Alpha: Who usurped your throne

Chapter 4

There was doubt on Elijah’s face. He seemed to absorb what Grace had said, and an awkward silence hung between them for several minutes.

“You run away from the pack, and years later you come back, saying that I’m the father of triplets?” Many things raced through Elijah’s mind at once, preventing him from focusing on a single thought. His mind was a whirlwind of disturbing emotions, all mixed with a heavy dose of pure anger.

“You’re lying, Grace,” he growled at her, furious. “You’re doing this to seek revenge for the rejection. You got impregnated by some random human and since you can’t find your children, you came asking for my help.”

“What are you saying, Elijah?” Grace doubted that there could be anyone so cruel and strong enough to make her feel like she was in hell, as Elijah was doing. “If my word isn’t enough, go find the truth yourself.”

Elijah observed her with his dark eyes. Grace took out her cellphone from her pocket, unlocked the screen, and showed him a picture of the triplets. Elijah became numb and frozen as he looked at the photo. It was impossible to deny the familiar and personal features that rested upon the three boys.

“Bryan, Aydan, and Dante are six years old,” she felt her head team with memories. “I was going to tell you that night that I was pregnant, but you rejected me as your mate, and I had no choice but to run away.”

But Elijah remained silent. Grace didn’t want to dwell on the past, reopening old wounds. She needed to be efficient and show Elijah that she was telling the truth.

“They killed my best friend and took my children.” She felt her face burn and tears well up. “I can’t sense them, I can’t even track them, but you, being their father, can.”

Grace’s concerned tone only agitated him further. Elijah’s eyes fixated on hers, seeking sincerity in her words, sharpening his senses. He didn’t look anywhere else but at her. But Grace couldn’t tell what he was thinking or what he intended to do with that information.

“Who are the people who took them?” his eyes sparkled as he spoke.

“I don’t know,” her heart pounding, “they were already gone when I arrived. So, there was more than one?” Grace’s body froze upon hearing the urgency in his tone.

“From the marks they left in the house,” she said, “and they weren’t wolves, they were humans.”

Grace would recognize wolf marks from miles away. Even if her wolf was missing, what she had learned in the pack remained alive.

“You allowed humans to take my children?” her eyes trembled, matching the intensity of her voice.

“I didn’t allow it,” she tried to remain calm in her response, “the boys don’t know they are wolves. They have always lived as humans.”

“What nonsense, Grace,” Elijah was furious, “you think you have the right to come here and throw at me that I’m now the father of triplets, that they were kidn*pped by God knows who, and that the boys don’t know they are wolves?”

Elijah smiled before grabbing her by the neck. As Grace remembered how she was forced to leave the pack throughout her life, she couldn't hold back the tears. Elijah’s rejection still pained her, and feeling his touch again made her bleed inside.

“I could have lived with my children without you ever knowing about their existence,” she said with difficulty, before he released her. “But I need your help, Elijah. We need to find the triplets before it’s too late.”

Elijah took two steps back. It was as if the weight of the revelations had pushed him down. Life must have a twisted sense of humor to bring them back together after so long. But the pack still saw Grace as a rejected and unloved omega. Since her parents died when she was only ten years old, her children were the only family she had left, and she wouldn’t give that up, even if it meant dealing with Elijah’s fury once again.

“Many things have changed since you ran away,” Elijah emphasized, taking a brief pause before continuing. “I became the alpha and found my destined mate.”

A searing pain invaded Grace’s heart, to the point where she felt like she couldn’t breathe anymore. She swallowed her tears and all the sentimentality that could weaken her with that revelation. Grace was in shock, and Elijah’s words kept echoing in her head.

“There had to be a reason for your rejection, right, Elijah?” Grace’s eyes seemed like an abyss as she looked at him.

"I, Elijah, lead this pack. I needed a strong Luna by my side,” he said without looking her in the eyes. “You were always weak, Grace. So weak that you couldn’t even protect your own children.”

Grace felt the urge to scream at him. Elijah had no right to say that to her, not after the dangers Grace went through to care for three children alone. Only she knew how strong she had been and how much she loved those children, and she wouldn’t let Elijah blame her for the kidnappings of the triplets.

The sound of hurried footsteps approaching them prevented Grace from saying everything she needed to Elijah. Her stomach clenched when the woman entered the room, her face filled with desperation. Grace knew who she was.

“Elijah,” a sigh, and their gazes met, “I could hardly believe it when Derrick told me that Grace was back.” Elara hurried toward Grace and embraced her with a smile on her face. Tears filled Grace’s eyes as she realized the betrayal.

“So, you became his Luna?” Grace looked into Elara’s eyes, which had a forced smile. The woman nodded. It was as if the blindfold fell from Grace’s eyes, and she could see everything. That’s why Derrick hated her so much. She and Elara were never friends, but Elara knew how much Grace loved Elijah and how much she longed to be his Luna.

“What a beautiful surprise. Your destined mate is your best friend’s sister.” “Don’t say it as if it were a provocation,” Elijah said.

“That doesn’t matter anymore,” she smiled at the couple, swallowing all her pain with that scene, which she considered pathetic. “I came here only to reclaim my children, not to dwell on the past. I hope the Alpha will do everything to help me.”

As she walked out of the room without looking back, Grace felt her legs weaken. In the end, not only did she have secrets to reveal, but Elijah did too, and Grace didn’t like discovering it.