Pregnant With Alpha’s Genius Twins

Chapter 158

#Chapter 158 – Split

That afternoon, Victor runs through the woods of the encampment. When he had originally purchased the land, it was all wooded with trees like these, but he’d had most of them cut down, repurposing the wood to build parts of the encampment and the barracks.

But these acres of woods he left for Betas to try themselves in, creating mock battles to prepare for the ones they’d face in real life. Paths wove around the woods, miles of them – and Victor was on them this evening, running himself until his breath was sharp in his lungs, until he could finally think again with some degree of clarity.

He stops in the middle of the woods when he’s finally run out, bending down to put his hands on his knees, panting. He works out every day in the morning of course – but today, he’s really pushed himself.

Still, as far as he’s gone, as much as he’s pressed…he can’t get her out of his head.

Evelyn. What the hell was he going to do with Evelyn?

Because as the blood courses through him, he knows, internally, that he can’t live without Evelyn.

Victor sinks down to the forest floor, his feet still planted on the ground, his arms resting over his knees, staring up through the canopy of the trees.

It was different with Amelia. When he had made that decision – ended the mating bond, ended the relationship – he had known that there was a finality to it. That he was finished, could never trust her, wouldn’t regret it – not really – if he never saw her ever again.

But with Evelyn…god, he couldn’t imagine his life without her anymore. Couldn’t imagine a day without her face, her smile, her laugh – let alone a lifetime of growing old without her.

Was he just being an i***t? Victor wonders this as he stares up, seeking the sky between the leaves. Was he just missing Evelyn, wanting her back because he’s in love with her? Would it be a horrible mistake to take her back?

Was it easier to leave Amelia merely because she had betrayed him more, and he had gotten sick of it? He had more proof, more evidence, of her complete disregard for his feelings and emotions – is that what had made it easy?

If he went back to Evelyn, tried again, started anew with clean slates – would he just be falling into the same old trap? Would she, too, betray him again and again?

Victor sighs, looking back down at his hands. God damnit, but he was sick of questions with no answers.

With that, he stands and slowly begins the walk back to the barracks.

The sun has set by the time he gets there, back to his office where his car is parked. No one bothers him. Earlier in the day, a few Betas had come to report but Victor had waved them away, giving them brief instructions to handle the fallout from the fire to the best of their abilities.

He had trained them well – they were strong, capable people who could certainly handle it themselves. Instead, Victor climbs back into his car and drives onto the road that takes him home, finally wanting to face the big question of his life.

Because Evelyn – what she did – was it really as horrible as he had made it out to be?

Part of Victor sticks to his convictions at this question. Certainly, it was a betrayal. Certainly, it had been a conniving play for power and information wherein Evelyn had manipulated her resources to her benefit.

But if he thinks back to the timing of when the therapy first began, right when he had re-met Evelyn, just barely after he had met his sons…

God damnit, in the same situation, would he not have done the same thing?

He had been so horrible to her, in those first months. Threatening to take the children away from her, calling her a surrogate, blaming her for keeping the children away from him when – what choice, really, had she had?

As he heads down the highway, Victor considers that from the moment he met her, Evelyn had acted from a sense of self-preservation. When Joyce betrayed her, she went out into the world seeking an encounter that would allow her to regain some of her self-esteem.

When she had been ejected from her father’s pack, she had gone back to school to build a career for herself. When she had discovered she was pregnant, she had done everything she could – changed her name, gone into hiding – to keep those boys secret from the world.

She had always known that no one could care for them like she did. And damnit, she was right.

Victor grips the wheel again, as he had yesterday, frustrated with himself now instead of Evelyn. He was an Alpha, for god’s sake – he should be in more control of himself when it comes to losing his temper, in sorting it through.

Because the fact is – he admires Evelyn. In so many ways she’s the one with grit, control, determination.

Certainly, she had pushed her betrayal too far. She had continued talking to him on the phone as his therapist beyond when he was a threat to the life she had built and to her children.

But what advice, really, had she given him that hadn’t been useful to him? She had told him that Amelia was a snake, and she was. She had told him to regain control of his pack, and he did.

She had given him the advice that she would have given him as his Luna, had he been smart enough to seek it. She had just found another way to do it.

God damnit, he was a fool.

They had hard times ahead of them – they had to learn to forgive each other, to rebuild, to reestablish their trust in each other. But importantly, there, was the concept of each other. Because he was not blameless in this equation.

Evelyn was not the lone transgressor. Nor was she the victim. It was so much more complicated than that, and it was not going to be easy.

But as he pulls in the driveway of the house, he knows, in his gut as well as his heart, that it’s something he wants to fight for.

As he walks up the steps to the house nearly an hour later, his hands in his pockets, his shirt still stained with sweat from his long run, his Betas give him a worried look. Victor frowns at them, wondering if he really does look that bad.

But he decides not to ask, instead focusing on the task at hand. Of finding Evelyn, begging her forgiveness, asking her to try again.

When Victor steps into the house, he knows immediately that something is wrong.

To begin, Burton is there. In the kitchen, stirring something in a tall stew pot. When Burton sees him, he gives Victor a short bow, but does not speak.

Victor opens his mouth to ask what he’s doing here, but before he can he hears a voice behind him.

“Victor,” Rafe says, his voice low and full of sorrow.

Victor turns slowly, growing wary to see Rafe standing in the living room. Bridgette is curled up on the couch. Material © NôvelDrama.Org.

“What are you two doing here?” Victor asks, frowning.

“Victor,” Bridgette says, her face terribly sad.

“You should go upstairs,” Rafe says, his voice kinder than Victor had heard it in years. “To the boys’ room. It’s not for us to tell.”

Victor glances between the three of them again and then, in silence, goes up the stairs.

The hall is quiet as he walks down it, crossing to the boys’ door. He grips the handle and takes a beat, and a breath, before pushing it open.

It takes him a minute, looking around the room, to fully understand what he’s seeing. Because there’s just one little boy sitting on his bed, holding a stuffed dinosaur close to his chest. Victor scans the room for the other, but…

His gaze quickly returns to Alvin, who looks so, so small there on his bed.

“Ian went with mama,” Alvin says softly. “To protect her.”

Without a word, Victor crosses the room to kneel at the side of the little bed, wrapping his son in his arms.