After I settled into the house, I left the babies in the care of the nanny I brought from the human land so I could attend the dinner at the Dark Silver Pack\u2019s mansion. I knew it would be hard for me, and I would feel all sorts of emotions, not because I still had feelings for the men who betrayed me, but because there was too much history.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We once had good times, until they ruined it. So of course I was bound to feel something. I didn\u2019t take my babies with me. I wasn\u2019t comfortable bringing them there, mostly because I knew Graham\u2019s father was far from an ideal man.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been wondering where I\u2019ve seen you since the minute you entered my mansion,\u201d he finally spoke after ten minutes of silence.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The food was impeccable, as always. They dined on luxury while the Omega community suffered with little to nothing. I sat with my back straight in a black knee-length dress.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had curled my hair and drawn my eyeliner long and sharp. I raised an eyebrow at Mr. Eldon and gave him a cheeky, confident smile.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, you\u2019re that clingy friend of Graham, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As soon as he said that, Graham finally lifted his head and leaned back in his seat. He had barely touched his food. He just sat there, elbow on the armrest, fingers grazing his chin and bottom lip.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
He kept staring, observing everyone. By everyone, I mean his father, Mr. Robinson, the Royal Beta, and the Royal Beta\u2019s daughter sitting beside him. I had no idea why she was there. No introductions were made.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
They only said I was the woman sent to research the illness and find a cure. That was their custom. They weren\u2019t allowed to say much before the food, and only once they had eaten halfway did they start talking.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew this well. I had been here many times before, always leaving with tears in my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alpha Graham\u2019s father was the worst. The woman next to him was his new wife. They had married three or four years ago, after I left, but I remembered her vividly. She wore the same bored expression, acrylic nails tapping against the utensils.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was her name?\u201d Mr. Eldon snapped his fingers, and I clenched my jaw, but someone else spoke first.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMadeline West?\u201d Mr. Robinson\u2019s daughter asked, raising her head.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly. That poor girl. Wait, how did it happen? How did you go from being nothing to being so important that we send you millions of emails and you finally respond after laying out terms?\u201d Mr. Eldon tried to look amused, but I knew he was annoyed seeing me sit among them, posture upright.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMadeline Sawyer,\u201d I said, reminding them I no longer went by my father\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMarried?\u201d Mr. Eldon smirked. I nodded, focusing on the steak on my plate.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, Kaylee, Madeline used to come home every night to do your husband\u2019s homework.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment Alpha Eldon said those words, my fingers clenched hard around the fork. She was Graham\u2019s wife?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I raised my head to look at her more intently. So this was who he had left me for. He wasn\u2019t ready to settle with me. Now I know why. He had a beta lined up. Why would he choose an omega over a beta?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, if only I had let him do his homework, today he wouldn\u2019t need me here to help with the sickness, right?\u201d I murmured, trying to make a joke, though really I was taunting him.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Graham took a deep breath, lowered his hand, and reached for a glass of wine.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could tell Mr. Robinson was a little bothered because his daughter kept silently staring at me and occasionally looking over at Graham. I didn\u2019t understand why.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nobody else knew about what had happened in the months before I left, except the Alphas. And I could tell Graham was too disgusted by the idea of sleeping with me to have told anyone, especially his wife. So why was she so bothered?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you bring the children with you?\u201d Mr. Robinson asked, changing the subject in his soft tone. His manners were impeccable. I could tell where Kaylee got her uptight ways.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, they were tired, so I left them behind. They don\u2019t do well at dinners. They\u2019re children, of course,\u201d I said, glancing down at my plate. I didn\u2019t want them bringing up my children.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have babies? Oh wow! look, a human girl was able to conceive. More than once. And here a royal beta\u2019s daughter is dry,\u201d Alpha Eldon shot at Kaylee. She started coughing and covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her father looked upset by the comment. Honestly, I didn\u2019t expect Alpha Eldon to do that to her. I thought she was his favorite because she came from a well-ranked family. But I guess they had problems.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was Graham having trouble having children with his wife? I wouldn\u2019t know. Soon Graham adjusted his posture, reached for his wife\u2019s hand, and held it. She suddenly stopped being anxious, as if a wave of comfort had passed over her.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will choose my wife over any human or other werewolf, no matter what,\u201d Graham said, looking at his father and daring him not to disrespect her again. Then he looked at me, reminding me he had once rejected me.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It felt like a stab in my chest. I hadn\u2019t asked him to sleep with me. They ruined our friendship. They ruined me that night, and then they acted like I was the desperate one.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is exactly what my husband says,\u201d I uttered, trying to save face.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could stand and excuse myself, someone else stood up, more clearly hurt than I was.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cExcuse me, I don\u2019t want to disrespect you, but the human scent is too much for me and my wolf. I\u2019ll be in my room now,\u201d Kaylee said in a harsh, stern tone that humiliated me with sugar-coated words. She walked away, and all I could see was Graham, looking proud of her for insulting me and standing up for herself.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyway, thank you so much for the dinner. I\u2019d like to go. My children are waiting for me,\u201d I retorted in a stern tone, not hiding my dislike for Kaylee\u2019s attitude. No one else seemed ready to stand up for me, so I stood up for myself.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I rose, grabbed my purse, and walked toward the door. Dinner was already over, and I could tell Lord Eldon had enjoyed annoying two women with his cockiness while ignoring his young wife completely.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then my phone rang. The call shook the ground from under my feet.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMa\u2019am Madeline, I\u2019ve been trying to look everywhere\u2014for Gina, but she\u2019s not in the mansion,\u201d the nanny told me. The shocking news of my baby girl missing was enough to steal my breath.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat? How did you lose my daughter?\u201d I cried in panic, raising my voice.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I turned, I saw Graham standing behind me. He had probably followed me to walk me to the door out of alpha duty, and now he looked just as shocked by the news.<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
After I settled into the house, I left the babies in the care of the nanny I brought from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-daddy-novel-by-novelnozi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}