Chapter 36 Celeste
Celeste's POV
Beta Dylan, Gamma Silas, and Delta Giana discussed a lot. Most of it was about Liam.
If they didn't respect my feelings and wanted to blame Benedict, they would have told me I shouldn't have sent Liam to that kindergarten or asked me to transfer him to another school closer to our base.
If Liam weren't Alpha Eiden's son, or if Alpha Eiden hadn't acknowledged him, they wouldn't have cared for him. They would have asked me not to send Liam to school outside the base and kept him hidden here forever.
They had already left my office. The plates and glasses were empty, and soon an Omega would come to collect them.
I was alone, my head filled with thoughts.
I stared at Alpha Eiden's message that I hadn't replied to. Since I didn't have any urgent documents to attend to, I quickly typed and sent it to him.
\[I have some free time.\]
\[Can I call you?\]
I gasped in surprise. He wanted to talk to me on the phone. I thought we would just exchange messages.
\[Okay. You can call me.\]
My heart pounded as I stared at my screen, seeing his name on it. This would be a first for us.
“Hello.” I put the phone to my ear.
“Hello.” His deep voice sounded very low. For some reason, he seemed unsure about what he was going to say to me, or he regretted calling me. “I hope I really didn’t bother you.”
“No.” I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me. “If I'm busy, I won't answer your call.”
I wasn’t going to leave my job because I didn’t want to work overtime, even though I was curious about what serious thing he was going to tell me.
“I’m glad I called you at the right time,” he said with a sigh.
“What did you want to tell me?” I asked. I didn't want to guess, but my head couldn't stop thinking.
“I, I, I really didn’t want to tell you this. It’s about me. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to hear it.”
Alpha Eiden would have hung up and never spoken to me again if I said I wasn’t interested in his life story.
My brows knitted together as I remembered the information my members had gathered about Alpha Eiden. Would he talk about that or something else? I was sure my members were always up to date on him.
“Okay. I’ll listen to you.” I leaned back, swiveled my office chair, and stared at the apple tree outside the window.
“Thank you,” Alpha Eiden said with a relieved sigh. A chair scraped softly—it sounded like he had finally sat down after standing rigid for a while. “I’ve been having nightmares for the past three months.”
“Nightmares?” I feigned ignorance. A certainty welled up in my heart that he would definitely ask for my help, since I was a rogue.
“Yes, nightmares.” Alpha Eiden sighed, showing how exhausted he was from dealing with those dreams. “Every time I fall asleep, I have nightmares. I often can’t sleep because of them.”
“That must be hard for you.” I sympathized with him. I had felt sorry for him ever since I read his file, and now I was hearing his story firsthand.
“For the past two months I have been asking the rogue intel I know and from people's recommendations, but none of them knew anyone who could free me from this nightmare," he said, frustrated.
I knew how overwhelming it felt when the urge to give up or keep moving forward haunted my thoughts, and how impatience kept my mind from staying calm.
“I was planning to contact a rogue assassin group, but somehow I always hesitated.” His words surprised me. “I never contacted a rogue assassin group, even though I know their email address.”
I smiled crookedly. This was hilarious. Alpha Eiden didn’t know he was talking to the Alpha of one of the rogue assassin groups.
"Why are you hesitating? Just contact their email. Who knows, they might be able to help you. They have more information than that rogue intel." I encouraged him to confront his doubts.
I hoped he hadn't contacted my group. I was pretty sure the other rogue assassin groups know where Alpha Eiden should go.
"People say that once you contact a rogue assassin group and they accept you as their client, that's the beginning of your dependence on them," he said. "That's dangerous for Alpha; we could potentially underestimate our warriors."
I smiled broadly. “Yeah, that depends on you. If you can’t wait for your warrior spies, you’ll contact the rogue assassin group to get the information immediately.”
“I’m a patient person and I trust my warriors.” Alpha Eiden was a leader who didn’t underestimate his members.
“I hope you find a rogue intel who knows how to help you soon.”
“I honestly want to ask for your help.” Alpha Eiden finally told me why he had called. “Maybe you know a rogue who knows everything, someone on par with a rogue assassin.”
I gripped my phone tightly. “Okay. Thank you for believing in me.” I couldn’t promise him anything.
“Of course, I believe you. You’re the mother of my son,” Alpha Eiden said warmly. “Thank you so much for listening to my story and helping me.”
I knew who could help him, but I couldn’t tell him. Because I learned it from my members, that information had a price.
"Starting tomorrow, Levi and I won't be waiting for Liam. We'll just drop him off or pick him up." My chest tightened again as I imagined tomorrow and beyond.
“I plan to go to his school tomorrow,” Alpha Eiden said. “I’ll talk to him for a bit.” He muttered. “So isn’t anyone waiting for him?”
“I’ll have one of our bodyguards impersonate his uncle. He’ll wear a werewolf-scented perfume.” I didn’t want him to be shocked when he found out that the man acting as Liam’s uncle was a werewolf.
“Okay. I’ll meet him tomorrow.” I was relieved Alpha Eiden didn’t ask any further questions, especially about how I got the werewolf-scented perfume.
Our conversation ended. I returned to work before Beta Dylan could ask why the documents hadn't been signed.
Beta Dylan had already chosen one of our agents to pretend to be Liam’s uncle while he was at school.
I told Liam and Levi about why Levi and I could no longer wait for Liam at the playground, and that we would only drop Liam off or pick him up.
Liam introduced himself to his fake uncle so they wouldn't be awkward tomorrow.
“I’m sorry, Liam. I couldn’t find any other way. I knew you wouldn’t want to change schools.” I squeezed Liam’s small hand as he sat next to me.
“I’m okay, Mom.” Liam patted the back of my hand with his left hand. “I get it, and you’re right. Even if you tried to force me, I’d still choose to stay at that school,” he said with a wide grin.
“I can’t wait for you to get home.” Levi looked at Liam sadly and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. Liam let go of my hand to hug Levi and me.
I admire my children. They always seem so understanding of our situations, to the point where I forget they’re only five and three years old.