It wasn't long after Lucian was born, only three days, when the whispers began.
I first caught wind of them in the pre-dawn hours, when I woke to feed him. I could hear Lyra and Selvara's voices, low and urgent, drifting from the main room where they sat by the dying embers of the fire.
"...can't just be coincidence," Lyra was saying. "The eyes, the grip strength, how he barely sleeps. Newborns don't track movement like that."
"I know," Selvara's voice was tight, almost strained. "I've delivered dozens of pups. None opened their eyes that fast. None had that kind of awareness."
"It's the bloodline," Lyra said after a pause. "Only true Alpha bloodlines carry Lycans. The old texts don't lie. And Jasper's line..."
"Is one of the oldest in the Heartlands," Lyra finished. "From the First Alphas. Before the schism. Before the packs fractured."
