Chapter 191

Chapter 52 (Gabriel POV) There were few things I’ve never wanted or even thought to actually ask for, and even then I was a lucky bastard to get them. A mate, children… two things I’ve never thought to ask for or wanted and now I have them. But with them, I have this feeling of true loneliness, missing things I hadn’t thought I ever would. Walking to the third floor of my home, with my mate, reading a story to my daughter, resting next to my mate, falling asleep, watching her draw in her book, closing my eyes and the sound of graphite meeting paper, is the sound that lulls me to sleep. I was anxious being away from that, but I couldn’t miss this Summit, I hadn’t attended the last and now with Chelsea… I knew she would be hot topic. I huffed, glaring at my cousin Victor, who was interrupting my calming process, sitting across from me. Pulling my ipad near him to see the picture of my family, and despite being closer to him than even Samuel, I didn’t want him ogling my child and mate, especially since he didn’t have his own mate. Jack doesn’t have his own mate… Max pushed. I wouldn’t take the bait; Jack cared for Chelsea like a step in father. I gazed blankly at Victor, we had many similarities, however where my eyes were green, his were a bright blue. “She’s beautiful man, they both are,” he said swiping between pictures, glancing up at me periodically, “You really love her.” He stated, not a question, but still he quirked his eyebrows up. “With everything,” I spoke the truth, with one solid nod, “the both of them.” “You look different, happy – happier, than I’ve ever seen you,” he noted and this line of conversation left me unsettled, remembering all the times I’d taunted men, about those close to them. “Yes,” I continued with my short responses. “It’s crazy though, you guys had her sister this whole damn time,” he pushed my Ipad back at me, and mentioning Audrey, my finger twitched beneath the table. “I mean I don’t think anyone thought Audrey exists but she does, that there’s two of her, of them…” he shakes his head. This was tricky, in my mind now, anything I saw could potentially lead to Chelsea was avoided, with great space. “Ya, well Audrey can’t shift and we could never get any scent of werewolf from her so she mostly remained hidden and sheltered,” I answered, taking my iPad back. “How’s life with Artemisia?” the woman was beyond vain, and even without her around, she’d be pleased to know we were speaking of her. Still I didn’t want to talk about me. “That bad?” I questioned when he didn’t respond, already knowing his weird situation with his ex-wife. Despite their private divorce he still lived with her, pretending for their 12 year old daughter – Mylene. Taking the iPad once again, he pushed it back towards me. I FOUND MY MATE. TALK LATER. I read and my eyes flew to his, then I just nodded. “How’s Mylene?” I moved to another topic, one that brought him joys. “Amazing. Perfect," he beamed. "Said like a proud father.” “Takes one to know one,” I internally huffed, back to me again, but Victors comment wasn’t a jab at me, but still I was skeptical. “G, man, you have over 600 photos here. Half of your mate the other half your daughter, you have pictures of them brushing their teeth, they even do that perfect to you,” he deadpanned. “Shut up.” Lame. “Heard you proposed… married to your mate… what’s that like?” and I felt something I never had for him. Pity. Victor’s 27 years old and Mylene his only child is 12 years old. He messed around with Artemisia – when they were 15 and 18 years old respectively – and when she got pregnant, her parents demanded he marry her, and stupidly… he did. They made all the right points, and pushed all the right buttons. Saying that in the family business side of things, if he hadn’t, he would be making her a target as well as his unborn child. Knowing him well, after one time of saying not too, he married her and I knew that that was his number one mistake, before setting up his business, and making his own money, he divorced Artemisia. “I’m scared,” I said honestly, “I don’t deserve her man. Yet I’m happy. I get to stand in front of everyone and let them watch me, make her mine.” I smirked at the table knowing that my father and mother could hear me. “It’s not even about that alone thought, there isn’t shit I wouldn’t do for her,” I said plainly. “You’re doing this because you love her” Victor said looking out the window, “you want to make her feel special.” “Exactly,” I said not missing the fact that he was thinking of his own situation, the same bullet I had dodged with Maggie. Hopefully his mate had baggage like him, if not… she’d have to deal with the hurt that he has Mylene, and still married her mother. Maybe his mate was like my Chelsea – nah. No one is like Chelsea. . . . When we landed I shot Chelsea a text, letting her know we landed and I was about to crash. When we thought about it, we realized with the time difference, if I teleported back home, we were in different time zones. But going back, there was no way in hell I was going to sleep on that plane with the only people I could trust for sure was Sabastian, and third Victor.