Chapter 6

#Chapter 6 – Fight Starts Alvin and Ian look around between Victor and I, beginning to put things together. They’re smart, after all. “You know each other!” Ian says, beaming at me. “Cool!”

Alvin turns his face to me, not relinquishing his grip on his father’s leg. “We like him, Mama! Can he be our uncle, like Mark?” Heat rises to my face. If only they knew how ironic that question is.

“Victor, I -“ I begin, but he interrupts me.

“Evelyn. We need to talk. Now.” His arms are crossed formidably across his chest, a sharp contrast to the two boys sweetly clinging to him.

I nod and bite my lip. “Come on, boys,” I say, putting my hands out to them. They slowly unwind themselves from Victor’s legs and com over to me. I take each by the hand and crouch down so my face is level with theirs. “Give me and Victor a moment, please. Are you hungry? There are some snacks over there.” I point towards the craft services table.

They nod and begin to make their way over to the food, waving to Victor as they go. “Bye, Uncle Victor!”

“We’ll see you soon!”

“Victor…” I say, standing and preparing myself for his rage. But I stop short, again, surprised by the tenderness I see on his face as he watches the boys run away.

“You’re good with them,” he says, watching the two boys grab four donuts, one for each hand.

I shrug. “They’re my sons.”

His face darkens as he looks at me. “Our sons, Evelyn. Come.”

He nods to his Beta – god, it’s been years since I’ve seen someone with a Beta – who gestures towards an open door. We enter the room, which is plain and mostly empty, like an interrogation chamber. Great.

“How could you do this, Evelyn,” Victor surprises me, grabbing me roughly by the arm as soon as he closes the door. “This is the second time your lies have ruined my life. First, you’re responsible for my embarrassment at that f*****g press conference, and now –“

“Easy, Victor,” I say, returning his glare and pulling my arm away. “No one told you to have a f*****g press conference. You could have, I don’t know, woken me up and cleared your plan with me.”

We square off against each other, standing almost literally toe-to-toe.

“And then,” he continues, “I discover this!? This is the greatest betrayal of my life, Evelyn! Keeping my children from me, my sons! I knew you were willful, Evelyn, but you’ve gone too far.” Victor delivers his last words with a snarl.

“My children, Victor,” I say, baring my teeth. “My sons.” I am ready to rip him to shreds at the implication that my boys – my life – belong in some way to him.

He laughs at me, short and bitter. “They are my sons, Evelyn. There is no wolf alive who could smell them and not know they are of me. Who could not look at them, and know me to be their sire.

“You” he says, taking a step closer and forcing me back so that my ass hits the table, which slides backwards. “Have stolen from me my rights as their father, and their rights as the heirs to the pack, to the kingdom.”

“I took nothing from you,” I say, hating that fear is starting to creep into my voice. I raise my voice to cover it, willing courage into my words. “You are the one who told me never to enter your presence again, who allowed me to be expelled from the pack -“

“What?” Victor says, confusion entering his face for the first time.

“Kicked out into the wilderness,” I continue, my rage building, “While I was pregnant, with no one to rely on.”

“You were expelled? You’re…you’re rogue?”

I laugh at him this time, “As if you didn’t know. It’s your pack, Victor, isn’t it? You know everything that goes on in it?” I mock him here, repeating a line he’s said a thousand times in a thousand interviews.

He frowns again, but his anger has abated slightly. “You should have called m-“

“I DID” I yell, hurling the accusation at him. “You never picked up! What, Vic. Too busy to check your voicemails? Or what, can’t accept calls from your one-night stands?”

Victor backs off, thinking. “My secretaries…they must have…”

I scoff and stand up from the table, straightening my skirt and brushing back my hair. “Whatever, Victor, I don’t want to hear your excuses. The fact is, those children were born to a lone female wolf outside of a pack,” I narrow my eyes at him, superior in my knowledge of my rights. “And there’s no law that says a rogue can’t raise her own pups.”

“Those children were conceived in the pack!” he yells.

“Prove it,” I shrug as I walk past him. “After all, if I’m such a slut, who would believe you that they were conceived that night? Who wouldn’t believe that you found me after I had been expelled and continued the affair? Face it, Victor, you have no proof – and no rights here.” I turn the handle on the door.

“You’re a liar and a fake, Evelyn,” Victor hurls the insult at me. “You always have been – ever since the first night I met you.”

My hackles rise when he says that, because I know he has some grounds to say it. I have lied to him, betrayed him, kept him from his sons. But I’m not fake – every choice I made, from the moment I walked out of Joyce’s room that night, has been the best choice for me. I won’t be shamed for taking what I am owed, for protecting my sons.

“Whatever,” I say, shaking the insult off and pulling the door open. He’s got nothing on me.

“I’m going to find you, Evelyn. You know I can.” I turn to glare at him, at the smug expression on his perfectly-groomed face. “I’m coming for them. I’m going to take my sons from you. I’m going to raise them right.”

I slam the door, storming back into the room and over to him. I don’t even care if he’s a foot taller than me and made of solid muscle – if he threatens my sons I will tear him to pieces. I shove him backwards with all my might. He doesn’t budge an inch.

“You are so arrogant,” I growl, “so f*****g superior with your Beta and your servants and your secretaries to do your dirty work. Just being around you is suffocating,” I say from between my teeth.

“You take all the air out of a room.”

“You took them away from me, Evelyn, I’m just taking back what is owed,” Victor sneers down at me.

“You had the sheer arrogance to think you could get away with it.”

“I will never –“

“My sons have the blood of the Alpha in their bodies,” he says to me, slowly, as if I’m stupid. The hair on my neck rises at his condescension. “One of them – or both, I don’t care – is destined to become the Alpha.”

“I –“

“It was foolish and irresponsible to take them away from their home, with me, and their birthright, Evelyn,” he shouts. “You stripped them of their early education, their time to learn how to grow into their destinies.”

“I WILL NOT give them up!” I scream, pounding against his chest with both of my fists. “You will LISTEN to me! They are my SONS – they are mine – I haven’t been away from them a single day since they were born! They will live the destiny that I build for them!”

Victor shows no sign of softening his heart, standing still as I pound against his chest, tears streaming down my face.

“You stole my babies, Evelyn. I’m taking them back.”

“You’re nothing but a sperm donor, Victor.” I say, seeing that the conversation is over. I wipe my face on my sleeves and move to the door, pulling it open and stepping out.

“You can take my children when I’m dead, and never before.”