Gideon’s POV
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When Claire hung up on me, I pulled the phone away and stared at the screen with some shock, confused and surprised that she would just cut me off like that.
I had known the conversation wouldn’t go well, but this was a whole new level of terrible. Not only had she dismissed my concerns and the evidence I could provide, but she had accused me of trying to wreck her life on purpose.
That wasn’t true. I was just worried about her… right?
Sure, I didn’t like the thought of her and Ivan together. It turned my stomach and made me want to punch things. But that wasn’t why I was bringing this to her.
If someone was dating me under false pretenses, I would want someone to tell me.
Maybe because we had once been close, and then I ruined everything, she just couldn’t take me seriously. I had hurt her once, so she maybe thought I only wanted to keep hurting her.
I supposed I couldn’t blame her for thinking it. I hadn’t done much to prove to her that my intentions were only to help her from being hurt by someone else. Why would she believe me?
She needed to though. I had to find some way to get through, or she was going to be hurt.
In the moment, the only thing I could think to do was take a picture with my phone of the photo of Lena. Then I texted it to Claire.
I set this aside then and tried to do other work. But my thoughts kept going back to Claire and what she was facing. I kept checking the message. It showed that the message had been delivered, but it never changed to read.
Claire could be ignoring me. She might never actually open the message. I couldn’t force her to face her similarities to former Luna Queen Lena or how that might be affecting Ivan’s behavior toward her.
Especially when she was avoiding me.
For one wild moment, I had a thought of storming the border to Ivan’s pack. Of demanding to speak with Claire and Ivan. Of showing Claire the picture in a way she couldn’t hide from, and then confronting Ivan for the truth.
It might start a war, but maybe not. If Claire saw the truth, maybe she would be on my side, and then –
“Daddy?” a small voice said from the doorway, interrupting my thoughts.
I looked up and into the determined eyes of my daughter Nova, standing mostly in the shadow of the door, with only her head and one hand poking around from behind it. “Can I talk to you?”
At once, I scooped all of Ivan’s files back into the folder, hiding even the picture of Lena. Then I set that to the side, along with my other work, and waved Nova forward.
“I always have time for my little girl,” I said. “What’s on your mind?”
“Well…” she came inside, walking up to the front of the desk. She worried her hands together, seeming somewhat nervous now. “I had some ideas for things you could do… to prove you would be a good Dad.”
A spark of hope ignited inside of me. Nova had been distant for some time now. If she could be convinced to accept me more fully as her father, I was eager to prove myself.
I would do whatever it took to end this Daddy trial period, and be the father she accepted in a more complete capacity.
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Chapter 157
“I’m happy to prove myself,” I told her. “What can I do?”
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I was worried about Claire, but there was nothing I could do for her right now that I hadn’t already done, short of going up there and potentially starting a war over it. That could wait right now, as I attended to my daughter.
“Come with me,” Nova said.
I stood at once, ready and willing to follow my little girl anywhere she wanted to go.
Nova led me into one of Leo’s playrooms, to a shelf where board games were up on top.
“I want that game,” Nova said, pointing to the one at the very top
“Is that the test?” I asked her,
“No,” she said. “Reaching it is the test. Daddies should be able to get things from high places.”
She clearly meant that seriously, so I nodded with a serious expression. If this was important to her, it was important to me too. I needed to show her I was very capable of achieving this task.
I turned to the shelf, reached up, and retrieved the game without issue.
When I handed it to her, she nodded critically.
“Did I pass?” I asked.
yes.
“This test, yes,” Nova said. “But there will be others.”
“I understand.” I was ready.
We then called for Leo and the three of us played the game.
After, Nova looked serious again. “I have another test.”
“What is it?”
She hopped off her chair and rounded the table to me. “Daddies should give good hugs.”
At once, I opened my arms and welcomed her into my arms. As she came forward, I gave her the biggest, best bear hug I could manage, even lifting her off her feet and swinging her around in a circle.
“Wheee!” she said, laughing.
“My turn! My turn!” Leo said as I lowered Nova. I gave him the same treatment.
After, I asked, “Did I pass?”
She narrowed her eyes like she was considering. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I suppose.”
“You passed,” Leo said with full confidence.
“That test. I have one more,” Nova said.
“Whatever it is, I will win,” I said.
She looked me right in the eye and said, “Daddies need to be able to defend their princesses from dragons.”
I blinked. Where in the hells was I supposed to get a mythical creature to fight? “A… dragon?”
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Chapter 157
She nodded. ‘s in all the stories”
“That’s true,” Len said in agreement. “She’s right, Dad
I gave it some thought
Twenty minutes later, we were standing out in the courtyard, with some of the guard wearing crude dragon masks.
“It’s a sparring exercise, I said to them, when they looked at me confused. They went along with it though, especially when they saw how excited the kids were to watch me fight dragons: One even roared as he donned his mask.
It warmed me that some of my guard were still good people.
Then the fight began.
I’d thought this would be something of a play fight, but the guards didn’t go easy. But I wasn’t Alpha because I was weak, so! quickly bested all the dragons, flipping them one by one to the ground.
The children cheered.
I turned to Nova, ready to hear the verdict and know my fate.
She tried to hide her smile, but it didn’t work, a grin pulled too widely at her lips.
“You can be my full Daddy now,” she said.
hen
I cheered, then hugged her again, and Leo too.
What a relief to know that I had finally won her over for good.
As we settled down, sitting in the grass, Nova looked at me.
“Daddy, do you think Ivan will be a good Daddy too?” Nova asked
I didn’t like her use of ‘will‘
“He’s just dating your mom,” I said. “That doesn’t make him your Dad.”
“Oh,” Nova said. She tilted her head to the side. “But they are going to get married soon.”
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