Chapter 188
Daphne’s POV
23 55 Vouchers
I held my breath, but kept a straight face, not allowing any of my nervousness to shine through. The man held my gaze a beat longer, then in a voice so soft I almost missed it, said, “Glory to Darius.”
My eyes went wide. I couldn’t believe my luck! This one was still loyal to my family. Truly my coming here was meant to be.
The guard handed me my invitation and fake ID back, then waved me through to his colleagues at the door. “This one is all
clear!”
The minute my face was out of their sight, as I stepped past the final bit of security and into the main banquet hall, I couldn’t stop grinning. It didn’t matter how much Gideon tried to worm out the corruption in his pack, he’d never be able to. Not really.
My family had our roots deep in this pack. The harder Gideon tried to pull us out, the more he would only damage himself.
Knowing I still had power here filled me with an even brighter sense of confidence. I stepped into the banquet hall with a spring in my step.
I had to be careful though, I didn’t want to be overly recognized before it was time, and I needed to keep my exit open.
As much fun as it would be to cause some real trouble, today was only about being seen, and instilling a great dose of fear. I wanted them to know how close I could get to them without them even realizing it.
Just as I was thinking this, I saw little Leo bounding through the crowd.
Perfect.
I weaved through the crowd toward him. He was running, but tripped over his own feet, landing down on his knees right in front of me. As he looked up, I grinned.
His eyes went so wide that the white was visible the entire
way
around.
“Hello, little Leo. Do you remember me?” I asked.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Seeing his obvious fear only made me grin wider.
“Have you missed me?” I asked, already knowing he had not. Even when I had been genuinely trying, I had never been able to bond with the boy. There’d always been something there, holding us both back. Maybe he reminded me too much of his mother. Or maybe I just wasn’t motherly enough.
Or maybe he was just a brat.
I supposed it could have been a combination.
Now, slack–jawed and wide–eyed, he aggressively shook his head.
“What’s the matter, boy?” I asked him. “Can’t speak when spoken to? I would have thought your new mother would have taught you some manners. But then, knowing her, I guess it’s a shock you aren’t rolling around in the mud with the pigs.”
At that moment, another child, a little girl who looked much like Claire herself, ran up and started tugging Leo’s arm. Such a brat. Couldn’t she see that Leo and I were having a conversation?
She was insistent though.
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11:05 am P P D
Chapter 188
“Come on, Leo. We have to tell Daddy.”
55 vouchers
My grin slipped some. Having confirmation that this was Claire’s other brat just made me more annoyed. Even so, them running to their parents did play in perfectly to my plans.
“Go on, then,” I snapped. “Before I snap your little necks.”
Nova gasped, and Leo made a yelping sound. At once, they turned and ran away from me like I was the worst villain in the world, a witch in the woods who cooked up small children to eat them.
I laughed at the thought. I was in a good mood now, the first step of my plan complete.
Gideon’s POV
“Daddy! Daddy!” Leo and Nova came running straight out onto the dance floor. They plowed against Claire and I, burying their faces against our sides as they clung to our legs.
“What is it?” Claire asked, going rigid.
Tension filled me as well. I was prepared for a fight, prepared for anything –
“I saw Daphne,” Leo cried.
I had not been prepared for that.
“Where?” I demanded.
Leo pointed.
To Claire, I said, “Protect the children.”
Claire nodded and held onto them both. I signaled more guards to close in around my family and help protect them, and then I moved quickly, heading the way that Leo had pointed.
I walked through the crowd, but didn’t see any sign of Daphne. Closing my eyes, I stretched out my wolf senses.
There.
I could follow her scent trail.
I did, moving at once to one of the side rooms. Unfortunately the window was open, with the dark of night outside. I could have gave chase, but that would be to leave my family exposed.
And there was something else in the room that stilled me, causing me to look back and freeze.
There was a torn up photo of Claire on the coffee table, with a dagger slammed straight through the center, clasping the pictures to the wood.
I swallowed hard.
There was also a note.
In Daphne’s script.
Some Alpha you are. Can’t protect your own family. In and out I came, right under your nose.
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11:05 am
Chapter 188
The letter wasn’t signed, but I knew it was her.
ཁ·འ་
55 vouchers
Turning, I barked for one of the guards to collect it and then I rushed back to into the banquet. By now, enough people had heard Leo’s cries that rumors spread throughout the crowd.
I heard her name whispered among the guests.
“Daphne…”
“Daphne was here…”
“How could she get it…?”
I felt like a great failure. That was how Daphne had seen me too.
Xavier was approaching me through the crowd. I was so ashamed, I couldn’t yet face my family.
“We have to finish purging the corruption in this pack,” I told him. We’d tried before, to mixed success, but it was clear Daphne couldn’t have gotten in here tonight without help. We needed to find those last ties of hers and cut them.
Now that my family was here, I couldn’t keep taking chances. I had an obligation to give them a safe home and a safer future.
“Yes, Alpha,” Xavier said at once, and I was pleased that he could share in my urgency.
Protecting my family was most important.
Claire’s POV
In the commotion, Delilah and her granddaughter rushed to me. The guards stopped her, but I spoke up, “Allow her by. She is a friend.”
The guards obeyed me, moving to allow Delilah to enter.
“Clare! I’ve heard the name Daphne whispered here,” she said. “That is a name I remember. She was just a baby then. But the daughter of… what was his name…”
She puzzled, rubbing her forehead like she was in pain.
“Darius?” I provided.
“Yes!” she said. She seemed pleased with remembering before her face turned sour. “I remembered, he was there in those final days before Lena died. He and his family came to visit, and the Alpha King did not turn him away, because of his reputation.”
I froze, my mind piecing things together. “You can’t think…”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But he was there, and then she died. Now her daughter is here, and it doesn’t seem as if she came for kindness.”
Could it be?
Could Darius and his family really have something to do with my mother’s death?
Could Daphne now be trying to finish the job?
