Chapter 205: Her Name Was Valeri
Chapter 205: Her Name Was Valeri
Aurora’s POV
Alpha John told us not to bother him or Alessandro. It was something he wanted to discuss privately with his son.
I was stunned. My own father, the man who had abandoned me for all those years had just come back and was suddenly wanting to act as my father.
We were outside the office, and I scowled at him, with tightly crossed arms.
We neither spoke nor did we even nod to each other at the beginning.
The silence was between us was heavy as if it suffocated us. After all that had transpired, what could be said.
Eventually, he cleared his throat and in a very awkward voice said,
"Er... I got to know about your mother... she is not a part of this pack anymore."
Ignoring him, I briefly nodded.
"Yeah, " I said mildly.
"It was because of her addiction that she was sent to rehab."
He said in a broken voice, "Your mother... she was addicted to so many things... I just... I can’t figure out why I never saw it before, until—"
"Until you left me with her?"
I said sharply, interrupting him, my voice getting louder before I could restrain myself.
His eyes looking guilty he turned to me, "Aurora Holmes, I—"
"STOP ADDRESSING ME THAT WAY!"
I yelled, the words escaping my mouth before I could even breathe.
My anger was so great that it shook my whole body.
"Father, you abandoned me.
You left me!"
I kept going, feeling my throat and chest burn, "You gave me away to her!
Do you have any idea what I had to do to survive?!
Do you know what I went through because of what you did years ago?!"
He sighed deeply, looked down as if my words weighed on him, his hands were trembling a bit and in that moment, he didn’t even look like the strong Alpha tower everybody respects, he just looked like a broken man.
"I know," he said in a low voice.
"I know that no words can change what I did to you. I know nothing I can say will erase your scars.
But, Aurora..."
His voice was breaking, harsh, but with some genuine regret.
"One more chance, let me correct my past mistakes. Show you how I can be the father you need.
Just provide me with your support. Watch me stand beside you. Feel the strength of the father you need to confront Alpha John."
His demand haunts me, his voice clear as day, and my heart torn between rage and something much more dangerous, hope.
Just then, I heard something I shouldn’t have heard.
“Alpha Tony’s sister was your mate?”
My blood ran cold. My eyes bugged out as I turned to my dad. He didn’t reject it, he merely gave a quiet, sorrowful smile… and then slowly nodded.
I stepped closer, my heart thumping loudly.
“What do they mean, Father?
Who were the mates?” My voice was shaky, but I pushed harder with
“Tell me the truth, father!”
He gulped, looked at me, then at the shut door where Alessandro and Alpha John were still talking.
“Aurora… this is not the place”—”
“Don’t you dare!” I barked, my fists shaking with anger.
“Don’t you dare shove me to the side with half-truths again! You have deceived me more times than you care to remember. Who was Aunt Valeri’s mate?”
He clenched his jaw but eventually let out a shaky breath.
“Alpha John. Your mate’s father.
He was the one that the Moon Goddess bound to my sister, your aunt.”
My world seemed to slide sideways.
“Alpha John… Alessandro’s father?”
My ribs ached as I asked
“Did Alessandro’s father turn down Aunt Valeri?”
He opened his eyes and nodded. “Yes, he did.
He abandoned her. And it is because of that repudiation that she—”
His voice became hoarse, full of sorrow.
“She did not survive it. She took her life, thinking she was not good enough.”
A hard punch took the air from my lungs. I took a step back, shaking my head, stunned.
“No… no, it can’t be true.”
“It is,” he murmured.
“Your aunt had been searching for her mate for a long time. She was… what would I call her… cheerful, and always so full of hope.
She believed with all her heart that the day she turned eighteen, she would meet her mate, and then live happily ever after.”
His lips trembled with a faint, broken smile.
“I used to make fun of her, telling her she was silly, living in a fantasy.
But my father your grandfather, Alpha Lucius, he adored her. Valeri was his light.
He would scold me harshly whenever I teased her, reminding me that hope was her greatest strength.”
My chest tightened at the name.
“Valeri…” I whispered.
“Her name was Valeri?”
He nodded slowly.
“Yes. Valeri Holmes. Your aunt. And when her eighteenth birthday came, she waited… but no mate came.
A year passed. Then another. She told herself maybe he wasn’t of age yet, or maybe she needed to travel, to find him.”
His voice cracked with emotion as he continued.
“So she disguised herself. Left behind her wealth, her status… and worked as a servant, a maid, in different packs.
She wanted to meet her mate not as Alpha Lucius’s daughter, but as just herself.
She was convinced that only then would the bond be true, pure.”
I swallowed hard, my throat burning. “And that’s when she met him, isn’t it?
That’s when she found Alpha John.”
His eyes darkened, haunted. “Yes. She finally scented him during a moon ceremony.
She told me later… she had never felt so alive. She thought the Goddess had answered her prayers.
She ran to him, trembling with excitement, ready to give him her whole life.”
He dragged a hand down his face, his voice dropping.
“But John… he spat on the bond.
He called her a slave. Rejected her in front of everyone. She collapsed at his feet, begging him to reconsider. But he turned his back and walked away.”
Tears blurred my eyes as bile rose in my throat.
“And that’s what killed her…”
He nodded, his shoulders shaking.
“She tried to endure it at first, but the pain was too much. The rejection burned her alive from the inside.
One night… she ended it. She left a note saying she wasn’t worthy of love. That maybe the Moon Goddess had made a mistake.”
My hands trembled violently.
“Oh my God…” I whispered.
“So Alessandro’s father destroyed her.”
“Yes,” he said bitterly.
“And that’s why when I saw you with Alessandro, I thought history was repeating itself.
I thought he would break you, too, just as his father broke my sister.”
I glared at him through my tears, my voice shaking.
“But he isn’t his father. And I’m not Valeri. Don’t you dare compare us.”
My father was silent but I could sense that he agreed. Only just, I almost repeated the same experience with Leonardo.
He was a chaotic, arrogant, unfaithful, self-centered jerk who did not fail to upset me over and over before I met Alessandro.
I let him have my trust, my love, and he broke both of them with no second thought.
Every day with him had been like walking barefoot over broken glass, bleeding, but still trying to keep going.
I clenched my fist and my heart felt like it was being squeezed at the memory.
But Alessandro… Alessandro is not his father or anything alike to him.
Where Leonardo played with my feelings, Alessandro protected me.
While Leonardo used lies, Alessandro spoke the truth, even if it was hard.
Where Leonardo left me in pieces, Alessandro rescued me and stayed with me.
My father’s eyes met mine and I lifted mine with defiance.
"You don’t have to like him" I said emphatically.
"But don’t you ever judge him by his family. He’s not John the Alpha.
He is Alessandro. He is… mine."
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