Chapter 179
Nova’s POV
More and more, I was starting to see my Dad as someone that yeah, okay, maybe I wouldn’t mind having around full–time. I guessed he wasn’t terrible. In fact, I was even starting to really like him. Maybe I even loved him, but I was waiting to see how Mom handled that first.
If Mom didn’t want him to be my full–time Daddy, then I wasn’t going to love him either. Simple as that.
But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t… help things along. Maybe give Mom and Dad a little push together.
Leo had already been planning stuff on his own, so when I sneaked into his room that night to tell him I was up for some matchmaking, he jumped out of bed like it was Christmas morning and we had a mountain of presents under the tree.
“I have so many ideas,” he said, too loudly, his excitement bursting out of him.
“Shhh!” I said quickly. “If they hear us, it will ruin everything!”
“Right,” he said, on guard at once. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “They already make googly eyes at each other.”
“I’ve seen it,” I could confirm. Likely, with how longingly they looked at each other, they’d probably start to fall in love all on their own without our interference. But that would take too long. Or maybe something would happen to keep them apart.
Mom and I didn’t have a home yet. We were just staying in the pack house for now.
I didn’t want her to find us a new place. I wanted to live here with Leo and Daddy under our same roof.
So we had to act fast.
“Tell me everything,” I said.
And he did.
He had a lot of ideas. He must have been working on this for a while, even since before Mom’s true identity was known. Some of his plans were better than others. Some were simply outrageous.
“Where would we even get a trampoline that big?” I asked him.
He shrugged.
But there were a few really, really good ideas in the mix.
The only problem, that I could see, was that we were just kids. The good ideas needed phone calls, scheduling, and most importantly, money. I didn’t think the coins in Leo’s piggy bank would be enough, despite how he shook it, trying to tell me
he was rich.
Leo could be the dreamer, that was fine. But that meant that I had to be the one with the realistic ideas.
And I had one, just in that moment.
The next morning, before breakfast, before anyone likely thought that we would be awake, I met with Leo in the hallway between our rooms. Together, we walked down to the Beta’s office, right next door to Daddy’s.
As expected, Xavier was already there, working on something at his desk. Even I knew he was a hard worker, so I planned on his being there. I was relieved to see my guess confirmed.
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Chapter 179
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Leo and I glanced at each other and then went into the office. Carefully, I closed the door behind us so we wouldn’t be overheard.
Xavier looked up at once. “Can I help you both?” he asked kindly. His eyes were soft and there was a hint of a smile on his lips. He probably knew we were up to something. His obvious kindness in this moment gave me hope he would be willing to help us in our plans.
“We want to get Mom and Dad back together,” Leo said.
“But we need an adult’s help,” I added.
Xavier set aside his word. He laced his fingers together, resting his hands on his desktop, and spoke, “Tell me everything.”
After, he said, “I can help arrange things, but I can’t make your parents get to where they will need to be.”
“We can do that part,” Leo said.
I nodded.
“Very well,” Xavier said. “Then we have a plan.”
Leo and I grinned at each other.
Claire’s POV
It was strange when Nova asked me to meet her in front of the pack house tonight at 7pm sharp for a special surprise. Sometimes we planned when we did things together, but it was never on quite so rigid a timeline. And it wasn’t usually a surprise.
But I loved my little girl, so I agreed to it.
Yet, when I stepped outside at 7pm, Nova wasn’t anywhere to be found.
Instead, curiously, Gideon was there, checking his watch.
He looked back at me, initially expectant, but when he saw who I was, that turned to surprise.
“Claire… Have you seen Leo?”
“Have you seen Nova?” I asked him.
At the same time, I think, we both realized we had been set up.
“Do you think they are actually coming?” I asked. “Or was the plan for us….?”
Before I could even finish the thought, a horse–drawn carriage came up the driveway. The driver wore a top–hat and a suit, with a red rose fastened to the lapel. The carriage itself had room for two, with a blanket across the seat to be shared by the passengers.
“We were set–up,” Gideon said.
“Yes.”
We both looked around, as if expecting Nova and Leo to be nearby, watching. When we didn’t spot them, we looked at each other.
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“We shouldn’t do this.“I started
He shrugged. “It is a nice night. And they went to all this trouble, Gideon said.
“Yes, that’s true. It would be a shame to waste a night like this.”
“I’m not against this if you aren’t,” he said.
This was how, ten minutes later, Gideon and I were sitting in the back of the romantic horse–drawn carriage, wished together and sharing a blanket.
It was somewhat awkward at first. I was blushing Sercely, and Gideon was looking anywhere but at me.
But the stars were beautiful, the moon bright. The air was cold but it was warm under the blanket
Eventually, the rest of us seemed to warm as well
“Have you been settling in alright?” Gideon asked me
“Yes, thank you,” I said. “The pack house is as comfortable as I remember.”
“Good,” Gideon said.
Another silence fell around us, before Gideon asked. “You are a princess now I imagine you will now want to live a life Allind with galas and decadence.”
I laughed, because he had to be joking. I was still the same me, and had no time or need for any of those things.
“I just want to live a normal life,” I told him
Gideon glanced at me. “Define normal”
“A little house.” I said. “A mate. A few more kids”
“You want more children?” he asked me
“Yes,” I replied. For some reason, I wanted to know if he would want more kids as well. It shouldn’t matter to me, and yes. “Would you want more kids?”
“I hadn’t considered it,” he said. “But yes. If you do, I could imagine it. I’d like a large family?
“Me, too.”
He looked at me then, and I looked at him. We were close like this, our noses practically touching
This close, I should have turned away, but I didn’t. I just kept looking, wanting to be even closer.
“Claire, L
Whatever he was going to say fell secondary to the weight of this moment. The stars were bright, illuminating his face în a warm glow.
Words weren’t needed right now.
We both started to lean in
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Chapter 179
And then I felt it. A gentle thrum at first but then a louder buzz, deep within my chest.
The mate bond?!
We both stilled, pulled back. His eyes were as wide as mine.
How were we feeling the mate bond?
How could that be possible?
It had to be some mistake!
