Chapter 0019
Owen blinked at me, his brow furrowing. “Huh?”
“I hate your parents,” 1 added, just to make sure he knew. My monimy says your daddy is a bad man, so I hate you too!”
For a second, he didn’t say anything. I thought maybe he was mad or scared. Then he looked at me with big, dark eyes like a rabbit and said really quietly, “L… I just want Door Ava to be my mom.”
His words made me freeze. My tummy did a weird flip, and spun around to face him. “What’d you say?”
He stared down at his hands, fiddling with his fingers like was nervous. “Doctor Ava… I want her to be my mommy too.”
Alexander’s POV
My foot tapped against my will against the carpet, my hand squeezing the pen over the paper, the office feeling more like a prison then my usual escape.
The moment I saw her, the world stopped. My wolf stirred, restless and insistent.
“It’s her,” I growled in my mind. “Lauren,”
But something was wrong. She didn’t look at me the same way–her gaze was cold, detached. And yet, her every movement, every breath, called to me. I was right; I knew it in my soul. But the connection… it was off. I couldn’t feel her wolf, the bond that had once tethered us.
“It doesn’t matter,” I told myself. Lauren or Ava, as she now called herself–was alive. That was all that mattered.
A few days later, Beta returned with the information I’d asked for, information on Dr. Ava, but it left me with more questions than answers. Ava’s identity was a puzzle wrapped in shadows. The only solid lead was her connection to the Hailsing Medical Center, which she’d co–founded with some doctor named Liam shortly after Lauren was presumed dead.
Presumed dead.
The words still burned, a wound that never fully healed. I had mourned her, and cursed the heavens for taking her. Yet here she was, alive. She had hidden herself away, rebuilt her life, and walked back into my world with a new name, and no trace of the woman she’d been
Except… she wasn’t entirely different.
She couldn’t hide everything. Not the tilt of her head or the soft lilt of her voice when she was nervous, I saw the Lauren I knew..
“If she’s alive,” I thought, turning in my chair, folding my hands infront of my lips. “Could our child be alive too?”
That thought stopped me cold.
Our child.
“Alpha,” Beta said, breaking through my thoughts. He wa one the phone, his tone clipped and professional.
When he hung up, his face was grim. “Dr. Ava has decided to terminate the collaboration with the company and is leaving early.”
The voice in me howled, furious and desperate.
“Don’t let her go!”
+25 BONUS
“I won’t let her leave ine again,” I said aloud, my voice as resolute as the promise forming in my chest.
Before I could act, a sharp knock sounded at the door, and Sophia swept in without waiting for an invitation. Her voice was sharp, her long red curls trailing behind her like fire.
“The shareholders are being ridiculous!” she snapped, not bothering with a greeting. “Just because the company lost a little money, they’re ganging up on me in meetings!
I leaned back in my chair, watching her pace. Sophia’s knack for making everything about herself was becoming harder to ignore these days. She leaned over my desk, her anus crossed in a way that suggested she expected me to fix all her problems, as usual.
Her toy company had been floundering for months–a disaster of her own making. It only stayed afloat because I allowed it to.
As she continued her tirade about how unfairly she was being treated, Beta shifted beside me, a spark of realization flashing in his eyes.
“Alpha,” he said, cutting through Sophia’s complaints, “I just remembered–Sophia’s company recently breached a contract with Hailsing’s Medical Center. They had to pay a significant penalty.”
Sophia whipped her head toward him, her tone defensive. That wasn’t my fault! Their boss is impossible to work with. He nitpicks everything!” She threw her hands in the air, exasperated. “It’s not like I wanted to break the contract.”
I tuned her out.
Hailsing’s Medical Center.
Lauren.
The pieces clicked together in my mind, one by one.
“Beta,” I said, cutting Sophia off mid–sentence, my voice steady and decisive.
He turned to me, already anticipating my next move.
“I’m buying that hospital,” I said, my plan solidifying.
Sophia stopped mid–rant, blinking at me in surprise, but I didn’t offer her an explanation.
Let Lauren run. I’d catch her.
Ghinter 0020
