Page 79 of Rejected By My Stepbrother Alpha
I shook my head, chastising myself. I didn’t have any time for this. There were a million things I needed to accomplish before the sun rose.
Last night, I instructed my Beta to bring in an outside team of guards from a nearby pack that we were aligned with. While the internal investigations were being conducted on my team, these guards would provide twenty-four-hour security for Adrian, Ivy, and the hotel. In the conference room, there was a triple shot of espresso waiting for me in a small ceramic cup with steam still rising out of it, just like I had requested. I made a mental note to make sure there was a nice bonus on all the hotel staff’s paychecks.
When Beta Flynn arrived, I had him bring in the guards in teams of ten, and I debriefed them, then sent them to their posts. Once they were gone, I asked Flynn if he could handle all the daily pack business since I’d be needed here, and he assured me he could.
After my Beta left the conference room, I called Cooper and asked him to take over day-to-day operations for now. I told him that I’d handle the Alpha king project presentation tomorrow. For the next two hours, I finished all of my tasks—business and pack-related—and it was time for breakfast.
I rode the elevator down to the formal dining room, my stomach knotting with worry. Before I left Ivy's room last night, we agreed that we'd meet here for breakfast, where she was going to officially introduce me to Adrian as his father. Of course, I was excited, but I wasalso extremely nervous. Adrian and I got along great, but would he still be ecstatic to spend time with me when he knew I was his father who hadn't been a part of his life for six years?
Ivy and Adrian were waiting for me outside the dining room. Ivy looked beautiful just like always, in jeans and a lavender blouse. Her hair was pulled back with a pale yellow clip. But the bags under her eyes made my heart pang. She had a tight grip on Adrian’s shoulder. Our son—which was still a crazy thing to even think—was more subdued than usual. The carefree sparkle in his eye was gone, and that crushed me.
But my spirits lifted slightly when his face broke into a grin when he spotted me.
“Asher!” he said and hugged me around my legs. “My mom said she has something important to tell me. Do you know what it is?”
My heart skipped a beat. “I do.”
Ivy gave me a small smile, and I returned it. The electric current between us hadn’t lessened from last night. If anything, it had only increased.
She nodded at my four guards, who were inconspicuously stationed at each exit. “That was fast. Thank you,” she muttered under her breath. Then she turned to Adrian. “Sweetie, Asher and I have something very important to tell you.”
Immediately, our son’s expression became guarded. It made my stomach stiffen to see him react like that. My fingers clenched into fists, and I had the strong urge to go to the pack prison and punish Riggs for making my son less trusting of the world around him.
Ivy and I kneeled in front of him, and she glanced around to make sure we were alone. The hallway was empty, and my guards weren’t within hearing distance.
“This is good news, honey,” Ivy said and swallowed nervously. “Asher is your father.”
A few moments passed as Adrian processed this news. My heart slammed against my ribs as I waited for his reaction.
Then, my son’s eyes widened with happiness, and a large grin bloomed across his face. He leaped forward and wrapped his arms around me. I threw my arms around him, squeezing hislittle body. Relief and joy flowed through me. Both emotions were so powerful that they made my head spin.
“I pretty much knew when you said you liked key lime pie, too,” Asher said when he pulled away but still kept his arms wrapped around my shoulders. “I just had this feeling.”
“I had a feeling when I first met you, too,” I said and pulled him in for another hug.
“Can I…” Adrian hid his face in my chest, but I could still hear him. “Can I call you dad?”
My heart burst with joy. “Of course you can. I would love nothing more.”
I squeezed him even tighter to me. We stood there for an endless moment, neither one of us wanting to move. I glanced over at Ivy. There was a small smile on her face, and one tear rolled down her cheek. When she caught me looking, she quickly wiped it away.
In the dining room, the three of us met Damian and Mason for breakfast. Last night, Ivy told me that her brother and father already knew that Adrian was my son. I didn’t like the fact that they had known Adrian was my son before me, but it was something I had to accept.
At the table, which was covered in a white cloth, Mason and I shook hands. There was a tense moment between Damian and me as we eyed each other. But then he stood, and we exchanged a quick handshake, our grips stronger than necessary. I didn’t think that we would ever be true friends, but both of us cared about Ivy and Adrian, and that was enough for me.
After a quick breakfast, the five of us went back upstairs. Adrian stayed in his room with Mason and Ivy, while Damian, and I worked on finishing the project proposal for the Alpha king in Ivy's room. We kept the connecting door open because Ivy and I wanted to be able to keep an eye on our son.
We fine-tuned our project proposal with the help of our teams on a video conference call. As we worked, Ivy and I found little innocent ways to touch each other. I would rest my hand on the small of her back for a moment. Once, she laid her hand on my arm. Each of these small touches seared my skin like a brand.
After lunch, we had finished with our proposal.
“Our teams did such a good job. We’re going to win,” I said to Ivy and Damian, who nodded in agreement.
I grinned, and without thinking, I pulled Ivy into a hug. With her soft body pressed against mine, I inhaled her sweet scent, forgetting every reason why we needed to take things slow.
Ivy was the first to step away, taking my heart with her. Damian just rolled his eyes.
After lunch, we moved into Adrian’s room. While he worked on his school packet, Ivy, Damian, Mason, and I gathered around the table in the corner of the room.
