Chapter 46 Stay
ELIJAH
I've been up since five am. There were things to be done and I felt like I was falling behind on my work so I started from that time until one in the afternoon when I finally felt free enough to take a break.
I’d wanted to make it for breakfast but I just couldn’t find a stopping point. I had a meeting this morning with a very important Alpha and I didn’t want him to arrive while I was having breakfast.
After getting some food, I rested for a while so my eyes wouldn’t feel strained. I was about to doze off when Hazel entered the office. I noticed she had brought more work so I quickly bolted out of the office, not wanting to do anything else today.
What better place to spend the rest of my afternoon than with my two favorite people? I knew they were having fun without me again and I didn’t mind that. I knew Leo was in the right hands.
I stopped by Adriana’s room on my way to make sure she wasn’t there, then I proceeded to Leo’s room. The first thing I heard were his cries and my heart sank.
Leo barely ever cried, so I sprinted down the hallway and slowed down when I heard shouting.
“…do you think you are? Just because Elijah brought you into this house doesn’t mean you mean anything to him! I heard your family hated you, now I see why.”
Hannah. What the hell was she doing in there?
“That is your problem and theirs. All I’m saying is let go of his hand, Hannah. You’re hurting him!”
“No, this little brat needs to learn how to respect me. I’m his aunt and his only living relative. At the end of the day, he has no one else but me so he must like me. Only I can be his mother and then we’ll all be a family. Me, Elijah, and him.”
There she was again, going off about being a family.
“How delusional are you? Elijah doesn’t love you and he never will. But that’s not my concern, just let the child be.”
Leo’s cries seemed to increase. I should have gone in but there were still some things I needed to hear.
“You think you’re so smart. You say you don’t care if Elijah likes you but I know that’s a lie. I’ve seen the way you look at my man, the way you light up whenever he’s in the room. At least I’m honest about how I feel. You want to use Leo to get to Elijah.”
There was no response for a moment.
“You know what? You’re right. I am trying to use him.”
My heart sank. What?
“I’m using Elijah to get to Leo because this boy is more important to me than anyone else in this pack. And even if Elijah doesn’t love me, that’s fine. At least Leo does. You should be ashamed of yourself, Hannah. This boy is your nephew and you care more about getting into the bed of the man who took him in as a father because you were too irresponsible to do your damn job! Liam would be so ashamed of you.”
She slapped her and even Leo stopped crying. That was it. She’d done enough.
As soon as I opened the door, she let his hand go.
“Elijah, thank you for being here. This outsider won’t let him go. She’s been making him cry since you left.”
I didn’t like the way she addressed Adriana as an outsider.
I picked Leo up and cleaned his face and he rested his head on my shoulder.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Daddy’s here now.” I kept talking to him so he would stop crying.
I was trying not to raise my voice so I wouldn’t scare him but seeing Hannah here just made me furious. Adriana had gone silent.
“Hannah, what madness is this? Why are you bringing my son into this delusion you’ve decided to live in?”
“Elijah, that’s not what happened. You didn’t hear the things she was saying. She doesn’t care about the boy, she loves you and she’s pretending to care about him.”
“That is you! You are the one who is pretending! You are the one who won’t get it into your head that I will never love you, I will never look at you in that way and based on recent events, you are repulsive to me. Even if she uses Leo to get to me, at least she’s not desperate and she doesn’t hurt him. Can’t you see, we will never be together?”
Now it was just getting embarrassing and she needed to stop. It had gone on for too long and I was sick of it.
“No Elijah, you can’t say that. The both of us don’t have mates and besides, we’re connected to Leo. We can be a family. Just us, no one else.”
She was making it hard for me not to chase her out of this pack. Based on the promise I made Liam, his family would continue to be here no matter what, and I’d take care of them like they were my own. It was Hannah who was making me rethink that promise.
“Get out. Get out! I don’t want to see you close to Leo again. He’s better off without you.”
“You can’t say that to me, I’m his aunt. He needs me! Why are you talking to me like this? Because of this wolf? This outsider? She’s nothing. She’s just like her father, a damn wolf that can’t be trusted. I can’t believe you let her in, Elijah. She just came to ruin things.”
This girl was nothing like Liam and it hurt me.
“She may have ruined things for you but she made my life better. She gave Leo a reason to smile again, can’t you see he can’t stay away from her? And neither can I, Hannah. You call her an outsider? This outsider has changed my life in the few months she’s been here. You aren’t his aunt, you don’t even know anything about him!”
I could hear Leo snoring lightly against my shoulder.
“I’m done speaking to you. Get out, my son needs to sleep.”
She looked at me in disbelief before scoffing and storming toward the door.
“Don’t you dare slam that door.”
She turned back around and gave me a look before walking away quietly. Adriana made a move to leave too but I held her back and shook my head at her. I wanted her to stay.