Chapter 52

‘What?’
‘Aunt Allie is standing just a few feet away and staring straight at me, Alpha!’ Theo mindlinks me. 
‘Where are you?’ I ask as I run out of my office.
‘I’m in the woods. I was just heading home when—’
‘Theo, get away from her immediately! She can’t find out about our world!’
‘I can’t!’
‘Why not?’ I ask as I run down the hallway of the packhouse.
‘My leg is stuck!’
I stop running abruptly. ‘What do you mean?’
‘My leg got caught in the wire of the old cabin fence.’
I take a deep breath, trying not to lose my temper. ‘Were you trying to use the fence as an obstacle again, Theo?’ I pinch the bridge of my nose. It’s not the first time he and Lily have been jumping to see which of the wolves can get over the fence.
‘Alpha Ethan, she’s getting closer to me!’
Fuck! ‘Calm down. Everything will be fine. I’m on my way there, but there’s no way I can get to where you are in time, so I’ll give you directions. Keep talking. What is she doing?’
‘Aunt Allie is coming closer. Ouch! My wolf is trying to get free, but the wire is only wrapping around his leg even more,’ Theo cries desperately.
Everybody knows that it’s pack protocol to inform the Alpha immediately if they’re in any kind of danger. Especially the kids. Even though his father is my Beta, little Theo knows he should inform me first before Josh.
‘I’m coming, Theo. Take a deep breath and try to calm your wolf, Kral is talking to him right now,’ I say as I run. On the way, everyone notices that I’m in alert mode and just makes room for me to run.
I should have known this would happen after she ran into me in the woods. I thought Vi had taken care of this.
‘What’s she doing, Theo?’
‘She’s started approaching cautiously. My wolf is growling at her.’ 
I feel a deep growl vibrate in my chest, coming directly from Kral as he hears that Theo’s wolf is growling at her. 
She’s in danger. 
She’s human. It doesn’t take much to rip out her delicate throat. 
Theo continues, completely unaware of my thoughts, ‘My wolf can’t growl at her for long, Alpha Ethan. He’s too familiar with her, I guess... Besides, even if he growls, it isn’t stopping her!’
Theo’s wolf isn’t as big as an adult wolf, at least he can pass for an ordinary wolf if she doesn’t know much about wolves. However, if she looks carefully at him, she’ll realize that he’s not a normal wolf.
‘Alpha Ethan, help, she’s getting too close!’
‘Theo, keep calm! Let me get inside your mind and see through your eyes. Focus on that and let your wolf deal with her. Kral will direct him!’
Theo whines but obeys. I close my eyes and rest my hand on the nearest tree so I can concentrate. A second later, because I’m an Alpha, I’m already in the child’s mind, able to see everything his wolf can see.
And there she is! 
She’s standing right in front of him with her raised hands. “Hey, cutie, it’s okay.”
She kneels down next to Theo’s wolf. Then she starts to pet him. “I’ll help you. Oh my goodness, look at this poor little leg!” She baby-talks to him. “I’m going to take that nasty wire off your leg so you can run happily in the forest! What about that? Sounds good? Yeah, right?”
Little Dove starts working on the wire. Initially, Theo’s wolf was showing his teeth to her, but now he is just whining and standing still.
“Look at you,” she continues to baby-talk to the wolf. “What a good baby boy you are! You’re doing amazing! Almost done!”
The wolf begins to relax in her presence and in the sweet voice she uses as she untwists his paw from the wire. “I’ll take care of it, and then I’ll leave you, okay, baby boy? Please don’t bite me when I free you. You are too cute for that!”
I catch myself opening a smile. She’s too sweet. 
I’ve known human females. I’m used to seeing them in Summerville and some at my nightclub, but this one is something else. 
She has a frail vulnerability about her that calls to all my protective instincts, but she also has an inner strength and bravery that makes me respect her. 
She doesn’t need to help Theo’s wolf and yet, despite knowing that he might attack her, she does it. 
Her actions are completely unacceptable and she will definitely hear about it when she gets *safely* to the packhouse.
“I’m done!” Little Dove says with a big smile, then she pets him again. 
‘Theo, get out of there immediately. Run before she sees your leg being healed,’ I say, wiping away my stupid smile.
‘But Alpha Ethan, my wolf likes to be near her. Aunt Allie would never hurt us.’
‘Theo.’ I command in a low, deep voice.
‘Yes, Alpha Ethan!’ he says right away. Then he looks at Alicent, who looks like she is finally scared of him now because she takes a step back with wide eyes, probably thinking he’s going to bite her. But then he bows deeply to her before sprinting off into the woods without looking back.
Good thing he was quick because the wound on his leg has already started to heal.
Minutes later, I run into Alicent in the backyard of the packhouse. She was coming back from her walk without a hint of worry.
With my arms crossed, I yell in her direction when I spot her. “Did you go running in the woods again?”
She widens her eyes. “Hey, are you spying on me now?” she says in an accusatory tone.
“I have better things to do than waste my time with this.”
She curls her sultry lips. “I just went to the place Vi showed me the other day. Well, today I saw a wolf, I mean, a dog. A dog,” She clears her throat before giving a tight smile, knowing fully well she did something she shouldn’t have.
What if she runs into Kral again? I can’t take that risk. It’s too much.
“Don’t go into the forest alone anymore,” I say firmly. “I mean it, Little Dove.”
“But it’s so beautiful there. Why can’t I go?”
“It’s dangerous!” I say, trying not to lose my temper. “I can’t believe I'm saying this, but I’ll check on you every day if I have to,” I add, annoyed. “If it’ll keep you from wandering out into that forest like an idiot.”
Her eyes snap up at me, and her aura trembles with anger. When she’s mad, her glow aura is white, but when she’s mad at *me*, her glow aura is golden. Sometimes it sparkles when she isn’t mad but feeling some desires... and other times, it sours to a pale yellow, like now.
She opens her mouth before protesting. But I turn my back on her and walk into the packhouse.
My wolf is too happy that she arrived safely.

🐺 🐺 🐺
***Alicent***

**\[08:35 Logan:** This could be me and you:**\]**
**\[08:36 Logan:** *Logan sent you a photo. Unable to open due to low disc space.***\]**

I delete an unused app to get more space. Then I open the photo.
It’s just a photo of a happy couple holding hands in a restaurant.

**\[08:40 Me:** What about your fiancée?**\]**
**\[08:41 Logan:** I’m talking about US!**\]**
**\[08:41 Logan:** For fuck’s sake!**\]**
**\[08:42 Logan:** Don’t forget to bring my son!**\]**
**\[08:45 Me:** We’re on our way, Logan.**\]**

I throw my phone on the bed and go to the bathroom one last time before we head to Summerville. Ethan is going to give us a ride one more time.
I dry my hands and open the bathroom door. Az has my phone in his hand. His punishment ended yesterday. He was forbidden from using my phone, too.
Someone knocks on the door, and I go open it. “Are you ready?” Ethan says as soon as I open it, looking at his watch. The smell of him after he showers makes me dizzy with how good it is. 
“Why does Ethan have to come with us?” Az says, getting up from the bed when he sees him. “Why can’t it be Aunt Vi?”
“Az! What’s gotten into you?” I say scoldingly. “Come on, we’re going to be late. Ethan is doing us a big favor by driving us to Summerville. And we are grateful for that.”
“I saw Dad’s messages. Now I know he was right,” he says, opening the door wider without looking at me. “You’re the one who doesn’t want our family back together.”
“Azrael!” I say, going after him. But I turn to Ethan, still standing next to my bedroom door. “Can you give us a minute?”
He just nods in my direction. I go to Az. “Son, we’ve talked about this a million times. Aren’t you happy living here?”
“Can I go see my dad now, please? I want *him*,” Az says without looking at me. I don’t force him to look at me this time.
“Okay, buddy,” I say, holding back my tears. Az goes straight towards the door of the mansion without looking back or waiting for me.

🐺 🐺 🐺

I don’t know if it was because I held on tight to keep from crying the entire way to Logan’s house that I didn’t even notice when Ethan got out of the car to walk us to the front door.
Az knocks on the door and not long after, to my dismay, not only Logan appears but Chelsea too.
“Az! Look at you! You’re huge!” Logan says, hugging our son.
“Hi, there,” Chelsea says in a creepy voice to Ethan as she is eye fucking him. I curl my hands into fists. God, how I wish she wasn’t here! “I don’t think I’ve met you before! My name is Chelsea. But you can call me Chels,” she giggled, for I don’t know what. Then she tosses her hair to the side. 
Ethan nods towards her without saying a word, making me drop my shoulders for a second before Az suggests, “Dad, what do you think about us doing something together today? You, Mom, and I? Please!” he says with puppy eyes, looking back and forth at us.
“Az! You two should go alone! Lolo hasn’t seen you in a few days. It’ll be good for you two to do something alone,” Chelsea says. “Hey Allie, how have you been? I’ve missed you.”
God, I hate the sound of Chelsea’s voice. Everything about her looks fake, and I’m not talking about her shoes. I’m talking about her personality.
“Fine. What about you?” I answer.
“You have eyes, Allie! As you can see, I’m great!” Chelsea says with a smile that shows off almost all of her very white teeth.
“Well, how about we go now, son?” Logan asks Az.
“That’s great! You and I could go get a drink or something and get to know each other better,” Chelsea says to Ethan, playing with the tips of her hair and biting her bottom lip. Then she turns to me. “You can come along too, Allie.” Oh, how gracious of her! “But I know you don’t like going out much, so I understand, okay? That’s fine. Let’s do it next time. I’ll go with Mr. Mysterious here, and you can wait for us here at home. There are some chores that need to be done. Can you believe I can’t get the floor here as clean as when you were the one cleaning it? I know, right! I’m sure it’ll take you all afternoon to get it all done. That’s how long it will take for us to get back. That’s perfect! Ay! I’m so happy we made it up again! Oh, I almost forgot! When you finish cleaning the floor, make a sugar-free chocolate cake? Lolo went shopping yesterday, and the pantry is full now. You can grab anything you want to bake the cake. I won’t mind because I’m sure we’ll be starving when we get home later!”