Chapter 44 - Eating ice cream

When they arrived at the pack house, Lena clung to her son. She wasn’t sure what the hell Alaric was planning. Was he going to take her son away? Lock her up in that awful room he used to keep her in or just kill her and finally get it over with … The pack slowly started to gather around her while Alaric shifted and she could hear them speculating about the child.

Rebecca came walking out of the house and Lena fought the urge to smile. The small girl she had known had grown into a beautiful young woman who had a very stern look on her face. Lena looked away as she saw a flash of pain in Rebecca’s eyes for just a moment. She knew she had hurt Rebecca terribly when she left, but couldn’t they understand that she had no other choice?

“I would like you all to meet my son, Ben.” Alaric’s voice interrupted Lena’s thoughts as Alaric took her son from her arms. Ben gladly went to his father and smiled and her heart broke. There was dead silence around the pack until Rebecca walked up to Alaric and took Ben from him.

“Hi, Ben. I’m your aunt Rebecca. Welcome home.” Rebecca glared at Lena as she said the word home. Some of the female pack members moved closer and Lena took one step forward, stretching out her hand, but halfway, decided against saying or doing anything. These people were Ben’s family. They would never hurt him, but she couldn’t help feeling protective. Alaric gripped her wrist as they started to move into the pack house.

“Rebecca, why don’t you take Ben and show him around while Lena and I have a little chat.” His voice was filled with such anger that Lena flinched slightly and she almost lost her balance because of the force with which he dragged her away. She was fully expecting him to throw her in her old room and lock her away in the cage again when he surprised her by shoving her into his office.

She fought to keep her balance, but quickly found it as he stepped past her and started to pace back and forth. Pulling his fingers through his hair as if trying to think of what to say. Lena felt the bond between them pulling her closer to him so she could comfort what it was that was upsetting him, but she knew better. There was no way she would make him feel better right now.

“I don’t even know where to start. This was not how I was expecting this day to turn out.” He sighed, still not looking at her as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Why did you leave?” He turned and looked at Lena and she felt all her reasons for leaving fall away when she saw the hurt in his eyes. How did she tell this man that she feared him and his people? How did she tell him that she could never be herself here? That she had to run because she could never be a blood which?

“You killed my parents.” Lena was shocked at the words that slipped out of her mouth. She wasn’t even thinking about all that.

“I thought we had worked past all of that. Lena, you slept with me. You let me mark you.” Alaric sounded frustrated as his hands flailed around. “You had our son! Tell me something …” He pulled his fingers through his hair again and sighed. “If I hadn't found you there today, would you have told him about me? Would I ever have known I had a son?” Tears filled both their eyes as she shrugged.

“As you saw, I did everything I could to hide it from everybody. I wasn’t planning on ever telling him or you about the other.” Lena felt slightly faint and she sat down on the chair not giving a damn anymore. After all her careful planning and spell work, Alaric still found them. They had some time, but he still found them, which meant that fate would never let her leave. No matter how unhappy she was there, fate would always bring her back.

She no longer cared what he did to her. She just wanted him to take care of their son. If her son never knew he was part blood witch it wouldn’t matter anymore. It also didn’t help to think about everything she should have done to get away for good. She knew that she would never ever be able to leave this place again. Even if she could get away, fate would bring her back.

That meant that there was no use in lying. She could have told Alaric that the child wasn’t his the first time he saw them, and she didn’t. There were so many ways she could have gotten them both out of this, but she didn’t. Now it was over.

“I can’t even look at you right now, yet every cell in my body is screaming to take you. I want to pin you down on that chair and make love to you until you submit to me, Lena.” His brutal honesty forced her to look at him. Her mind couldn’t fathom that he could still feel that way after everything that happened between them. What was even worse was that her mind couldn’t fathom how the hell she was still so damn in love with him. He gripped her upper arm and dragged her to his room.

She was surprised to find that he did that, but not when he closed and locked the door before leaving. She looked at the room that held so many damn memories before sitting down on the bed that held even more memories. She loved and hated him in equal parts at the same time. Now she loathed herself for being so stupid to stay nearby.

She wondered if she did that because somewhere deep down, she wanted him to find them … No, that can’t be. She went back to her coven grounds because it was her home. It was the only home she had ever known besides the pack house.

ALARIC ABSENTMINDEDLY WALKED into the dining room where Rebecca was laughing. She hadn’t laughed in such a long time that he had almost forgotten how beautiful his sister’s laugh was. She was wiping Ben’s face after they gave him ice cream and he wanted more.

Alaric realized that his son probably had never had ice cream before. There was probably so much he didn’t know. There was so much he had missed and Alaric instantly felt the anger boil from deep inside, but he couldn’t be angry with Lena. She had given him a son even though she had hidden his son for so many years. She was his mate and the bond forced him to love her. It forced her to love him.

“Pappa!” Ben shouted as excitement burst out all over the little guy’s face and Alaric instantly forgot what he was thinking about. He could see the parts of his son that looked so damn much like Lena, but what captured his heart was the parts of his son that looked so much like he did. Ben looked more like his father than he did his mother.

Alaric looked at Ben and realized that he would never be able to take Lena away from this incredible little boy. If he did that, his son would never forgive him. He would not only lose his mate, but he would lose his child, and he had barely gotten them back.

“Yes, my boy?” Alaric grinned at Rebecca when she raised a brow. He knew that she knew exactly what he was about to say.

“Aunt Becca won’t give me more.” Ben held his bowl in the air to show Alaric and Alaric burst out laughing as Rebecca stood up and took the bowl.

“He is going to get a stomach ache.” She said as she walked away with the bowl.

“But it will be worth it.” Alaric laughed while taking a seat beside Ben. “You are the son of an alpha, Ben. You can have whatever you want.”

“Where’s mommy? She also needs cream ice.” Ben smiled as he looked at the door and then a frown started to form on his face when he turned to look at Alaric, who sighed.

“Mommy was tired. I told her to sleep in my room. We can go and see her after you finish this delicious cream ice your aunt is bringing.” Alaric pointed at Rebecca, who was returning with a new bowl full of ice cream. Alaric hadn’t thought about what he was going to do now. Where would Lena and Ben stay? Would they all stay in one room? Did he take the chance of leaving his son with a woman who ran away from home twice?