Claire’s POV
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The moment I saw Nova in the chaos, I gave up everything else and rushed to her. I opened my arms and drew her into them, where she was safe and alive, protected. As I held her, I made sure to keep her face pressed into my shoulder in an effort to try to protect her from the carnage that was occurring all around her.
Gideon and I had butchered anyone who had dared to stand in the way of us and Nova. Their deaths had not been gentle or kind. There was blood in the carpets and on the walls, and even some on the ceiling.
“Close your eyes,” I told her. “Keep them closed until I tell you it is safe to open them.”
“Okay,” Nova said, her voice small and scared.
My fury thundered all over again, even though there was no one left to slaughter. Any of this plot that remained alive had already fled. With my daughter here with me, I didn’t it in me to leave her to hunt the rest. That could come later.
I scooped Nova up against me so that I was carrying her, still with her face pressed into my shoulder.
“I can carry her,” Gideon said, stepping toward me.
Instinctively, I took a step back.
Only partially did I do this because of the adrenaline still coursing through my body, making me see fights everywhere and jump at shadows.
The real reason was that Gideon could be a legitimate threat now. Maybe not against my life, but certainly against my way of living.
He knew the truth about me. He had to, with my face now exposed. Maybe he knew the truth about Nova too. If he did know about her, maybe he would try to take her from me.
I would not let that happen. I was unwilling to give Nova up to anyone, even Gideon. No matter what.
“Claire…” Gideon said, half–stepping toward me again.
I turned my back to him.
“We need to talk about this,” he insisted.
“Not here.”
m
“Outside then. Come on.”
Gideon moved first, stepping outside. I followed along behind him, even though I had no intention of answering his questions. I wanted to get Nova out of this house. Out of this territory. She would not be fully safe until she was behind the walls of Ivan’s pack house, protected by his walls and his warriors.
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Chapter 140
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In fact, I wasn’t even going to waste time. I turned my feet in the direction of the border to Ivan’s pack and started to walking there, carrying Nova tightly against me.
“Where are you going?” Gideon asked, redirecting to my side when he saw I wasn’t following him back to his own home pack.
“I’m taking Nova home,” I said.
“Ivan’s?”
“Yes.”
“Come to my pack instead,” he said, with a hint of a growl under the words.
“No.”
“Why? It would be better to talk there, without Ivan getting in the way.”
“We have nothing to talk about, Gideon.”
“How can you say that, Claire?”
“That’s just the way it is.”
“You don’t think I’m entitled to some explanation?”
“No,” I said flatly. How could he think he deserved any explanation, when he had not given me the same curtesy? I had been shunned and cast out without any respect, left out among the rogues to die.
Frankly, I didn’t care what he had to say now. Even if he groveled for forgiveness, I wouldn’t believe him. He had broken too many promises, too many marks of common decency.
I didn’t even like his use of my name anymore. I wished he would go back to calling me Raven. Things were much simpler then.
But the ruse was up, and I could never go back to it. It seemed unlikely that I would have both of my children under the same roof as me ever again.
If Ivan woke up…
My heart continued to break so I fought against it, allowing the anger to fuel me instead. In this moment, I could do nothing for Leo, but I could protect Nova.
And that was what I would do.
I kept walking, ignoring as Gideon continued to call for me.
Gideon’s POV
Now that Nova was rescued and most, if not all, of her kidnappers killed, my adrenaline was slowly wearing off. That adrenaline had been keeping the shock of this moment at bay. Without of it, I was left trying to
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Chapter 140
process what I was seeing.
Claire wasn’t just alive, but she had been Raven this entire time.
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I had so many questions, but with how Claire was acting, it didn’t seem like she was going to answer any of
them.
She couldn’t seem to get away from me fast enough.
I wanted to be reasonable, but I was also getting frustrated myself. Here she finally was, right in front of me, and I could finally learn the truth, but she was dodging me, running away like I never meant anything, or like we didn’t still have a child together.
Pushing the thoughts away, I looked at Nova. Her small body was trembling in fear.
“Nova, you are okay now,” I said, trying to offer her some comfort, since Claire didn’t want any from me.
Claire immediately stumbled away, while turning to face me again.
“Don’t you dare talk to her,” Claire said.
“She’s frightened.”
“She’s my daughter. Mine. Not yours.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“You aren’t helping!” Claire raised her voice at me, and in that moment, Nova started to sniffle and cry. Claire deflated at once, and gently ran her fingers through Nova’s hair. “It’s okay, Nova. I’m sorry I shouted. Everything’s okay. You are safe.”
When Nova continued to cry, Claire looked at me like this was my fault somehow.
“Claire, this is ridiculous,” I said, at my wit’s end.
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
“Your name?”
“To you, I’m Raven.”
“You aren’t,” I said. “Do you really think I don’t know who you are? Are you going to pretend you don’t know me like you did at the Alpha King’s banquet? Don’t you think I deserve better than that?”
Her face twisted even further in her anger as she looked at me with incredulous eyes. “You don’t deserve anything but contempt from me,” she said. “As Raven, we could have gone back to the way things were, when I was Leo’s body guard. As Claire, we will never be alright again.”
“But –”
“I want you to leave me alone,” she said. “Leave my family alone. Allow me to go to Ivan’s pack and then leave
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Chapter 140
me alone.”
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“I can’t do that,” I told her honestly. She was right about one thing. Now that I knew who she was, and was certain of it, things would never be the same again.
Yet, before I could convince her of my harmless intentions, that I only want answers from her and nothing else, a loud howl sounded in the distance.
Another wolf, another Alpha was coming closer.
Ivan.
Claire seemed relieved, but I immediately tensed, expecting a fight.
“Things don’t have to be this way,” I told Claire, trying to broker peace before Ivan could arrive.
“Yes, they do,” she replied.
There would be no peace.
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