Chapter 107
Claire’s POV
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When Nova and I returned to the pack house, Ivan was standing on the porch waiting for us. He greeted Nova with warmth and a hug, but looked at me with more suspicion.
“We should talk in my office,” he said to me, after sending Nova ahead.
“Yes.”
I followed him into his office. After I entered, he closed the door, then came to stand beside me.
“For you to leave Leo, I can only guess you are not taking my advice to stay out of this. For you to be here means you believe that I can help you in this somehow.”
He saw straight through me. I’d been hoping to approach him with more tact, maybe after buttering him up with some compliments or something, but I could see now that I had to get straight to the point. Ivan didn’t like games. As a direct individual, he appreciated directness in return.
I took a breath for courage, anticipating an uphill battle ahead of me. Then I began.
“I was hoping that you would go to the Alpha’s Banquet this year, with me as your guest. And there, I could try talking to the Alpha King. Maybe I could convince him to go easy on Gideon, when Justin presents his outlandish case.”
Ivan watched me, his expression blank. “If you had called me and told me this over the phone, I would have told you not to waste your time. The Alpha King will not go for that. I doubt he will even listen. What you need to do is focus on Leo, and not worry about Gideon.”
With a sigh, I shook my head. “I can’t do that.” I couldn’t let this go, not just because Leo asked me to, but because it was the right thing to do. Gideon didn’t deserve this. Maybe it wasn’t my place to help him, but I still… wanted to.
None of that Ivan would understand.
“Why should any of this matter to you?” Ivan asked. “You have no lingering feelings for Gideon, do you? After what he did to you?”
“I don’t,” I said firmly. “This isn’t about feelings, Ivan. I just want to do the right thing.”
Ivan stared me down, then huffed a heavy exhale as he turned away, moving toward his desk. “If you continue down this nonsensical path, you have to do it without me.”
Doing anything without Ivan’s help made things substantially more difficult, especially since I couldn’t talk to Gideon about this either. But I was determined.
These were setbacks, but I wasn’t going to let them stop me.
“If you won’t help me, then I will go to the banquet on my own,” said.
“They’ll stop you at the door.”
“Then I’ll sneak in.”
Ivan glanced back at me, and I held his gaze. I wasn’t bluffing. I would do this. Ivan knew me well enough by now that he must have been able to see this in me.
“You are that determined?” he asked.
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Chapter 107
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. I was that determined, and I would do this. No matter the outcome, I had to at least try.
He looked at me hard for another moment and then sighed. He cursed lightly under his breath.
“I can’t let you do this alone,” he said.
“So you will help me?” My hope started to spike.
“I don’t have much choice,” he said.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Things would be so much easier with Ivan there. My plan still wasn’t guaranteed to work of course, but I could at least be sure to get through the door now.
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“Be warned, though,” he said. “You will not be allowed to wear your mask inside a King’s event, for security reasons. I will not be able to change that.”
“I understand,” I said. If I couldn’t go to the banquet as Raven, then maybe I should go as myself. I was once considered a wolf of great worth. Perhaps I could use that to my advantage here. It was at least worth an effort.
“You don’t have much time to decide on an outfit,” Ivan said. “If you need something from the dress shop, you had better go now.”
Gideon’s POV
I trusted Peter, but not as much as I trusted Raven, so despite his presence, I felt the need to protect my son as much as I could myself. This meant that I had to trust Xavier to take charge of getting the evidence together. Even with Leo by my side, I only had enough free time to prepare for the upcoming Alpha King’s banquet.
Today, Leo was helping me select the suit I would wear, as well as the tie and cuffs.
Picking the suit was easy. We had both decided on a black tailored suit, one of my finest. The accessories were more difficult. I was thinking about a blue tie, but Leo didn’t think I needed a tie at all.
“There’s going to be dancing, right?” Leo said. “You’ll be too hot if you wear a tie.”
“I don’t think I will be dancing,” I said.
“You should,” Leo said.
We placed the dark blue tie in the maybe pile. For cuffs, Leo picked out a pair of simple silver ones in the shape of our pack crest. They were a suitable choice, and would look alright with the navy blue tie that was still up for debate.
“Why should I dance?” I asked Leo. His opinion on this seemed strong, for reasons I couldn’t fathom. I would teach my son to be able to speak his mind.
“Because…” Leo said, then let the word linger.
I waited him out, looking at him expectantly.
He looked at me nervously, then spoke, “Maybe you will find another mom for me at the party. If you dance together, maybe you will fall in love…”
This was the second time he had brought up wanting another mother. I had thought, after all that had happened with Daphne, that he would prefer if things were just us two.
But I wasn’t a fool. I knew what had happened with Raven had shaken him. He had wanted so badly for her to be our Claire, that when we learned she wasn’t, he was deeply rattled. I wasn’t entirely sure this kneejerk in the other direction was healthy.
Yet I couldn’t deny that a young boy needed a mother. I tried to be there for him as much as I could, but there were just
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somethings I couldn’t do. In the absence of Claire, Leo had turned to Raven for motherly love and had projected everything onto her.
She couldn’t possible fit Claire’s shoes. It wasn’t her fault. No one could
I wanted to give my son everything he wanted in life, including this.
I didn’t know if the banquet would be the right time to seek out a new partner, and I wasn’t certain even if it was, that I would have any desire to try to make a love connection, given everything else going on.
But with Raven dating Ivan and Claire gone…
Maybe I should try to find love again.
Maybe I might even find someone.
