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Chapter 7 He Was Adopted

Regina’s POV

I covered my mouth with tears forming in my eyes.

He said he was going to protect me no matter what and he kept his promise. I was married already and yet he was still defending me in front of the others.

But I couldn’t let him do that by himself. I needed to stand by his side.

Taking in a deep breath, I raised my hand and knocked on the door.

An elderly voice answered, “Come in.”

I pushed the door open and carefully stepped into the room.

This inner room was very spacious and glamorous. It was designed for the Alpha to review documents and meet with his cabinet members. There was a huge floor-to-ceiling window over-looking the entire castle. And a large map was hung by the wall. With a quick peek, I saw a red circle marking Shadow Valley on the map.

There were four people sitting and Gray was the only one standing in front of them with his hands behind his back.

Seeing me walk in, he immediately turned to me and frowned, “What are you doing here, Regina? You need to rest.”

“It’s OK, Gray,” I gave him a comforting smile. “My wolf has healed my wounds. I am alright now.”

Then I turned to face the other four people in the room and smiled, “I’m back. Grandpa, grandma, father, and mother.”

My grandma Violet was the first to jump up and rushed to hug me, “Oh my sweet sugar…I should never let you leave home in the first place…”

I wrapped my arms around her tiny body and felt a strong urge to cry again. My grandpa, Victor, the former Alpha of Ever Moon Pack, slowly rose from his seat and walked to us, patting me on my back.

“Glad you are home,” he said in a hoarse voice.

My father Barnie didn’t stand up, but he was smiling warmly at me. Sitting by his side was a beautiful woman in her early thirties and she was the only one in this room who had absolutely no smile on her face.

My eyes met with her, and a shiver was sent down my spine.

That was my stepmother, Connie.

My mom died when I was a baby and my dad remarried when I was 8 years old. Growing up I had heard many fairy tales about vicious stepmother, so I was terrified about being murdered by my dad’s new wife.

But Connie wasn’t vicious. She never liked me and Gray very much, but she also never poisoned me or pushed me down the stairs. When I grew up, she gave birth to her own daughter, Leslie. And her attention was shifted elsewhere. So we got to live peacefully under the same room.

I always felt that she hated Gray more than she hated me, because of the Alpha position.

The line of succession was a bit peculiar in our house.

My grandpa, Victor Gibbons, reigned this pack for a very long time. A year ago, before I married to Shadow Valley Pack, I overhead grandpa talking about turning over the position to his successor.

But the successor grandpa had in mind wasn’t his 40-years-old son, but his 24-years-old grandson—my brother—Gray.

I could understand why grandpa made that decision.

My father Barnie was many things. He was a gardener, a poet, a great cook and also a scholar. But he was never a strong warrior.

My brother Gray, on the other hand, showed his talent in military and rule at a very young age.

He seemed like a much better Alpha candidate than my father.

But if Gray became the Alpha, my father would be in a very awkward position. Everyone would gossip why grandpa skipped him and picked Gray. There would be rumors, bad rumors.

They didn’t reach a conclusion when I married off. Half a year later after I married Nigel, I finally heard news from Ever Moon Pack that Gray became the Alpha.

So I could see why my stepmom Connie’s dislike towards Gray became stronger.

She believed that Gray humiliated her husband.

And that was her voice saying that Gray shouldn’t have taken me home.

“Father…mother.”

I gulped down nervously and looked at my parents, “I’m very happy to see you again.”

My father gave me a gentle smile. Yet before he could say anything, Connie spoke up first, “Regina, why did you escape home? You are a married woman already. You belong to your husband. What should we say to Nigel if he comes to Ever Moon Pack and looks for you?”

“He…He won’t…”

I was very nervous every time I talked to Connie, “Nigel doesn’t know I am from Ever Moon Pack.”

Grandpa asked me to keep my princess identity a secret if I wanted to marry Nigel.

And I did.

So Nigel wouldn’t know where to find me now.

“Even so!” Connie snapped, “Are you going to stay here forever? If I remember things correctly, it was you who insisted to marry Nigel in the first place. Everybody disapproved but you were stubborn. You went on a hunger strike and threatened to jump from the roof. Now what? It’s been only a year and you are having second thoughts already? How irresponsible—”

“ENOUGH!”

My grandma cried angrily.

She protected me behind her back like a hen and glared at Connie, “Regina can have second thought anytime she wants! If Nigel didn’t treat her nicely, and I bet that is the reason, she is welcomed to come back. The current Alpha has approved that. So other people can shut their mouths about it!”

Connie looked offended. She gritted her teeth staring at me and snorted, “I’m just saying…Let’s not forget how much this pack has sacrificed for Regina. A prince from the south wanted to propose to Regina. We turned the prince down so that Regina could marry Nigel. We still don’t know if that prince was holding a grudge against—”

“Thank you for reminding me, Lady Connie,” Gray cut her off icily. “But I am the Alpha of this pack. You shouldn’t bother yourself with these pack businesses.”

Gray never called Connie “mother.”

He always addressed her as “Lady” and treated her with a polite yet aloof attitude.

Now Connie looked as though she got slapped in the face.

She wanted to keep arguing but my grandpa raised a hand and stopped her.

“The only thing that matters now—”

Grandpa puts his hands on my shoulders and looked down at me closely.

“—is what you want, Regina. Do you want to stay at home? Or do you want to go back to your husband?”

The room lapsed into silence.

I could feel everyone’s sharp gaze on me. Some were concerned, and some were cold.

And my mind was racing fast, searching for an answer.

Did I want to stay home?

…Of course, I did.

It would be lying to say that I didn’t miss my families, the feeling to be spoiled and the way people treated me with respect.

I really wanted to travel back in time and become the little princess I once was.

But the problem was…could I?

Just as Connie pointed out, everyone had done so much for me already. I insisted to marry Nigel. So I should take responsibilities for that. I couldn’t just run back home, crying, if things were perfect in my marriage.

Every marriage hit a bump along the road. I needed to face that. I was a grown-up.

But Nigel…

My heart ached so much thinking about what he said to Angel. He wanted to give me to other men. He wanted to murder me.

Could I ever trust him again?

“Regina.”

A deep voice snapped me back to reality.

I looked up in a daze and found Gray staring at me with a worried look on his face.

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” he rubbed my hair with a faint smile. “You don’t need to make a decision now. You can stay here, or you can go anywhere as you please. Take your time with your decision.”

I was reluctant, “but…”

“Don’t worry. No one will have a problem with that—” Gray straightened up and brought cold gaze across the room, “—because I said so.”

There was a clear threat in his voice.

I saw Connie clenched the arm of her chair tightly. But she swallowed back her words eventually.

“Great! It settles then,” my grandma held my hands and beamed. “Have lunch with me today. And tell me everything about this past year.”

I nodded, smiling sheepishly.

Then I wanted to invite Gray to join us.

But grandpa Victor spoke up first, “Everyone gives us some room. I need to talk to Gray, alone.”


Gray’s POV

Everyone left the room, including Regina.

I saw her giving me anxious looks before she left. I knew she was worried that Victor might scold me for bringing her back.

I shook my head and smiled to her, mouthing her not to worry.

The door closed behind their backs.

Then I finally turned to Victor and asked, “You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes,” Victor said with a searching look on his face. “You do realize how unwise it was to bring Regina back like that, do you?”

I snorted, “If you are concerned about Shadow Valley Pack, I could send out an army and destroy them first thing in the morning.”

“No.”

Victor sighed.

“I am worried about you, Gray. About your identity. About the future of this pack. How people will react when they find out you don’t carry any Gibbons blood in your body and yet you are the Alpha and not Regina.”

I lapsed into silence.

Yes, I was adopted.

This was the top secret in this family. Only a few people including Victor, Violet and Bernie knew. Even Regina was kept in the dark.

“If this secret gets out…people will overthrow you,” Victor said deeply. “One of the reasons I agreed to let you become Alpha was because Regina was marrying off to another pack. With her gone, your succession was justified. But now Regina is back. If people find out she deserves this crown more than you do, it will bring troubles back again…”

I stared back at him calmly.

I knew Victor was looking out for us. Even though I was adopted, he never treated me differently.

“You shouldn’t worry, Victor.” I said.

“Gray…”

“First, this secret has been kept for 20 years. I doubt it will ever get out. What’s more—”

A gentle smile touched upon my lips.

“—I can keep ruling this pack, or I can step aside and let Regina be Alpha. The only thing that matters here is what Regina wants. I won’t turn her away simply because she posts threat to my ruling. Compared to her, this crown seems so insignificant.”

There was a compilated look on Victor’s face and he seemed that he had something else to say.

But my patience was running out.

“I think they are expecting us for lunch. And I hate to have them waiting.”

I open the door and hold it for him.

“So shall we?”

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