Chapter 177
Claire’s POV
That morning at breakfast, as we were all gathered around the dining room table to eat, I told George… my father – it was still difficult to think of him as such, if only because it was so new that the children and I were soon going to pack up and head to Gideon’s pack.
–
“I thought you might want to stay a bit longer,” George said. “So that we could more fully get to know each other. I feel as if you’ve only just come into my life…”
“Let her go, George,” Victoria said. “She is her own woman with her own life. I’m sure she needs to get back to it.”
I wasn’t confused by Victoria’s support. She had made her opinions of me quite clear in private. She just didn’t want my father to know how she really felt about me. Supporting me here was the equivalent of telling me to get out.
This only reinforced my decision to leave.
“We will visit in the future,” I said.
“And you are welcome to my pack whenever you choose, if you wish to visit Claire or the children,” Gideon said. “We can hold banquets for you, or your trips can be quieter, secret and private. Whatever you decide, my pack will support.”
“That’s kind of you, Gideon,” my father said. “I will take you up on that offer.”
Gideon nodded.
George looked around the table – at his wife with her fake smile, at nodding Gideon, at the children who were more excited about that their pancakes had been made in animal shapes this morning over whatever we were talking about, and finally to
- me.
“If this is what you want, Claire, I will support you,” he said.
“It is,” I replied.
“Then I will have the car ready for you, to deliver you and your family to your destination.”
My family.
The words made a heart skip a beat. Yes, my children and I were family, but my father had been including Gideon.
He was my children’s father. That did naturally include him in the term. But the way it was said so casually, so matter–of- factly, it felt like something more.
The four of us were a family unit now…
My father looked at Gideon. “If she needs a home in your pack, I will pay for it.”
That was exceedingly generous! Honestly, with dread, I realized I hadn’t thought of where I was going to live when we got to Gideon’s pack, beyond some vague musings. I had thought an apartment or something, but I didn’t get much further than
that.
I only knew that I had to get away from here, and these women my step–mother, who despised me, and my step–sister, who was even now trying to seduce Gideon.
She was tying cherry stems with her tongue and leaving them on his plate. He was looking everywhere but at her, trying to
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Chapter 177
ignore her completely. He inched his chair a little closer to mine.
“Before you go,” Victoria said. “I have one last gift for you.”
Vouchers.
In the foyer, with our bags packed, the servants loading them into the car, Victoria returned to me holding a long velvet box. She presented it to me while my father smiled nearby.
I accepted it and opened the lid. Inside was a long, delicate chain with a pendent on the end. The pendant was emblazoned with the crest of my father, the Alpha King.
“Since you are family now, you should wear this with honor,” Victoria said.
It surprised me that she thought so. I would have thought that she wanted to just hide me away under a rug or something and pretend I didn’t exist. Now she wanted me to walk around with a symbol of their house.
Maybe this was an apology for her previous behavior. Maybe she was starting to come around to the idea of me.
Or maybe this was something else…
I didn’t know.
“Let me help you put it on,” she said.
It was so kind, and with everyone else watching, I could only say, “Okay.”
She removed the necklace from the box, touching it carefully, daintily, only by the chain with the pendant dropping down. She went behind me, and draped the necklace around my neck, clasping it in the back.
The necklace was shorter than it looked, with the pendant sitting at the base of my neck, flush with my skin. It choked me ever so slightly, not in a painful way, but I was aware of it.
“Beautiful,” George said, so I swallowed my complaints.
In the car, about halfway home, I started to feel hot. “Did the air conditioning break?” I asked.
“I feel fine,” Gideon said, “But I’ll check.”
As he leaned forward to speak to the driver through the partition, the kids looked at me from the seat opposing the one Gideon and I were sitting on. They were riding forwards, while we were backwards.
“You look red, Mommy,” Leo said.
“No, she doesn’t,” Nova countered. “She looks pale.”
I was starting to sweat. My clothes, and especially the pendant were starting to feel slimy against my skin. It felt gross, and the necklace was starting to actually choke me now, so I reached behind my neck and unclasped it. It fell down into my lap, where I left it to rest, comfortable I wouldn’t lose it there while I tried to feel better.
“Are you carsick?” Gideon asked. “Maybe you aren’t used to riding backwards.”
“I don’t know,” I said, but even switching seats with the children didn’t help me feel better.
When we crossed back into his pack, since I only felt a little better, still burning up, Gideon insisted that they take me straight to the hospital to get checked out.
The healer checked me over, and I was even given some fluids to help. It was strange that whatever it was came on so quickly
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Chapter 177
and then was gone just as fast, but as I was already starting to feel much better, the healers didn’t look overmuch tra
Everyone seemed to write it off as a serious case of cartickness.
I just felt tired.
As I was resting in the hospital bed, with the children coloring nearby in their coloring books, Gideon came closer to me.
“I think you should stay at the pack house for a while, instead of immediately finding your own place,” he said “I don’t know what happened, but you will need a few days at least to recovery fully.”
Twin gasps emerged from the children, who seemed excited by the idea.
I was too exhausted to fight against the idea, especially if it would disappoint the kids. Really, I remembered my nice warm bed in my room in the pack house. I’d like to rest there. And I trusted Gideon to keep the kids safe while I recovered.
“Very well,” I said. “Thank you.”
Gideon grinned in a way that made my heart leap up into my throat. It was boyish and happy, and reminded me of the way he looked when I had known him years ago, before regret and responsibility had started to crush him down.
I knew at once, despite all the walls I had in place in my chest to protect myself, I was in very real danger of falling in love with him again.
But I couldn’t allow that happen. I had to be strong.
I couldn’t let him hurt me again.
