Mated To The Crippled Alpha

Chapter 471: BENEATH COLD EYES

On a bright, breezy morning, Lewis drove to the coast alone, carrying Eleanor’s urn. I didn’t go with him for the final send-off. Eleanor and I hadn’t exactly shared warm moments , the few times she had looked at me, she’d been quietly calculating how to remove me from the picture. I didn’t belong at that goodbye. Amber was another story entirely. She had gotten up at three in the morning to make me breakfast without being asked. That kind of love you remember.I watched from a distance along the shore. Amber was crying quietly, Dominic close beside her, one hand on her back. I stood with the stroller, letting the sea breeze wash over us while the babies reached their small hands toward the seagulls drifting overhead.

I tapped Everett’s tiny nose. "You need to grow up fast. When you’re older, Mommy will take you clamming. There are little shrimp and fish and seaweed , you’re going to love it." They had no idea what I was saying, but I sounded so serious that they listened just as seriously, staring up at me with wide eyes. Everett and Everly were nearly seven months old now. They could sit up on their own, and Everly had started rocking on all fours, testing out crawling these past couple of days. Right in front of me, they were becoming real little people.

I looked out at the deep blue water. The wind was gentle and constant, but it couldn’t touch the weight sitting in my chest. Alice, are you alright out there?

Everyone had stopped searching for her. It had been over a year. If she were gone, there would be nothing left to find by now. And if she were alive, why hadn’t she reached out? Even Amber had heard nothing about Vito. By every measure, Alice was probably dead. But I couldn’t let go of the hope. One day, she would come back. She’d be in for a shock , when she left, I had just found out I was pregnant. Now the babies were practically sitting up and trying to run.

After a long stay in Snowville, winter came around again. Lewis had finally sorted everything with the Bolton pack, and he brought us back to Jaford. We flew on a private jet, and though the flight was long, having everyone together made it feel easy.

Once we reached cruising altitude, I set Everett and Everly down on the cabin carpet. Everly sat playing with a rattle, calm and content. Everett lay on his stomach with enormous determination and zero results, his little belly flat on the floor, all four limbs going at once like a tiny, confused turtle. It was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. Lucian, naturally, saw an opportunity. He climbed right onto Everett’s back and yelled, "Giddy-up! Giddy-up!"

Grant grabbed him by the back of his collar and lifted him clean off the ground. "That’s not how we play." Lucian blinked up at him with huge, innocent eyes , the picture of injustice. But you always let me ride on your back. "Daddy, giddy-up," he said, undeterred. Grant gave him a light pat and sat him down firmly. "You can play horsey all you want at home. On the plane, you sit. Like a good boy."

Lena chose that exact moment to emerge from her nap, stretching. "What’s going on?" The second Lucian spotted his backup, his expression crumpled into pure grievance. "Daddy is being mean." Lena immediately smacked Grant on the back. Grant didn’t even flinch. He just peeled an orange and handed it to her. "You just woke up. Have some fruit." He looked completely at peace with being the villain. I turned away. I did not need to witness my parents being that soft with each other.

Lewis had been exhausted lately and was finally catching up on sleep a few rows back , until Harlan appeared in the aisle outside Riley’s cabin door, knocking with the energy of someone who had nothing to lose. "Riley, darling. Let me sleep in there. I swear I won’t snore or fart." Riley’s door stayed shut. Lewis’s opened instead. He stood there looking like a man who had been woken from the best sleep of his life, said nothing, grabbed Harlan by the arm, and pulled him inside his own cabin. I said a quiet prayer for Harlan and moved on.

By the time all the bickering and chaos settled, the plane had landed. After a series of connections, we touched down in the small town by helicopter , and the first thing I saw when the door opened was a tall, familiar figure waiting on the landing pad. Nicholas had come to meet Lena. Same quiet elegance, same steady presence. He stepped forward and took Lucian from Lena’s arms without a word, and Lucian absolutely lit up, burying his face into Nicholas’s neck with a string of kisses. "Papa! Papa!"

So that was how the children told the difference. To anyone watching, Nicholas was just their godfather. Nicholas stroked his head. "Did you miss me?" "Miss! I miss Papa!" "I missed you too." Then his gaze moved to Lena. "You must be tired." "I’m fine. How’s everything at home?" "Good. Three new lambs. The chicks hatched. Your orchids bloomed." He paused, and something warm shifted in his expression. "Also, Goldie found himself a mate. She’s calm and well-tempered, so I brought her in."

The air between them practically crackled.

Grant cleared his throat loudly. Ahem. Nicholas didn’t even glance at him. He turned to the rest of us instead. "Lena told me you were all coming. Everything’s been arranged. Please make yourselves at home." He set Lucian down and crouched to play with Everett and Everly. "They’re adorable."

Last time I was here, I had been so consumed by Lewis’s supposed death curse that I hadn’t seen any of it clearly. Now, with all of that behind us, even the air tasted different. Sweet, somehow.

It was Harlan’s first time here. He stood in the middle of the driveway with two enormous suitcases, turning in slow circles, looking like someone who had just arrived in a new city and didn’t know where to put his eyes. "So this is the place you always sneak off to behind my back?" Riley didn’t answer him. Her last untouched sanctuary had been found. Harlan, completely without shame, walked straight over to Lena. "Don’t bother with a separate room for me. Riley and I can share. I’m flexible." Grant turned and looked at him with the kind of expression that could stop a heart. Harlan, unfazed, looked right back. "Grant, you and Lena are divorced. That makes her your ex-wife." I shook my head. This man had truly lost all sense of self-preservation.

We split off to find our rooms, and as I came around a corner, I stopped dead. Standing in the hallway, calm as anything, was a large black creature with amber eyes. Not a dog. Nicholas appeared behind me. "That’s Onyx. She’s Goldie’s mate. Very gentle. She won’t bite." I let out a slow breath and kept walking.

Then I turned another corner and found Grant with Lena pressed lightly against the wall, voice low. "You looked at him for three whole minutes today. Three minutes, Lena." She made a sound of pure exasperation. I kept moving. In the kitchen, I turned on the tap to wash the baby bottles , and there was Nicholas, arms around Lena from behind, murmuring into her hair. "I missed you so much." Genuinely sweet in the most unbearable way. I turned to leave and nearly walked into Harlan, standing there with his mouth open.

I clamped a hand over it and dragged him back down the hallway. His eyes were enormous. "Elena," he whispered. "Does this mean Riley wants a pretty-boy on the side too?"