One.

Eirlys POV:

"Daddy's coming today."

My hands froze right in the middle of kneading the bread dough. Flour puffed up around my fingers as I looked down at my little boy sitting cross-legged on the worn kitchen floor. He was happily scraping uneven lines into a chunk of firewood with a dull butter knife, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth in total concentration. Those dark curls kept falling into his silver-gray eyes...the same eyes I saw in my dreams and nightmares every single damn day.

"Auren, honey," I said softly, wiping my hands on my apron, "don't play with knives like that, okay?"

"It isn't even sharp, Mama. Look." He grinned up at me, all proud of himself, and pressed his little finger right against the blunt edge. "See? No ouch."

I let out a long sigh and walked over anyway, gently taking the knife from his hand. "Still. Better safe than sorry, my love."

He tilted his head, those big eyes watching me. "You've said Daddy's coming every morning for almost a year now."

My chest squeezed tight. "Because one day I'll be right, sweetheart."

Kids weren't supposed to carry hope that heavy. It broke something in me every time he said it.

Auren dug into the pocket of his tiny patched overalls and pulled out the little wooden wolf. The carving was smooth and shiny now from all the years of his small fingers rubbing over it. It was the only thing his father had ever left us.

"Daddy made Wolfie for me," he said, smiling like it was the best thing in the world. "He promised he'd come back to us."

My throat burned like I'd swallowed hot coals. "Yeah... he did promise," I managed to get out, my voice rough.

"So why is he so late?" Auren asked, turning the little wolf over in his hands.

I didn't know why exactly. Maybe because promises are cheap and easier to make. Maybe because sometimes love isn't enough to make someone stay because people can vanish when life gets hard and the world doesn't care how much you need them.

I swallowed all those bitter truths before they could slip out.

Instead, I forced a smile and ruffled his curls. "Maybe he just got lost on the way home, huh? The mountains are tricky sometimes."

Auren nodded slowly, like that made perfect sense to him. "I'll wait then."

He always did. Every single day.

Every sunset he'd race to the front gate, standing on his tiptoes to see farther down the path. Every sunrise he'd ask if today was finally the day. Every birthday candle he blew out came with the same quiet little wish I wasn't supposed to hear.

*Bring Daddy home.*

I turned away fast so he wouldn't catch the tears stinging my eyes.

Three years.

Three long years since the man I loved with every piece of my heart had disappeared without a single word. No letter. No message. Nothing. Just... gone.

Some days I told myself he must have died. It hurt less than thinking he'd chosen a life without us.

A loud knock suddenly banged against the front door. Three sharp raps that made my heart jump straight into my throat.

"Stupid. Ridiculous." I cussed at myself. After all this time, I still reacted like that. Still hoped. Still wondered 'what if?'

Auren was already scrambling to his feet. "Daddy!" He took off running toward the door before I could grab him.

"Auren, wait!" I hurried after him, quickly wiping the rest of the flour off my hands onto my apron before yanking the door open.

It wasn't him.

Just old Mrs. Brindle from across the stream, her face already pinched in that familiar disapproving frown.

"I heard your boy was pestering strangers in the village again," she said, arms crossed tight over her chest.

Heat rushed up my neck. "I'm really sorry about that, Mrs. Brindle."

"You should be." Her sharp eyes slid over to Auren, who had tucked himself behind my leg. "It's a downright shame. A little pup who doesn't even know his own father."

Auren's head dropped, staring at his scuffed shoes.

My hands curled into fists at my sides. "He knows exactly who his father is."

"Does he now?" She let out a harsh snort. "Because none of us have ever laid eyes on the man. Not once."

*Neither have I. Not in three years.*

"He'll come back," Auren whispered from behind me, his voice so small it nearly killed me.

Mrs. Brindle gave a dry laugh. "Men like that? Irresponsible types who run off? They don't come back, girl. It's a real pity you couldn't give that child a better father."

Something inside me cracked wide open. "My son doesn't need your pity, Mrs. Brindle."

"No," she shot back coldly, already turning to leave. "What he needs is a father."

The words hit like a slap across the face. She shuffled off down the path without another word.

I stood there for a second, then slowly closed the door, the latch clicking loudly in the quiet cottage.

Behind me, Auren's voice came out shaky and small. "Mom... did I do something bad?"

I spun around so fast my skirt whipped around my legs. "No, baby. No, you didn't."

I dropped to my knees right there on the floor and pulled him into my arms, pressing quick, desperate kisses into his soft dark curls.

"Then why doesn't Daddy want us?" he asked, his little voice cracking.

I cupped his sweet face in both hands, looking straight into those silver-gray eyes. "Listen to me, Auren. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. The very best."

"But Daddy—"

"I don't know why he left," I whispered, the truth spilling out raw and honest. "I wish I did. But whatever his reasons were... it was never, ever because of you. Okay?"

He sniffled hard, a fat tear rolling down his cheek. "Promise?"

"I promise, sweetheart. Cross my heart."

His tiny arms wrapped tight around my neck, clinging like he was afraid I'd disappear too. "I'll protect you, Mama. I will."

A watery laugh slipped out of me. "Oh yeah?"

He nodded, dead serious. "When I get big and turn into a strong wolf, I'll make sure Mrs. Brindle and anybody else stops being mean to my mummy!"

My heart swelled so much it hurt. I smiled and gently messed up his hair with my fingers. "My brave, brave boy."

Outside, thunder rumbled deep across the mountains. The wind picked up fast, slamming against the windows so hard the whole cottage rattled.

Auren suddenly went stiff in my arms. "Mama..."

"What's wrong, honey?" I asked, pulling back to look at him.

"My head hurts really bad." His voice was tiny.

Before I could even react, his small body started trembling. Then he let out a sharp, awful scream that tore right through me—nothing like I'd ever heard from him before.

His eyes flashed. Not just gray or silver anymore. They glowed bright like molten moonlight.

And right there in front of me, my four-year-old son... shifted.

A tiny silver wolf burst out of his little body in a shimmer of light and fur.

The cottage fell completely silent except for the storm outside.

I stopped breathing. I couldn't move. Shock crashed over me like ice water had been dumped over me because every wolf alive knew one impossible truth.

No child had ever shifted this young. Not once in all of recorded history.

For one full minute, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t even scream.

The tiny silver wolf stood right where my son had been only seconds ago, wobbling unsteadily on paws that still looked too big for his little body. He tilted his head like he couldn’t figure out why the world had suddenly grown so much bigger around him.

Then he sneezed. A tiny, ridiculous little sneeze that somehow broke straight through my frozen panic.

“Auren!”

I dropped to my knees so fast my skirt pooled around me on the floorboards.

The little wolf looked up at me with those same frightened silver-gray eyes I’d kissed a thousand times before. Eyes I knew better than my own.

“Mama…” The word came out as a soft, high-pitched whine instead of my little boy’s voice.

“Oh, Moon Goddess…” Tears flooded my vision as I scooped him into my arms, holding his warm, furry little body close to my chest.

His fur was impossibly soft, like the finest down, still carrying the familiar scent of my son...bread dough, wood shavings, and that sweet milky smell he hadn’t quite grown out of yet. His tiny heart hammered against my skin, racing so fast I worried it might burst.

“It’s okay, baby,” I whispered, rocking him gently even though nothing felt okay. “Mama’s right here. I’ve got you.”

He buried his little muzzle under my chin, trembling all over. “It hurts, Mama…”