Chapter 134
Chapter 134
ELINA
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Aiden asked me with those big pleading eyes, the kind that made saying no feel like I was stomping on a puppy.
“Can Dad come for lunch?”
He was up and walking now–slowly, with a slight limp when he got tired, but up nonetheless. And somehow, even on minimal sleep and a house still reeling from the last rogue attack, my son managed to look like pure sunshine in flannel pajamas and socks that didn’t match.
I hesitated.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want Derek around Aiden. That wasn’t the problem. He’d proven himself. Again and again. With gentleness I never knew he had. With patience I couldn’t have taught him. With a fierce, protective love that made me ache just watching them together.
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The problem was me.
But I nodded. “Okay. Just for lunch.”
Aiden beamed, already running–well, hobbling–off to tell the kitchen staff. As if we didn’t eat at the same damn table every day.
Derek showed up wearing a casual sweater and jeans, his hair still damp from a recent shower. He looked good. Too good. I tried not to let it bother me.
Aiden who was still easily winded–grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen, guiding him straight to the breakfast table and sitting him down right next to the place I usually sat. Of course.
Derek lowered himself into the chair with a brief smile, then ran a hand through his hair.
Aiden tilted his head, like he was noticing something for the first time. “Why is your hair like that?”
Just direct. No filter. Out of the mouth of babes, I thought.
“Like what?” Derek asked, glancing at him.
“It has that white swoop in it,” Aiden said, pointing to the thick streak at Derek’s hairline.
It was probably the most noticeable thing about him–aside from his presence and his physique–but I’d never actually asked about it.
“Ah,” Derek said, leaning back in his chair casually. “It’s white there because of a scar.”
At that, he leaned forward and pressed his hair flat against his head. There, starting just at the hairline, was the edge of a gnarly scar–thick and fibrous.
“Whoa,” Aiden breathed, leaning in for a better look. “How’d you get it?”
Derek let his hair fall back into place, then settled in his seat again. “Rogues attacked me when I was twelve.”
Aiden’s eyes went wide. “Really?”
He nodded. “I was out too close to the borderlands,” he said, flicking his gaze to me in that unspoken–parent-
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language kind of way. “My parents always told me to stay away, but I didn’t listen.”
Aiden nodded seriously, completely engrossed.
“Now I’ve p
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got a reminder every time 1 look in the mirror,” Derek finished. His eyes met mine again. He winked.
While Derek had been talking, my mother had slipped into the kitchen, and row she stood back politely, keeping a wary eye on the Silverclaw Alpha and watching him interact with her grandson.
I gave her a brief smile.
After assuring his father that he would never do anything so reckless as running off without permission- something he had done several times in his life Aiden launched into a long, breathless retelling of some ridiculous Moonstone legend involving wolves and celestial alignment. It was a story the whole family had heard a thousand times.
Derek?
He listened like it was brand new. Eyes locked on Aiden. Laughing in the right spots. Asking questions. Smiling so wide it made my throat tighten.
I found myself leaning against the counter, arms folded, watching them.
It was stupid, really–how quickly Derek adapted. How naturally he fit into a role he hadn’t known he had for six years. And how much Alden clearly adored him.
I looked over at my mother.
She still hadn’t said anything, just stood near the doorway with a tray of herbs in her hands, watching the two of them. Derek was helping Aiden butter a roll, letting him try it himself and then laughing when the whole thing collapsed in on itself.
Chapter 135
