Gideon’s POV
When I arrived at Ivan’s pack, I learned two things in very quick succession. One, Gregory was dead by his own hand. And two, Leo’s location had been disclosed to an unknown contact of Gregory’s. Each of these things left me more frustrated and irritated than the last, to the point where my hands were curled into fists, and I was finding it difficult not to rage shift.
Raven kept glancing at me with concern, but I was strong enough to hold myself together. I needed to maintain my calm to discuss what was going to happen next.
I held my tongue until we had returned to the pack house, not wanting to argue about this out in the open where anyone could see. Ivan might have trusted his warriors, but I didn’t, at least not with such sensitive pack information as this.
In the pack house, we went straight to Ivan’s office where the three of us – Ivan, Raven, and myself – stood in a small circle. Ivan crossed his arms. Raven looked to the side. My hands were still fists.
“Leo should return home now,” I said. Raven’s gaze snapped to me sharply. “Now that his cover is blown, there is no reason for him to remain here.”
“My pack is still safer than yours,” Ivan replied. “Even with this discovery, I am certain Leo will be safer here than within your borders.”
“I am his father.”
“But you cannot be with him every moment of every day, nor can you depend on Raven to. She will guard the boy, I’m sure, but she would have to do so without sleeping or taking any moments of pause for herself. The wear would be too great and
would suffer for it.”
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“I am capable,” Raven said.
“For how long?” Ivan asked her. “When you first arrived here, you were exhausted and malnourished. If you were to return, it would be the same again.”
“My enemies know that Leo is here,” I said.
“The seclusion of this pack and the loyalty of my warriors give us an edge here that your more populous and open pack simply cannot have,” Ivan said. He said things plainly, like he was just being practical. Like he wasn’t putting down my pack and lifting his own in the same sentence.
I didn’t want to admit that he might be right. Worse, Raven stayed silent, which clearly meant she was taking Ivan’s side.
This only amplified the already boiling anger within me. That she – they were doubting the strength of my pack meant that they were doubting my strength. From Ivan, a rival Alpha, I could understand this point of view, annoying as it was, but from Raven?
Inwardly, I condemned myself and my foolish feelings. Why would I have ever thought that Raven might think well on my pack and on me, when she was so tied up with Ivan?
I’d had enough of these churning thoughts and these accusations.
“Leo is my son,” I said firmly. “And as his father, I have the right to take him back home whenever I want.”
Claire’s POV
It took everything within me to bite my tongue in this moment, when all that I really wanted to do was scream, he’s my son too! I had just as much of a right as Gideon did to determine where my son should live, but I couldn’t say so without exposing my true identity.
16:41 Mon, Jan 19 J M G
Chapter 97
If Gideon knew the truth, it would only make things so much worse. I had kept my identity secret for this long, I had to continue to do so, even if it enraged me. Even if I had to bite my tongue so hard, it bled.
I hated everything about this. I wanted to speak my mind and voice my frustrations. Instead, I had to hold them brack, burying them inside of me so deeply they made me sick.
Gideon’s eyes were on me, and for a moment, I wondered if he could see the well of frustration inside of me. Maybe he cared. Maybe he would ask me what I thought and take that seriously.
Instead, he said, “You know I’m right, Raven. You keep siding with Ivan only because you are allowing your romantic feelings for him to cloud your reason.”
For an instant, I felt a hot flash of anger, truly hating that I was being talked down to like this. But then I blinked. I realized what Gideon had said. I replayed three times over in my mind.
Then, looking at him in confusion, I opened my mouth and asked, “What?”
What on earth had he meant by that? He couldn’t think…
Ivan and me?
I glanced at Ivan, who was keeping a cool level stare on Gideon. He didn’t look at me at all, even when I was sure he could feel me looking at him.
“I know all about it,” Gideon continued.
I felt like I was missing something here. “About what?” I asked him.
My clear confusion must have changed something for him because his brow started to crinkle.
He opened his mouth, maybe to tell me what the hell he was talking about, but before he could say one word, Leo burst into the room.
“Wait! I don’t want to go home yet!” Leo rushed to his father and hugged him around the waist. Looking up at Gideon, he pleaded. “Don’t make me go home, Dad.”
“Leo…” Gideon seemed at a total loss now.
Ivan closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. “Stay for dinner, Gideon, and we will continue discussing this. For now, Leo has missed you. You should spend time with your son.”
Gideon seemed uncertain, but after looking from Ivan down to Leo once more, he seemed to make up his mind.
“Yes,” he said. “Let’s go talk, Leo. I’d like to see Nova too.”
“Okay.” Leo took his father’s hand and led him out through the door.
In the hallway, Gideon asked, “Why wouldn’t you want to go home?”
Leo didn’t immediately answer. “Nova is over here.”
I waited until I heard them go farther down the hallway, and then I turned to Ivan.
“That… What Gideon said… It was strange, wasn’t it?” I said.
“Was it?” Ivan asked. He turned away from me to busy himself with something on his desk. From my view, all it looked like he was doing was needlessly shuffling papers around, making one stack and then moving them all to another.
I moved closer to him. “Ivan.”
16:41 Mon, Jan 19
Chapter 97
“Hm?”
“We should talk about this.”
“Talk about what?”
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I touched his forearm lightly to draw his attention back to me. It worked. He first looked at my hand on his arm and then up to my face.
“Why would Gideon think we are a couple?” I asked.
“I’m sure he saw us on our walk the other night,” Ivan replied. “A man could draw his own conclusions from that.”
I remembered that starlit walk and realized how it must have looked to someone from the outside looking in. Ivan and I were close friends, and sometimes, vaguely, I felt as if there could be potential between us. But I wasn’t looking for love, and Ivan never pressed the issue.
Now though, as he watched me steadily, he asked, “Would something like that between us really be so bad?”
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