“Who?” Elk asked, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling.
The door was wide open. Levi’s jaw dropped, or at least that’s how it felt, because she still remembered her father’s face. He had just grown older, but was still the same man.
Rish’s looks were always compared to their father’s, while Levi’s didn’t resemble either of her parents.
“Who are you? Where is Maya?” Elk asked again, his eyes narrowing.
“I’m… Levi…”
“Levi.”
Hearing her name from her father’s lips felt like a meteor shower, the intensity she felt. Levi couldn’t even utter the words stuck in her throat.
She stepped aside so he could enter. Elk just looked at her with a hard expression, not saying anything as he went inside.
Levi led him to the room where Maya, Rish, and Jackson were sitting. She clenched her fists to control her nerves that threatened to burst forth.
As they entered the room, Maya’s eyes fell on Elk. Tears lingered on her eyelids, pain and sadness in her eyes as she saw her husband, her mate, her man, her life’s love – Elk.
“Maya,” Elk whispered, seeing his wife after 18 years. His jaw tightened, feeling taken aback.
“Sit first, Elk,” Jackson interjected.
Elk’s eyes moved toward Jackson, then settled on his son Rish, who looked like a younger version of himself.
He took a seat beside Jackson and looked at Maya again, his eyes flowing with so many unasked questions that anyone could see.
Maya stared back at Elk, tears spilling down her cheeks. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out at first. After a moment, she managed in a trembling voice, “Elk… how are you?”
Rish watched the emotional reunion with a mix of joy and apprehension. He had imagined this moment countless times, but seeing his father in the flesh after so many years was almost surreal.
Jackson placed a reassuring hand on Elk’s shoulder. “It’s been a long time.”
Elk nodded slowly, still trying to process everything. His gaze flickered between Maya, the love he had mourned for so long, and Rish, his grown son who was practically a stranger.
Levi lingered in the doorway, giving them space but unable to tear herself away. Seeing her father again unleashed a torrent of emotions she hadn’t expected. Part of her wanted to run into his arms, while another part held back, fearful of his rejection after all this time.
The silence stretched out, thick with unspoken feelings and unresolved history. Finally, Elk found his voice again. “I… I don’t know what to say. There’s so much… how is this possible?”
He looked imploringly at Maya, longing for answers, for any explanation that could help make sense of this situation.
“This is Rish and that is Levi, our kids,” Maya said, pointing toward them as her voice cracked slightly. She wiped the tears with her arm, her eyes reddened.
She didn’t remember the last time she had cried this much, but today it felt like years of pent-up emotions were pouring out.
“What’s happening?”
Everyone turned toward the voice at the doorway, where Priyank and Priya stood looking confused by the scene unfolding before them.
“He is Elk, my husband,” Maya announced.
Priya’s eyes widened as she recalled how Maya had told her everything. It was quite shocking. Her eyes fell on Elk, who looked at her with clear confusion on his face.
“I’m Priya,” she said, answering the unasked question in Elk’s eyes.
Elk’s brow furrowed as he studied Priya, trying to place her in the puzzle of his fractured family. “What is your relationship with Maya?” he asked hesitantly.
Priya opened her mouth to respond, but Priyank stepped forward and spoke first. “She is her niece,” he stated firmly, moving to stand beside Maya in a protective stance.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Levi bit her lip, glancing between Priyank and her long-lost father. Rish tensed, his jaw clenching slightly.
“I found the royal heir, atlast.” Maya bombed her answer.
Elk’s expression remained inscrutable as he processed this information. So much had happened, so many years lost that he didn’t understand.
Jackson cleared his throat. “Why don’t we all have a seat and you can start from the beginning, Maya? Fill Elk in on everything that’s transpired.”
Maya nodded woodenly, suddenly looking drained. As they all took seats, she closed her eyes briefly, steadying herself. When she reopened them, her gaze locked onto Elk’s, shining with determination.
“It all started eighteen years ago, the night you disappeared…” Maya began, her voice heavy with the weight of the past. “I was living in the cabin we used to spend most of our time in. A few days before that, I found Priya in the forest and figured out that she is the daughter of my dead sister and brother-in-law, and the royal heir of this pack – our niece.”
The colour drained from Elk’s face as he heard that Maya had finally found Priya.
“I took her in, helped her and brought her here,” Maya continued solemnly.
Priya reached over and gave Maya’s hand a reassuring squeeze, a silent gesture of support.
“I sent you a letter before coming here,” Maya said, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she looked at Elk. “I got no response at all.”
Levi watched her mother with a pained expression, remembering those agonising years when Maya had been consumed by grief over everything. Rish’s jaw ticked, his arms folded tightly across his chest.
“Letter? I got no letter. What letter are you talking about, Maya?” Elk’s face was covered in confusion at the mention of a letter.
Here he had been waiting in this pack for 18 years for her to connect with him, but she never did. How could there be a letter now, when Lucas had informed him that Maya was back and she had just met him? He hadn’t believed it at first, but then again, Lucas wouldn’t lie to him.
But then Maya had called him, and it confirmed that she was indeed here in the pack, which swept him off his feet.
“Huh?”
Elk shook his head slowly, still trying to make sense of everything. “I never received any letter from you, Maya. If I had, I would have… well, you know I would have moved heaven and earth to find you again.”