Chapter 41: Secured Under My Watch

Elena's POV

I was taken aback when Alpha Darian turned my face and clashed her lips with mine. It happened so fast that I didn't even get the chance to protest; I wanted to stop him or even push him away for kissing me without my consent, but there was this intense pleasure that came with the kiss, this sensation that I had never felt before, and instead of pushing him away, I found myself drawing my face closer and savoring the passionate kiss. We were still lost in the passion when Richard suddenly started crying, jolting us back to reality, and without hesitating, we broke the kiss, avoiding his gaze. I carried Richard, who was lying on my lap, and started calming him down.

“Can I see him?” He asked me, and I nodded and handed Richard over to him. Once he carried him, he stopped crying.

“What’s his name?” Alpha Darian asked me.

“Richard,” I said to him, and immediately he frowned.

"Seriously? Must you name him after my brother?" he asked me. From his facial expression, I could see that he wasn't happy because I named him after his twin brother.

"What were you expecting? You weren't there to name him, so someone else had to do it," I said to him, my voice raising in anger.

I don't know how I got the courage to raise my voice at him in such a manner, but I did it; possibly I was taken away by my emotions.

Once I said that to him, to my greatest surprise, he bent his head in grievance. I was expecting him to flare up angrily as usual, but he did nothing of the sort. When he turned his gaze towards me, I could clearly see the regret written all over his face.

"I know that you are angry at me, Elena; you hate me for all I did to you, but I want you to know that I'm sincerely sorry for everything I did to you, for all the pain I have caused you, and I hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me," he said to me, but I remained silent, staring at him in surprise.

If someone had told me that Alpha Darian would one day be apologizing to me sincerely in such a manner, I would have never believed it.

"I know that my apologies won't take away the suffering and everything you have passed through because of me, but I want you to know that I'm ready to do anything to make it up to you," he said to me, his voice filled with sincerity.

“What happened to you?” I asked him after a few minutes of silence: the Alpha Darian I had known back then would never apologize for his wrongdoings, talk less, or promise to do anything to make up for it, so what had suddenly gotten to him?

"You happened to me, Elena; your departure transformed me into the person I am today, and even if you don't believe that I have changed, I will do everything in my power to prove that to you," he said to me ,and I faked a smile at him.

“Thank you for saving me and Richard Alpha Darian,” I said to him.

"You don't need to thank me, Elena; I should be the one thanking you for giving me the opportunity to see my son," he said to me while caressing Richard's face.

“Wow, Elena, didn’t I tell you that he has changed?” Tricksy said this to me after mind-linking with me.

"Shut up, Tricksy; I haven't forgiven him yet," I said to Tricksy through the link.

"What! I thought we had a deal," Tricksy asked me through the link.

“What deal?” I asked her, feigning not to know what she was talking about.

“Elena!!!” Tricksy screamed my name through the link, and immediately I blocked the link.

“Are you okay?” I have been talking to you for a while now; it seems like you zoomed off," Alpha Darian said to me.

"Yes, I'm okay, Alpha Darian. What were you saying?" I asked him.

"I was asking if you were still annoyed with me," he asked me with a warm smile.

"I don't know yet," I said to him frankly.

"You came to my rescue; while you could have gone to claim your pack back, you risked your life for me, and I don't see myself being annoyed with you after all that, but I also don't know if I have forgiven you for everything you did to me," I said to him, and he nodded.

"You have all the reasons to be annoyed with me, Elena, and I hope that you will soon find it in your heart to forgive me," he said to me with a warm smile. "I think we should

start going, Elena," he said to me while standing up and handing Richard to me. After groaning in pain for a few minutes, he went to the area where the brown powder that had formed the invisible barrier was and blew it away, and afterwards he asked me to follow him He kept on repeating the process until we came out of the. palace. Once we came out of the palace, what I saw left me speechless. There were thousands of bodies lying lifelessly on the ground, apart from the ones I saw when coming out of the palace, and aside from that, there were Richard. and many other soldiers, possibly his soldiers; they were all busy inspecting the dead bodies to see if any of the rival soldiers were still alive. "From the look on Alpha Darian's face, it was clear that Alpha Darian too was surprised to see him. Without hesitating, I hid behind Alpha Darian and held his hand tightly, remembering what Richard had tried to do the other time. I wasn't t ready to go through the trauma of someone who wasn't my mate trying to mark me I was so frightened by Richard's presence that I didn't realize how firmly I was gripping Alpha Darian's hand.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Elena; no one is going to lay his hands on you as long as I'm alive," Alpha Darian said to me with a caring tone while looking at his hand that I was holding firmly.

Once I noticed that I was holding his hand, I immediately let go of it.