Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 319

Ethel tries to help his imprint. He lifts Fei's blanket gently, smiling, as if to show her the fabric means no harm. "See? The blanket's nice."

Fei's not impressed. She crosses her arms, huffing, which makes her look more like Shen than ever. "Bad Epel," she mumbles over pouted lips. She's too young to be so jaded with men.

Ethel cocks his head back. "Now I'm bad too?" He doesn't say it playful. He sounds genuinely offended.

Shen gives him a 'really?' look.

He gawks. "She started it. I was being nice."

"Nuh-uh," Fei winds her neck.

Ethel sits up straighter. "Yes-hu-"

"If you finish that sentence..." Shen pinches the bridge of her nose.

It's Ethel's turn to pout. Fei giggles. That is, until Shen tries to lift the blanket over her again. Fei transforms, literally, into a flailing wolf pup. Ethel's jaw drops. He looks like he applied for a job he didn't actually have the credentials for. He stares wide-eyed into space, looking for anything to save him as Fei kicks and wails. Shen bangs her head against the headrest, caught between a rock and a hard place.

Onai can't take anymore. He nudges Ethel back against the seat, out of the way, before taking hold of the blanket himself. He covers his head with it. Fei's wolf keeps crying. Onai pulls the blanket off of his head, looks at her, then puts it back again.

Fei's cries turn to whines.

Onai covers his head. Uncovers his head.

Fei quiets.

Onai repeats the process.

Fei smiles, then fights it. Then she giggles, then fights it. She's back in human form now, clothes adjusted by Shen. Fei pulls the blanket over her head herself, pulling it down and smiling at Onai expectantly.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Ethel's blushing too. We make it to the end of the road.

Suzie, Bri, and Krys park behind Onai's car, following us up the walkway. We don't have to hike up the mountain. There's a clear path from the end of the road to the... I'm not sure how to describe it.

The home is secluded like Onai's dad's cottage. It's simpler, like Onai's dad's cottage. But at the same time, it's fundamentally different. Nature isn't just around it. It's in it. It's breaking it.

The home is like an old, overgrown greenhouse. Broken, stained-glass windows and an open door. It's like there's nothing the owner is trying to keep out-or nothing they believe they can't keep out themself.

Onai falls to the back of the group, eyeing the house in a way that's far too familiar for me. It's the way I look at houses with confederate flags. It's the way my parents lock the car doors if we ever make the wrong turn and drive through a neighborhood full of them. It's how I felt the first day in this town when everyone was staring at us in Walmart.

Before we left the pack house this morning, I asked Onai if he'd prefer to stay with the brothers. I never wanted him to be here. I never would've thought to even ask him, but he said, "I'm going." So he came.

Michael looks over his shoulder at Onai. Then he looks at me, raising an eyebrow. It's a question I can't answer.