't get to feel sorry for yourself. You don't get to show up with flowers and think that fixes five years of abandonment."
The little girl—she had Kieran's eyes, his delicate features—whispered something I couldn't hear. Kieran immediately softened, dropping to one knee to comfort her. "It's okay, Sage. Mama's sorry for yelling. We're going to leave now."
Sage. Storm and Sage. My children had names. Had personalities. Had four years of life I'd missed completely.
"Please." I took a step forward. "Please, just let me—"
"Let you what?" Kieran stood up, lifting his daughter into his arms. Storm clutched his leg protectively. "Let you traumatize them more? Let you confuse them? They don't know you, Ashton. They don't need you."
"But I need them!" The desperation in my voice scared even me. "I need you. The mate bond is killing me, Kieran. I can barely function. My company is failing. I can't sleep, can't eat. Every day without you is torture, and now I find out I have children—"
"So this is about you suffering?" Kieran's laugh was cruel. "Poor Ashton Cross, finally experiencing consequences for his actions. You want sympathy? You want me to feel bad that the mate bond hurts? I've lived with that pain for five years while raising two children alone!"
"You weren't alone."
A new voice cut through our argument. Deep and powerful and full of Alpha authority. A tall man appeared from the crowd, carrying luggage. He walked straight to Kieran and wrapped a protective arm around him. "Baby, are you okay?"
Baby. He called my mate baby.
My Alpha roared to life. Every instinct screamed at me to attack, to fight, to eliminate the threat. This was my Omega. My mate. My children.
"Who are you?" The words came out as a growl.
The stranger met my eyes without fear. "Darius Kane. Kieran's partner. The man who was there for him when you weren't. The man who held him through panic attacks and helped deliver these children when the hospital was too far. The man who's been their father for four years while you were—what? Living your perfect life?"
Each word was designed to hurt. And it worked.
"Papa!" Storm's face lit up. He let go of Kieran's leg and hugged Darius instead. "The plane was scary, but Mama helped me be brave."
Papa. My son called another man Papa.
Something inside me broke completely. "No. No, you don't get to—he's my son. They're my children!"
"Biology doesn't make you a father," Darius said calmly. "Being there makes you a father. And where were you?"
"I didn't know!" I shouted. "I didn't know Kieran was pregnant! If I had known—"
"You would have what?" Kieran's voice was deadly quiet. "Kept me around out of obligation? Raised children with someone you called a mistake? My babies deserved better than a father who was ashamed of their Omega parent."
"I was never ashamed of you!"
"You stood in front of three hundred people and said I was inappropriate!" Kieran was shaking now. "You said dating me was a mistake you needed to correct! The video went viral, Ashton! I still get messages from people mocking me! So don't you dare say you weren't ashamed!"
Airport security was approaching now. We were causing a scene. But I couldn't stop. Couldn't let them leave.
"I was scared," I admitted, my voice breaking. "My mother threatened to destroy everything. To destroy you. I thought if I ended it publicly, quickly, she'd leave you alone. I thought I was protecting you—"
"By humiliating me?" Kieran cut me off. "By making me a joke? By leaving me with nothing? Some protection that was."
Marcus pulled on my arm. "Ash, security is coming. We need to go."
But I couldn't go. Not now. Not when I'd just found out I had children. Not when Kieran was standing there with another Alpha's arm around him.
"I'll fight for them," I said desperately. "I'll file for a paternity test. For custody. You can't keep my children from me."
Kieran's face went pale. Sage started crying harder. Storm looked confused and scared. And Darius's expression turned dangerous.
"You want to threaten us?" Darius's voice dropped low. "You want to drag these innocent children through a legal battle? Force them to take DNA tests? Terrorize their mother?"
"I just want what's mine!"
"We're not yours!" Kieran screamed. "We stopped being yours the second you chose your mother over us! You want a DNA test? Fine! Prove they're biologically yours! It won't change anything! They'll still call him Papa! They'll still love him! And they'll still hate you for hurting their mother!"
The truth of his words hit me like a physical blow. Even if I proved the twins were mine, even if I won custody rights, I'd still be the villain in their story. The Alpha who abandoned their pregnant Omega parent. The stranger trying to force his way into their happy family.
Security guards were surrounding us now. "Sirs, we need you to calm down or leave the terminal."
Marcus was already pulling me backward. "Come on, Ash. Let them go. You're making it worse."
But as Darius led Kieran and the twins away, Storm looked back at me. Our eyes met—identical gray eyes—and he asked his Omega parent in a voice that carried: "Mama, why does that Alpha smell like family? My wolf says he's important, but I don't understand why."
Kieran's response was too quiet for me to hear. But I saw his face crumble. Saw him hug his son tighter. Saw Darius glare at me with pure hatred.
And then they disappeared into the crowd.
I stood there among scattered rose petals, my heart shattered, my wolf howling in agony. Marcus was saying something about lawyers and DNA tests and legal rights. But all I could think about was Storm's question.
Why does that Alpha smell like family?
Because I was family. I was his biological father. And somehow, I had to prove that I deserved to be more than just biology.
Even if Kieran would hate me forever for trying.