Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 284

"Yes." Her eyes shift to me.

"No." To him.

"Yes." To me.

"No." He uses a tone of finality. "The betas are coming. Aiden and Carson aren't here right now, but they'll ask questions-"

"Hide her then," I say. "Tell them to go away so they don't know."

"Isn't that lying?" he asks. "Isn't that exactly what you said we weren't going to do anymore?"

I sigh, forcefully.

He sighs too.

"Can we just get the baby some medicine?" I ask. "Get this girl some food?"

He doesn't say anything.

I keep trying. "We'll make sure they're both stable enough to, you know, not die. No one has to know. Not even Aiden," I emphasize. "Or the betas or Carson."

He furrows his brow.

Before he can say anything, I tell him, "And then you can decide what to do with them after. It's your call."

"They'll be leaving," he says.

This stubborn mule. I nod as if I'm not affected. "Okay. Once they have a fighting chance, you can kick them out."

"This'll cause more problems with the other packs. It's not gonna work," he says.

"They're already here," I say. "We can just tell people we didn't know... And they're packless. So it's fine."

"We don't know if she's telling the truth," he says forcefully. But he doesn't say it in an end-of-discussion way. He looks into my eyes. "We'll move them somewhere else for now. But we haven't decided anything until we discuss it with Aiden and Carson."

I look horrified.

He nods, giving me a smug look. "Welcome to the other side, Mia. Being tempted to lie."

"Yeah, yeah," I turn to leave.

He faces the girl and the baby.

I falter. As I'm walking away to go find Mom, Axel guides the girl away. Or at least, he tries to until he notices she's limping. I should be gone by now, but I linger in the aisle. For all his complaining. For all his resistance, he's who he always was-a gentleman. He offers to carry her without any hesitation.

I furrow my brow.

She looks a little apprehensive, but the second he drops that scowl and shows his true colors. The second he crouches down a little and shows her that gentle smile, she allows it. "Reluctantly." I eye her suspiciously. What's all of this? I'm peek around the corner by now, because I really should be gone. But what's all of this?

"What?" I ask.

He doesn't look happy. He nods towards the girl. She looks afraid of him.

"Did I miss something?" I ask Axel.

He shakes his head. "Let's just go."

"Are you even sure she wants to go there?" Onai asks.

"It's not like she has a choice," Axel says. "It's the only place I can think of."

Now I'm really confused.

Axel fills me in, moving to stand behind a tree. "We're gonna take her to Onai's dad's house. For now. It's the safest place."

The girl's eyes widen. I think she might pass out. Onai looks even more frustrated.

"It's a bit of a walk, so you can ride on me, Mia." Axel pulls his hoodie off. "I don't want anything to happen." There goes his pants. How much coverage does he think that tree is providing?

Oh wait. I'm not supposed to be looking. Heat rises to my cheeks. I turn around quickly. Speaking of cheeks-omg. I look away for real this time.

I face my other two group members. They keep their eyes on the ground and a tree respectively. What in the world happened while I was in the store? I clear my throat. "Do you guys know each other or something?"