Sorry I'm Mated To The Commander novel Chapter 187

Chapter 187

Chapter 187

“Layla, if your father really is a descendant of my creator, then there’s no way he’s some heartless villain who can’t tell right from wrong. And from what I know about Prince Atlas, he’s definitely not that kind of guy either,” Ares said.

Ares’s voice was deep, but surprisingly gentle. He went on. “Layla, you don’t have to take everything on your own shoulders. Try trusting your father and trust Prince Atlas even more.”

Layla gripped the mech tool, her eyes lowered. After a few seconds, she let out a quiet sigh.

“You’re right,” Layla admitted. “Because of everything I’ve been through, whenever something goes wrong, my first instinct is to handle it myself.

“I never think of leaning on anyone else. It’s not that I don’t trust them. I just care too much, and I’m scared this will turn into a double-edged sword and hurt them both.”

“I get it, but you’re making things way too hard for yourself. Believe me, they both care about you a lot. They love you,” Ares said.

“Thanks, Ares,” Layla said, gently holding Ares’s mechanical fingers, her eyes softening. “I know what I need to do now.”

A few minutes later, Layla stood outside Atlas’s study.

Zaa’s voice came through her earpiece. “Layla, Atlas started to ask me something earlier, but I kept quiet, so he didn’t press further. I think he noticed you were upset and got worried about you.”

Layla’s hand paused just as she was about to knock.

‘Atlas?’ she thought, a little amused.

She felt a bit helpless, but a small smile tugged at her lips as she knocked on the door.

Hearing Atlas say, “Come in,” Layla thought the meeting was finished and pushed the door open. But the next thing she saw was a huge black virtual screen, packed with rows of military officers, all gawking at her in stunned silence.

Layla froze for a moment, then blurted out, “I thought you were done. You can keep going, I’ll just come back later.”

Atlas lazily tugged at his tie and said, “Meeting’s over. Zee, cut the connection.”

“Yes, sir,” Zee replied.

The officers were left speechless. ‘Wait, that’s it? The meeting just ended out of nowhere?

‘And now we’re getting force-fed some romance?’ they all thought.

Meanwhile, Atlas had already shrugged off his crisp military jacket and loosened his tie, leaving him in just a white shirt with the top two buttons undone.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, catching everyone’s attention.

He knew Layla loved his fox ears, so whenever it was just the two of them at home, he’d let them peek out, all fluffy and twitching every now and then.

If he weren’t still in his military pants and black boots, his fox tail would probably be wagging, trying to get her attention.

And of course, there were still nine tails.

He was like a completely different person compared to the strict commander from just moments ago.

14:59 Wed, Jan 14 GS

Chapter 187

Even Zee couldn’t help but comment on his own channel. “Wow, Atlas switches between his two modes so fast now. He’s really gotten used to switching into November mode, it muttered.

When Layla saw those fluffy fox ears, she couldn’t help but feel a little tempted to reach out and give them a squeeze, but she managed to hold herself back.

She said apologetically, “Ninth, did I interrupt your meeting? I’m sorry. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“You didn’t interrupt anything. Layla, your business always comes first,” Atlas said.

He thought, ‘Sorry, Mom, but you’ll have to wait. Layla comes first. He took her hand, sat down in the armchair, and kept her close.

Without missing a beat, he pulled her right onto his lap.

“Layla, what’s up?” he asked.

Layla took a deep breath, her expression serious. “Ninth, my real father might be the leader of the rebels.”

Layla had already mentally prepared herself for the worst.

Even if Atlas found out and tried to arrest her, she wouldn’t let that happen, no matter what.

She could always rely on Ares for backup.

There was another possibility. Atlas might learn the truth, choose not to arrest her, but call off the wedding instead.

It would hurt, but Layla was willing to accept that ending.

Funny how things changed. Back then, she was desperate to get out of this whole messed-up marriage, always thinking about divorce.

But now, she kind of didn’t want to leave anymore.

Still, it was Atlas who got to decide. Even though it stung, Layla was the type who could move on if she had to. Worst case, she’d just deal with it and keep going.

“Which rebel faction is it?” Atlas asked.

Seeing Layla freeze for a moment, he pulled her into his arms and asked again, patiently, “There are two rebel factions, right? Which one is your father with?”

“The earliest group, not the ones with control chips in their bodies,” Layla said firmly.

She hadn’t met her father yet, but she’d already met Bruce, Dizzy, and even Weston, who was now with the rebels too.

She was absolutely sure her father and the others definitely weren’t the vicious, evil kind of rebels.

But as for why her father started the rebel group and went up against the Cosmic Alliance, Layla honestly had no clue, and she wasn’t about to start guessing.

Atlas let out a sigh of relief, leaned in, and took Layla’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Layla was stunned for a second.

‘Seriously? That’s all?’ she thought, a bit speechless.

She blinked, staring at the ridiculously handsome commander, Prince Atlas from Alpha Prime, and asked, “You’re not even shocked?”

B

14:59 Wed, Jan 14 GJM.

Chapter 187

Atlas nodded. I’m a bit surprised, yeah. Now I get why you said you might just vanish someday. I thought it was just pre- wedding jitters, but now I realize you were worried your dad and I might clash, right?

Layla nodded, being totally honest. “Yeah, that’s part of it. He’s not really on board with me marrying you, and he was actually planning to take me away before the wedding.”

“What?” Atlas snapped.

He’d actually stayed pretty calm when he first found out her dad was the leader of the rebels.

That hadn’t seemed like such a huge problem to him.

Sure, he’d clashed with the rebels plenty of times over the years, leading his fleet into battle. But the one good thing was, he’d never actually faced off against her father, Daniel, directly.

Besides, Alpha Prime would eventually belong to the prince anyway, so technically, Atlas and Daniel weren’t sworn enemies or anything.

As long as Daniel didn’t bring his people to harm the civilians of Alpha Prime, there was no real grudge between them.

But when Atlas heard that her father didn’t approve of their marriage and was even planning to take Layla away, that was a whole different story.

Atlas was absolutely furious.

The temperature in the room dropped so fast that Layla could feel goosebumps popping up on her bare arms.

She shot Atlas a surprised look. “Ninth? Did you just unlock some kind of ability?”

Shifters were basically the next step in human evolution, way stronger, faster, and tougher than regular people across the board.

And among shifters, the higher their level, the more powerful and capable they became in every aspect.

Especially when it came to psychic force.

Back when humans first started evolving, scientists found out that once shifters evolved far enough, they’d start developing special abilities.

There were all kinds of abilities out there, some super strong, some not so much.

But if anyone ever developed one, they’d have to be an upper-tier shifter or even higher.

Up until now, not a single shifter on Alpha Prime, or anywhere else in the universe, was known to have any special powers.

Atlas could be the first ever in the whole universe.

Atlas could feel his psychic force suddenly spiraling out of control. Rage burned inside him, and he had to struggle to rein it in before things got out of hand.

But in the process, he accidentally made the room, which had been a comfortable 65 F, plunge by 32 F, and the temperature just kept dropping.

14:59 Wed, Jan 14 GM.