ELODIEHe held up his hand. “I don't mean any harm; I was just going to talk.”“Talk?” She growled, shoving me between her and Cole. Honestly, I didn't need them to protect me; I was an alpha too.By this time, the commotion has drawn the attention of everyone at the dining table. “Back off!” Cole bellowed, and I could feel his alpha aura emitting from his body. His halfbrother immediately backed away; he wasn't an alpha, and he must respect one.Also, they belonged to the same pack. “Cole!” A deep voice yelled.I turned my head to see who it was, only to find out it was their father. None of the kids looked like him, and he had the brightest green eyes I had ever seen.“How could you use that aura on your own, brother?” Their father demanded. “And don't you know there is an omega here?” “I don't give a fuck!” Cole retorted. “I don't care if your bitch is an omega or your daughter!”“And you shut the fuck off, old man!” Belle added. “You better keep your son in check too, or you
ELODIEThe cold expression on Tedros' face seemed to fade away as soon as I called out to him. I brushed past Belle and Cole before they could stop me, and in a few seconds, I was in front of him.Holding onto his hand, I stared into his eyes and shook my head. “You shouldn't do this, Tedros. I am fine; your siblings protected me enough.”I wasn't sure if he was mad because I was called an outsider or because his father supported his half-brother instead of correcting his mistake. However, I knew for a fact that I was also involved, especially since he had been hesitant to bring me along.“He just called you an outsider,” Tedros hissed. “You shouldn't try to protect him. He’s not related to anyone here.”“I know that, but you can't afford to get angry now.” I squeezed his hand, trying to calm him down, but it wasn't working.
ELODIEIf it weren’t for the fact that they told me Freddie was their father, I wouldn’t have thought they were related. Their appearances were nothing alike: blonde with green eyes, dark hair with gray eyes.They were opposites in every way.My eyes darted to his wife. She was blonde, too, with blue eyes, which her daughter had inherited. She had that innocent look, but unlike her son, she seemed to be hiding her true self behind that facade.“Would you start with an introduction first?” I snapped at Freddie. I wasn't going to let him speak to me like that. I wasn't going to let anyone speak to me like that.Freddie’s eyes widened in disbelief before he threw his head back in laughter. I couldn’t tell what was funny about how I spoke to him. Ignoring his laughter, I proceeded to pick out several foods to fill my plate. Tedros helpe
ELODIEI glanced at Tedros as soon as his father was done talking. Why was he paying attention to me? It wasn’t like we knew each other. Tedros reached down to hold my hand and squeezed it softly. He was comforting me, but I felt like it was more like telling me not to snap. “Yes, go on, Freddie,” I replied. “What is it that you want to ask me?”I had a feeling that whatever he wanted to ask me wasn’t good. A grin spread across his face. Everyone was silent; I guess they were curious about what he had to say.“I heard you are the best friend of my son’s ex-wife,” Freddie stated, making me freeze. Why was he bringing that up? If he had paid attention to that, he must have known what happened.“Yes, I am,” I replied, unwavering.“Why are you suddenly asking that?” Tedros demanded. “We have made it clear that we won’t mention my ex-wife anymore.”Turning my gaze to look at him, I found him glaring at his father. “That’s right,” Belle added. “If that’s what you want to talk about, you
ELODIEHe was standing up for me. Does that mean he doesn’t believe in his father? I mean, what his father said made a little bit of sense, and they could believe it. After all, I don’t think they fully trusted me.What if they secretly blamed me for her death? I was the one who offered to buy her baby’s outfit the day before. If only I remembered what happened. My head throbbed as I tried to think about it.“Are you so dumb that you can’t realize that she killed her best friend?” Freddie pressed. “Didn’t they head out shopping?”Shopping? I couldn’t remember heading out shopping with her. I remembered telling her we were going to go, but I had no idea if we did.The pain in my head increased, and everywhere suddenly became blurry. I placed my hand on my head and tried to keep my eyes open. My head throbbed, and I felt a tight grip on my chest. “Be quiet!” Mrs. Vinters' voice echoed, and I saw a liquid spilling. Even though my vision was getting blurry, I found the liquid spilling
ELODIE“Are you alright, sweetie?” Mrs. Vinters asked, her fingertips grazing my cheek.Why are they so worried? I am not dead yet; I just collapsed from... I couldn’t even tell what caused me to faint. It must have been stress from reading all night without getting proper sleep.“I am fine,” I replied.“No, you aren’t,” Belle choked out.It was then that I realized she was crying. What the hell was happening? Her sobs increased, making me panic.“I am seriously fine,” I said, trying to calm her down. “Nothing happened to me; I only passed out from stress. It was nothing important.”Although I was confused, I was glad that they were still by my side. That proved they didn’t believe the allegations Freddie made against me, but where was Tedros?I had trailed my eyes earlier to catch sight of him, but he was nowhere in sight.“Stop lying to us,” Cole murmured.Mrs. Vinters pulled them both away from my body and shoved them behind her. Sitting next to me on the bed, she snatched the box
ELODIEHer response made my lips curl into a smile. Tedros did what he had never done because of me.“You shouldn’t bother about what that man said about you. We believe you and would never believe a word coming from his lips,” Mrs. Vinters said, her voice cool and collected. “Remember, we are family and will always stick together.”Warmth filled me as I listened to her. “Yes, thank you.”Belle’s face lit up. “Are you going to stay with Mom and me?” she questioned, changing the topic. “It would be a great vacation for you.”I shook my head. “No.”My main reason for refusing was that I couldn’t leave Tedros alone in the house. If I were to go on a vacation, there would be no one there to feed him the pill.Belle tilted her head to the side, stunned by my sudden refusal. “Why are you refusing to stay with us?”It was then that it hit me: Tedros hadn’t taken the pills for five days now. Was he okay? He didn’t go on a rampage? I couldn’t help but panic.“Where is Tedros?” I asked.“Oh, I
ELODIE“He came to look for you again,” Tedros muttered, making me wonder who the man he was talking about was. “You know him; he comes all the time to visit you, and he also insisted that I tell him where you are.”As soon as he was done talking, I could already picture who it was in my mind. The only man who had ever visited me was Lucas.“Was it Lucas?” I questioned him, frowning at him for not telling Lucas where I was. “You should have told him where I was; he must have been worried sick.”“He shouldn’t be worried about another man’s wife.” Leaning in, his face was inches from mine as he stared at me like he could see into my soul. “So, what’s that pill that you are feeding me?” My eyes widened in shock. Did he know about the pill? How did he find out? My heart began beating hard against my chest as I panicked, trying to think of what to tell him, but I couldn’t come up with anything. It was like my head was blank, and I couldn’t think of what to say. I could only wonder how he