ELODIE“He hasn't been giving me a hard time, and I missed you both,” I muttered to the two who were squeezing me tight. “I can't breathe.” Cole pulled back from the hug, and Belle followed suit. She had a worried look, just like the one Tedros had when he told me about his father.It was more like she wanted me to go somewhere else than get into the house. “My father is here already,” Belle said, I could feel the resentment in her voice even though she tried to hide it. “He is in there with his family and asked of you, so I had to stay with her and wait.” “That son of a bitch.” Cole cursed through gritted teeth. “I told him not to ask after you since he never cared for his children.” “Cole,” Belle called, glancing at Cole. “You shouldn't curse in front of Elod.”I found no reason why they would want to be careful around me. I was on their side since their father had decided to treat them like that. “There is no need to be careful around me,” I muttered. “Tedros already told me a
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
ELODIE“Ducky, can you hear me?” A loud, impatient voice rang through the air.Despite the background noise, I recognized the voice immediately. There was only one person in the world who called me that.“Keep your voice down; you might wake her,” another voice muttered, slightly softer than the first.Beep!Beep!The beeping sound pierced through me. My head hurts. Every breath I took made me feel like my lungs were blocked.It hurt so much.I tried moving my fingers, but it was tough. I noticed that I couldn't move any part of my body.“Ducky, can you hear me?” The first voice repeated itself.Hearing his voice made me want to talk to him. “Tedros?” My lips moved on their own, and surprisingly, it didn't hurt anymore.“Ducky, you're awake.” He sounded pained, and I felt a hand on mine.I wanted to open my eyes and look at him. He came; he came for me. My head throbbed as I tried to remember all that happened.“What happened to Beatrice?” he asked almost immediately.Surprised, I man