Chapter 124
That evening i met Ivan at the front of the pack house, as he had decided to take me to the of the few restaurants of the park which just to happened to be nearby, Ivan was comething of a homebody, barely socializing outside of the pack fire, especially when not work related, so a night like this felt somewhat special.
When I stepped outside to meet Ivan, he was facing away from me.
“Ivan, I’m here. I hope you weren’t waiting long”
He turned toward me, and in his hands was a bouquet of wildflowers, beautifully collected, in bloom. The flowers were wrapped in a soft pink paper. He handed the bouquet to me.
I startled a moment, confused by the gesture and surprised by it too, having not been accepting anything like this. Least of all from Ivan.
But, maybe I should have suspected something like this, especially after the vibes Ivan had been giving off that I had been picking up. After he’d asked me to dinner alone, I had suspected that Ivan might have meant this romantically, but I’d pushed those thoughts away,
Now, I wasn’t so sure.
That feeling and these flowers, when coupled with the Alpha King’s warning at the banquet, I really had no excuse for being so caught off guard.
This seemed more and more like a date, and I was still so wholly unprepared.
He was still holding out the flowers, and the longer he did so, the more uncertain he seemed.
Alpha Ivan was not known for being anything less than confident. Not wanting to see that confidence shaken like this, I snapped out of my revelry, reached out, and accepted the flowers.
“Thank you, Ivan. They are beautiful.” I sniffed at them, half because the smell was delightful and half to hide my slightly panicked face.
“Shall we?” he said, and extended his arm for me to take. His uncertainty had vanished and the very corner of his mouth had curled upward in a slight smile.
I hooked my arm with his, even as my mind spiraled. I felt off–balance, not physically but mentally. As we walked on in comfortable silence, I examined those feelings inside of myself, trying to understand their origin.
Even if Ivan was pursuing me romantically now, why did that make me so nervous? He was a good man, an Alpha. He would be able to provide for Nova and for me. I had no reason not to at least consider him.
My heart whispered, calling me a liar.
A man’s face flashed in front of my mind’s eye. A man I might have loved if things had been different, if Daphne had not interfered or if the world hadn’t been so cruel.
Gideon.
I shouldn’t be thinking of him here and now, but he came to my mind stubbornly, like he belonged there.
I went to dinner with Ivan, and I had a nice time as I always did. After we returned, he bid me goodnight, and I thought
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might be it.
But then he leaned in like he might kiss me I froze, bait at the last moment, he turned and kissed my check
“Thank you for a lovely evening.” he said, and walked away. I didn’t really see his face or his reaction. After kissing me art saying those words, he hurried down the hall like he was politely fleeing me, all without looking back.
Turning, I walked toward my room. As I walked past Nova’s open door, I saw that her light was on and she was will op reading. It wasn’t too late, so I wasn’t angry. Maybe I just wanted to talk to someone too, to help me try to recurrer from the shock of this evening.
If Gideon was the only reason that I had been turning away Ivan’s romantic advances, then I truly needed to rethink my priorities.
Gideon wasn’t anything to me anymore. He wasn’t even my employer. I might even never see him again.
I couldn’t let him control my life.
But Nova… maybe she should get a say.
Nova immediately tried to hide her book when I walked into the room, but I shook my head.
“I’m not mad you aren’t asleep,” I said.
“Okay,” she said, relaxing. The book came back out, but she placed her bookmark there and closed it. Sitting up, she looked at me. “How was your date with Uncle Ivan?”
Date.
My throat went dry. I forced myself to swallow. “It was fine.”
Nova nodded, accepting that vague answer.
Moving toward her, I sat beside her on the edge of the bed.
“Nova, honey… how would you feel if your Uncle Ivan became your father?”
I worried, after I said it so bluntly, that Nova might over react. Instead, to my surprise, she actually considered it, taking a moment to think.
Maybe Ivan had been more obvious than I thought, if even Nova had picked up on his feelings. Why hadn’t I?
“I like Uncle Ivan,” Nova said. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “I like Uncle Gideon too… But I want you to be happy, Mommy.”
Before I could stop myself, I found myself asking, “Between Ivan and Gideon, which would you choose for your father?”
“Gideon,” she said quickly, but then amended, “But Uncle Ivan is fine too. Really, Mom, I’ll be happy either way.”
I wanted to believe that, but with how quickly she said Gideon, I wasn’t sure.
I’d hoped speaking with Nova would help bring me to some clarity, but now, I felt even more unsure.
Gideon’s POV
In wolf form, my soldiers and I raced to the border. A small band of local guards had already gathered there. They looked
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nervous until they saw our approach. Then relief crossed their faces.
www
“It’s good to see you, Alpha,” one of them said. “It’s good to see all of you.”
“Have they started the attack yet?” I asked.
“They are on their way here now, Alpha. We are the last line of defense”
“Then we will hold.” I placed my hand on the man’s shoulder. “I am pleased we arrived in time.”
“Me, too, Sir.”
I gave the signal for my soldiers to spread out. They had just taken positions when the rogues started appearing from! between the trees.
“Soldiers!” I cried, rallying them. “We fight to protect our homeland! We will not allow these rogues to steal from us! We will fight, and we will win! We will not give up this line!”
My soldiers cheered. Most of them shifted back into their wolf forms.
The soldier closest to me, one that we had met here at the battlefield, looked over at me. “Alpha. It is an honor to fight at your side.”
“Same, my friend. It is an Alpha’s duty to fight beside their pack.
Across the wooded battlefield, the wild rogues snarled and snapped, preparing for a fight. We all stood on the edge of a knife, waiting for someone to make the first move.
I shifted into my massive wolf form, and I howled. I had rallied my troops in human words, and now I did so in the language of the wolf.
The
rogues
started forward, and we rushed toward them.
I led the charge.
