Chapter 66
Selene POV
I exhaled with relief as soon as I left Noah and headed back to the pack house.
That was a close one. As long as I can gain his sympathy, everything will be fine. I just need to act like it bothered me too as this was happening. As I rounded the corner, I bumped into Beta Reid leaning against the wall.
I wanted to ask him what he was doing here but I realized it’ll be a total waste of time.
“Are you going to pretend you didn’t see me?” Reid arched his brow, snorting.
“I should be asking you that, Reid,” I paused and gave him a hard stare “Have you forgotten what my position is now? I am the Luna and I’ll let this pass because the next time you don’t pay me my respects, I’ll have no choice but to relate it to Noah,”.
“And we’re back to the threats again,” Reid chuckled giving me a cold glare “You see yourself as one big, scary woman, right? But let me tell you, Selene… you can fool everyone here… but you cannot fool me because I can see right through your deceit,”.
“If I wasn’t so busy… let’s say, I didn’t have my hands full, perhaps I would have paid heed to your words but, you mean nothing to me, Reid. You’re not even a piece in the puzzle… I’ll take you out whenever I want to and just so you know I wanted to gloat how much Noah loves me but I decided against that.
Turning on my heels, I headed for the pack house. As soon as I entered, I made a beeline for the girl’s room. As I opened the door, I spotted Noah’s father, crouched on the floor with the girls playing building blocks with Vina while Maeve was curled at a corner reading.
I coughed loudly to announce my presence.
“You’re here,” Grand Lycan Leonard looked up from where he was huddled with the girls.
“Good afternoon, Your Majesty,” I greeted curtseying with a bright smile.
“Please,” Leonard walked up to me, a smile on his face.
I didn’t know if he was putting up a show to like me in front of the girls but I like that he even considered them and I was super grateful for it. I didn’t want my children to know what was happening.
“We’re family now, you can now call me father,”.
“Weren’t you family before?” Maeve asked from her corner. The book she was reading had slipped to her chest.
“What do you mean dear?” he turned to Maeve
“She was married to my dad before, weren’t you a family back then?”
Laughter bubbled at the back of my throat as I stared at Maeve grateful, she was my child. She was right though. Grand Alpha Leonard had failed to show up when I was with Xavier. He acted as if I didn’t exist but them and his entire family. To them, I was just the woman, their grandson married because he must stay alive. I didn’t fit the bill of the sophisticated families they usually marry into.
Despite my trying to reach out several times to Leonard, my messages had gone on without a response.
When my parents died, was the last time I saw him.
“She was,” Leonard said uneasily staring at Maeve.
“Okay,” Maeve nodded and went back to her reading.
“Sorry, I barged in here without your permission. I wanted to spend time with my great-grandchildren,”.
“Of course,” I nodded staring pointedly at him. Find the newest release on ~net
“Perhaps, if you’re not busy, would you be willing to give me a few minutes of your time? There’s something I need to discuss with you,”.
“You may go ahead, sir. Do you want us to go somewhere private?” I asked sweetly.
“If that’s convenient for you,” he replied.
“Of course,” I chuckled warmly and instructed the girls’ nanny while I left the room with Grand Alpha Leonard.
We ended up in the Luna office. The room was a bit old and rusty from not being in use. However, it was the safest place to hold discussions. As soon as we entered, I shut the door and turned to him squarely.
“You wanted to see me,” I asked dropping the smile on my face.
He too, his eyes had turned cold and there was a great distance between us as we stood.
“Tell me, Selene,” he started “What is your real intent? Why did you agree to marry the uncle of the father of your girls?”
“What intent would there be if I found love the second time and remarried?” I scoffed “And like I’ve said a thousand times, it was purely coincident. Buried in that forest, out in the rain with my babies and weak to the bone, the moon goddess sent Noah to rescue me and preserve our lives,”.
“And love just grew between you two?” he asked.
“Yeah” I nodded “I love Noah dearly and I know he loves me too but I can’t help but ask, what are you all so worried about? Why is everyone against the union, knowing how much Noah likes me and how he won’t be able to live and move on if anything happens to me,”.
“When a woman is given a chance to rewrite her wrongs, she always comes back for revenge and as you may know, we’re worried that he’ll meet the same fate as Xavier,”.
“The same fate?” I feigned ignorance “What are you driving at, your majesty? Noah and Xavier are two separate entities and just to put you at ease, I checked out our reading and it came out perfect. We’re so compatible,” I added immediately.
Leonard grew silent and I knew he was contemplating everything I had just said. He was trying to run the variables, the possibilities that I was telling the truth. Three years ago, when I started plotting against the Carrell Dynasty, including the Steele’s by extension, I knew what I was up against.
They’ve been in power for so long and controlled more than half of all the affairs of the werewolves both within the south and at large and I knew that one false slip and they’ll catch on.
They were smart… because it takes a lot of brain work to remain in position for that long despite stiff opposition but what does it mean to play the Carrell and Steel family? My strategy was simple.
’Lay everything out in the open, don’t let me make second guesses themselves’.
As long as they continue to suspect me, it’ll be easier for all my plans to align.
“You still harbour resentment against us for the way we treated you when you were still married to Xavier right?” he finally said breaking the silence.
“Resentment?” I arched my brow “Maybe in the first few years of our marriage when I was languishing away at the mercy of your grandson. Maybe when I reached out a few times in hopes that you could save me or when I had reached out when my pack was attacked and my parents had to die… maybe I paused.
“But not anymore. Resentment would only make my chest ache; it’ll make me have sleepless nights and unable to do anything. So, why should I waste my energy on a family that is not willing to change or accept that they were wrong?”
Regret flickered through Leonard’s eyes for a second before he raised his gaze and faced me.
“I agree we were too relaxed dealing with your issue with Xavier because we all thought the curse was playing out and he trailed off.
“Right!” I shrugged daintily “That stupid, darned curse. If someone had told me three years ago that I could leave my husband and still survive I would have doubted it. If I had left sooner, perhaps, I would have been celebrating my fourth or fifth anniversaries with Noah but… anyway, I don’t regret anything happening now. Rest easy, your majesty… I couldn’t possibly fight the entire Carrell and Steele household. Can I?”
It was a subtle threat…
Silence reigned for a few minutes before he ventured again.
“How about the children?”
“The children!” I raised a brow “What about them?”
“Would they become Noah’s children and he trailed off and sighed “The thing is, our family have survived so far because we stopped every avenue for strife and quarrels amongst siblings and the most common is the fight for power. You do understand that when you start birthing children for Noah, he may want to put his children first before Xavier’s children and If Xavier should remarry and birth a male, his daughters may not stand a chance to claim what is rightfully theirs,”.
“So, you agree that Greyhound Pack rightfully belongs to them?”
“Of course,” he gave me a strange look “The firstborn of every family automatically becomes the heir apparent under the amended Acts and Laws of the Alphas but I’m afraid, it’s a bit different with Lycans. Here, the first-born son of the King must rule and the King also has the right to choose who he wishes as his heir,”.
“Okay!” I nodded giving him a simple smile “As you know, Grand Lycan… I am only a woman who has been loved and maybe married at one time or the other by these men. I shall not interfere in whatsoever way they choose to run the affairs of their pack and when they come to any decision, I shall try to teach my children to live in peace,”.
“You think it’s easy?” mockery glinted in his eyes “Power is seducing?”
“Are you suggesting now that I am going to choose one of my child over the other?”