Chapter 158
Minutes later, I heard to sets of footsteps marching hastily towards the door. Then it flung open and
there in the arch stood the only and only Nicolos Jones a.k.a Dad.
“Dad?” I asked tears already accumulating in my eyes.
He hadn’t changed a bit. The same friendly eyes and soft, warm features. I was always told I had my
father’s looks and now that I was looking at his light blond hair and blue-grey eyes I could see why.
“Ella,” he replied crying with me.
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight, checking that he was
really there.
“My little girl,” he whispered.
“How are you here?” I sobbed. “I thought you were dead.”
“I promise that I will explain everything,” he said. “But first can we just have a moment.”
He then stretched his hand out for Connor who was stood behind and for a few minutes we just
hugged. With only Mom missing, it was the closest we’d been to the whole family together in far
too long.
I was confused and overwhelmed and shocked but it was comforting all the same. At some point,
Connor went to get some food and when he returned, we sat on the bed and they began to explain
“I didn’t die in a car accident, Ella. That’s what your precious mate made it look like. He wanted me
gone. Leonardo Loren became Alpha when you were just eleven. That’s when I disappeared. It was
practically his first action as Alpha. His men came after me and left me close to death, they didn’t
finish me off because they didn’t think I’d live and they wanted to maximise my suffering. But I did.”
“Leo tried to kill you?” I asked quietly. “He told me about how you were in the pack and why you
were kicked out but he never mentioned that…”
“What your mate tells you is just the surface of an iceberg, Ella,” Connor said in a serious tone. “Ask
anyone in this castle and they can tell you a messed up story about him that you would never be
able to imagine. You may think he is a good man to you but you have no idea.”
“I desperately wanted to come back to you both and your mother. I couldn’t bear the thought of
you growing up without a father and from what I hear, you hardly had a mother too-”
“Then why didn’t you? It’s been twelve years, Dad, and you were alive the whole time?”
“The monarchy found me. Revived me. I feel I owe them my life so a life of service I promised them.
And I can’t return anyway. Not until Leonardo Loren is no longer Alpha.”
“My son isn’t seventeen for another ten years,” I replied.
“That is not what I meant,” he said with a grave expression. “He will be gone in a month. I assure
you.”
My Dad put his hand on mine and squeezed it. I shook my head and pulled it away.
“.No..” I said. “..no…if you are suggesting what I think you are suggesting, you will never succeed
and even if you do..he is the father of my eight children! Killing him would destroy both your
daughter and your grandchildren! How could you even consider such a thing!”
“It is justice. He mercilessly stripped me away from you and your brother like he has to hundreds
before!” My father argued. “It is justice. How can you forgive him for what he did to our family?”
“He is our family now. His children are your Grandchildren. His mate is your daughter. And I can’t
forgive him. I never will. But that doesn’t mean I want him dead and if you take my mate away from
me, I’d never be able to forgive you either. You know what it is like to lose a mate. Don’t put your
daughter through the same thing.”
“And let countless others? He will continue to kill and tear apart lives until the day he dies.”
“He was only seventeen when he ordered your death. Twelve years have passed and he has
changed. His pups and I have changed him, he’s no longer so cruel.”
“Seventeen is old enough to understand exactly what he was doing. And you can’t change a
monster like him. He will always be a cold-hearted killing machine and that is why he has to die.
Remember what your brother said about the iceberg? You have no idea what dark shit goes on
under his command. The King has been kind enough to let you and your children reside here when
he is gone. They believe that your eldest is still too young to be influenced by his father which is
why this has to happen now before they change their minds. If they have any feeling that he will
turn out anything like Leonardo, he will be killed before he gets too strong.”
“How can anyone say that about a child?! Cato is seven years old!”
“Be thankful that they are having mercy at all. The children of that creature don’t deserve it whether
they are my grandchildren or not,” he replied with spite. “It’s not just down to me, Ells. Everyone in
this entire Kingdom wants him dead. This is the Kingdom of the banished. Every wolf that has ever
gotten on the wrong side of him and lived to tell the tale is here. And they are ready to take him
down once and for all. You’ve inherited my ability to argue but even you would need a miracle to
persuade them otherwise,” he finished before leaving the chambers without looking back.