Chapter 73
Killian Volkov
The moment I left Adeline’s house, the image of her broken and crying on the floor played over and over again in my mind.
chest, I stormed back to my car, my hands trembling as I gripped the icering wheel. Blind rage simmered in my threatening to boil over at any second. Every muscle in my body was coiled with tension, and my wolf was restless, pacing inside me. But the knot in my chest wouldn’t ease. Every word she’d said circled in my mind like a vulture, picking at the bones of the lies I’d been telling myself for years.
“I never had an affair with Sebastian.”
For years, I thought that she and Sebastian were together. I had been so sure of it–so convinced that while she was still my wife, my mate, she’d been in bed with another man. My rival.
And now, in a single sentence, she had shattered that belief. It shouldn’t have mattered. I should’ve been relieved that the woman I hated wasn’t unfaithful. But that wasn’t what I felt.
Instead, everything was spiraling.
For three days after leaving her, I stayed in the Silver Moon pack consumed by anger and confusion. My emotions, which I had kept so tightly bottled up for years, were bursting at the seams. I told myself that I hated her. I should hate her. She killed my sister. She had an affair with Sebastian, my rival; even though she denied it, I know she had; I don’t believe her. She destroyed my family. But deep inside, something was gnawing at me, something more complicated than hate, something I couldn’t fully understand.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. Not the Adeline I had tried to bury in my past, but the woman who stood in front of me now–defiant, beautiful, and utterly out of reach. It was maddening. How could I still feel anything for her after everything she’d done?
It didn’t help that I couldn’t stop thinking about her two children, Bridget and Tristan. The moment I saw them and she introduced them as hers back when they visited our pack, my mind had been spinning. When my grandpa told me that they kind of look like me, I disagreed, saying Sebastian is their father, but when I saw Tristan playing with Mary when I visited Adeline’s house, I noticed that he had my eyes. It was impossible not to notice. And Bridget… There was something so familiar about her.
But it couldn’t be.
Could it?
No. I shouldn’t care. I have Lauren. I have my pack, my responsibilities. I’m the Alpha of the strongest, largest pack in the world. I have a pregnant girlfriend who I’ve wanted to marry since we were kids. But somehow, none of that mattered anymore. The thought of Adeline marrying Sebastian made my chest tighten. I had no idea why, but the idea of him touching her, being with her–goddess, it drove me mad.
It shouldn’t bother me, though, right? She’s nothing to me. She shouldn’t matter. So why did it hurt so much?
I still remember the night in that damn meeting hall where I fucked Adeline the whole night, senselessly. Whenever I passed by that meeting hall, that night rushed to my mind–her moans, her scent, her soft body–everything tormented me for all these years.
When she visited our pack, people saw her twins, and doubts rose immediately. Damien and even my grandfather think they look like me. Grandpa’s words kept ringing in my head like a curse.
What if they’re yours, Killian? What will you do?”
He had planted the seed of doubt in my mind, and now it was growing roots, digging deeper with every passing second. If those kids were mine… no. I couldn’t think like that.
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Chapter 73
But what if they were?
If Tristan and Bridget were mine, then I had a right to know. And not just for me. For them. If they were my children, I’d do anything and everything to protect them. I couldn’t allow them to be raised without their father.
The thought of them being raised by Sebastian and calling him and believing him to be their father made my wolf snarl with rage. No. I had to know the truth.
The days passed in a blur, My focus on the pack, my responsibilities, my companies–it was all a distant echo. I did what was needed, but my mind was elsewhere, always drifting back to Adeline and the twins. Laurel tried to pull me back, but I found myself increasingly distant with her and annoyed by her mere presence. I don’t know why I’m not liking her company these days. She noticed, of course, and her frustration with me grew by the day. She’d snap at me and complain that I wasn’t paying enough attention to her and that I was neglecting her while she was pregnant with my child.
My child.
It should’ve been enough to ground me and bring me back to reality.
But it wasn’t.
I found myself staring at the door of my office, hoping it would swing open and Adeline would be there, fiery and sharp- tongued, ready to argue with me again. I hated that I missed her like this. I hated that I couldn’t get her out of my head. But the more I tried to fight it, the stronger the feeling became.
And then there was the matter of Bridget and Tristan. The doubt kept festering, growing stronger by the day. I couldn’t shake it, and I knew that if I didn’t find out the truth soon, it would eat me alive. I needed to know if they were mine. She wouldn’t tell me–not after everything. No, I needed to be smarter than that. I needed a plan, something that would give me answers without her ever knowing.
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