Chapter 2. Second Meet

PEONY CRIMSON’S POV

“Leave us alone now, Stuart.” The man with sparkling red eyes shooed him away. Stuart nodded obediently and walked away. He was leaving my confused little girls behind.

“Sir, with all due respect, that man is our Papa!” Violet raised her voice first. She was staring boldly at the red-eyed man.

As if gaining strength too, Jasmine also chimed in with a stuttering voice, “R-Right, why did you tell him to leave?”

“This is our first time meeting Papa!” Rose added.

In my place, I just froze without being able to prevent my triplets protested. Even I couldn’t tell them whom they talked to. 

He was Xander Alverius, an Alpha of the Blue Moon pack. He was miles away on the end side of the continent, but what was he doing here? My mind and my motherly instincts collided. I had to pull my triplets away, but my legs wouldn’t move. I must look like a fool.

“Why do you think Stuart is your Papa?” 

Xander asked, his arms folded across his chest. Arrogance was visible in the way he looked at my little girls. His eyes were like lasers, piercing their souls and frightening them.

“Because Mama kept his picture in our home! She said he died while serving his country overseas! Our Papa is a hero!” Violet replied firmly.

“Is that so?” Xander grinned slightly, then glanced at me, frozen like an iceberg. “Why didn’t your mama explain anything to you?”

The girls’ faces grew pale as they stared back at him. I knew there was a lot they wanted to say something. But they didn’t know how to let it out or where to begin. Clearly, I saw them shaking.

I cannot afford to waste all my efforts over the past six years to hide my three daughters. I couldn’t explain to my triplets that Xander was their biological father. I had successfully avoided him for years, but how could he suddenly appear out of the blue?

“My darlings,” I shivered but still needed to talk, “I’m so sorry. It’s not good to bother people you don’t know. So, we’d better go now.” I tried hard to smile at them. But no matter how much I smiled, it didn’t seem convincing.

“Seems you’ve been keeping many things from your children, ma’am,” Xander quipped, his eyes glaring at me. 

A wave of restrained anger was so intense that I struggled to look the other way.

“My loves, we should get moving,” I asked gently, taking my triplets by the hand.

“But, Ma!” Jasmine refused the most.

“I said, now!” I snapped. The next second was realizing what I had done. Staring at my triplets, shocked, I immediately felt guilty.

“Okay…” replied Rose, Jasmine, and Violet simultaneously. Guess they obeyed because they sensed I was upset.

Even so, I was relieved that I managed to calm them down. We had no point in staying here, lingering under Xander’s laser gaze.

“No one said you could leave, Mrs. Peony,” the gruff voice snuck into my head just before I stepped away. A telepathic force that I couldn’t hold back, an invisible something that bound me like an absolute command.

“Back off. Just forget about all of this and leave.” I responded with acrimony, glancing at Xander again. Our gazes met and locked with each other. From how he looked at me, it was as if he was waiting for me to answer the one he wanted me to.

Xander continued his telepathy, “I can’t look the other way after seeing you here… Especially after seeing you’ve been hiding substantial truths.”

“What do you want?” I steeled myself to reply directly to Xander, fighting my fears that were becoming real.

“Explain it to me.”

I didn’t answer. Rose, Jasmine, and Violet just stared at me. From the look they gave, it’s like they experienced an unfamiliar tension that made them fearful of interrupting.

“How come you have triplets? How old are they?” asked Xander, putting more pressure on me through his telepathy. His face looked stern, and demanded another answer. Seeing him here made me both breathless and filled with anger that was about to rip out.

I kept my mouth shut, not even thinking about anything so that my thoughts wouldn’t be heard through our telepathy. He was waiting for me to speak. I knew patience wasn't something Xander had, so my silence was testing him. His jaw hardened, and his teeth chattered. His facial muscles popped.

“Girls, how old are you?” asked Xander coldly to my triplets.

“Six years old, sir,” Rose answered hesitantly, then glanced at Xander’s hand clutching mine. “Umm… Can you let go of our Mama’s hand? She looks like she’s in pain.”

A moment before, Xander unconsciously did that to prevent me from leaving. Roughly, he dismissed my hand and whispered, “You’ve got someone courageous there. Wonder whom she got that from.”

My hair stood on end. Even after all these years, Xander hadn’t changed at all. He was still his arrogant, pushy self. And who knows how many other things about Xander prevented me from regretting my decision to leave six years ago.

“You still haven’t answered me.” Xander said sharply, whispering in my ear, “Are they mine?”

I gripped the hem of my shirt tightly, gritting my teeth and staring back at Xander with what courage I had left.

“I doubt that.”

Soon after, I took my triplets away from Xander as fast as the blink of an eye. When we got home, I closed and locked the door while panting. It was as if all my energy had been sucked out of me.

I fell on my knees, clutching my chest. My heart was pounding, and cold sweat trickled down my neck. All the nightmares and secrets I had kept were revealed unexpectedly.

“Ma?” Violet gave me a worried look.

“Are you okay?” asked Jasmine.

Violet told her youngest sister, “Rose, please get Mama a drink.”

Quickly, Rose picked up the glass of water and gave it to me. Once calmer, I looked up and gently caressed my daughters’ heads with great relief. 

“Thank you, dearest… How fortunate I am to have all of you here,” I expressed, then gave Rose, Jasmine, and Violet a loving peck on their forehead.

Then I took a deep breath and changed my expression into a serious one.

“Now, listen to Mama. Never, ever, ever chase strangers and talk to them again. That was very dangerous!” I explained. It didn’t matter if they thought I got mad. What mattered was that Rose, Jasmine, and Violet got my point.

Jasmine looked down, muttering, “But, Ma, that man looks just like Papa!”

I immediately hugged Jasmine. “Jasmine, my dear, you’ve heard that some people have similar faces, but they are not the same person. So, please don’t make that faux pas again, get it?”

“Just the fastest second, I was so happy I could see Papa….” Rose replied sadly.

My tears broke out. I couldn’t bear to see the sad faces of the triplets I loved. I would have risked anything to give them a good father figure, but it wasn’t Xander. 

I'd happily explain the reason to them, but I couldn't.

“I’m sorry, my dears. I’m sorry…” I whispered.