The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 81

Chapter 81-1

I had to bundle up properly; I didn’t want to get sick right in such a particular situation.

Alexander didn’t respond to that. He simply folded the clean diaper over his daughter’s stomach and peeled off the paper strips sealing the adhesives. His refusal to engage in conversation put me on alert, and my head started spinning with everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours. What had changed? Oh-of course. We were keeping our distance. How could I forget that after such an important argument? Being more aware than ever that there were clearly marked boundaries between us made my heart shrink just a little.

Well, after all, wasn’t he a prince of his kind? Who told me to fall for a werewolf prince?

Werewolf prince.

I frowned, and the intrusive journalist inside me smiled almost macabrely, pointing out how curious the whole thing was.

“All of this makes me wonder…” I began, with relative innocence. “How much does Andre know about you, about your life in Russia?”

Alexander looked at me with a less-than-flattering expression. There it was-I was stepping onto delicate ground again. That defensiveness only encouraged me to push further, as always.

“I mean, you let him be present during conversations like the one earlier, and so far he hasn’t said anything out of place. Andre is a very smart kid. Hasn’t he asked questions about it?”

“Do you really think that keeping him from witnessing our conversations would prevent Andre from hearing something?”

He finished with the diaper and dressed the little girl again while tickling her.

“Well… no. Not really,” I conceded, remembering the day Rex announced he had found Anya’s body. A shiver ran through me. “So, does he know about all this? About you leaving, and who you are to… well, to your people?”

“You know he does. Ever since you pointed that paper at me and accused me with my true identity, he hasn’t stopped asking questions about the rest of the family, about his grandparents and his uncle,” he explained with a dissatisfied growl. “You’re right when you say he’s a very smart kid. When I changed for the first time, I took him into the forest for a few days so he could calm down… his first transformation was very abrupt, and he was so agitated that he couldn’t calm himself enough to try changing back into human form. We had

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Chapter 81-1

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to talk about certain things. I explained who and what we are. I taught him to handle his ability with caution, but out of fear that he might suffer another uncontrolled episode, I took him out of school so he could study at home. Since the first change, many questions have been raised. However, I never told him much about my position or more complex family matters. Now I’ve had to put his ideas in order-nothing will escape him.”

Good, we were making progress. If I had to be cautious in the way I related to Alexander, at least I didn’t want to lose the dialogue. Who knew how much time we had left? I realized I liked talking to Alexander because it was easy; he didn’t put up obstacles despite the obvious differences between us. That was how we began to build some trust, at least.

“And what does Andre think about all of that?” I asked, while he folded a sweater without

interest.

“…I think everything related to us amuses him. He’s excited and passionate about it; it’s as if he’d been waiting his whole life for me to tell him, as if it had given meaning to everything. For me it was very different-I knew what I was from the moment I could understand it, and I awaited the first change more with fear than with eagerness to learn how to use it,” Alexander sighed, and wrapped the baby in a cute, very warm yellow plush onesie with adorable little ears on the hood. She looked like a cuddly teddy bear. “But yes, he’s nervous. I think he wants to make a good impression on the others. It’s hard for him, because he was never very good at making friends.”

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“I never would’ve imagined that in a million years. Andre is very sweet.”

Now it was clearer to me that Andre was much smarter than that.

“I think he uses you to get back at me, too.”

“He uses me? Me?” I asked, surprised.

“…well, I don’t think he does it premeditatedly, but he definitely looks for the right moment to turn against me and run to you when he finds no way out. I also confronted my father at some point. The thing is, you give him the perfect excuse to take refuge with you. I know Andre won’t disobey me if I give him a direct order, but since we don’t have that kind of dominance relationship, I think he’s determined to do whatever he has to do to keep you and reject certain things about me.”

“You think that’s why he attacked the panther by himself. Because-”

Alexander nodded slowly.

“Personally, I feel very relieved knowing that Andre isn’t completely lost and depressed. He lost his mother, and it seems entirely logical to me that he wouldn’t want to lose you too,” he sighed, and briefly lowered his gaze to my hand on his arm. “Our race is faithful to its principles, and a child like him has tremendous willpower. I thank God for that-it kept him from collapsing the way I almost did.”

Only then did I realize that my hand was still gripping Alexander’s arm, and my cheeks warmed a little. I wasn’t supposed to do those things-we were trying not to give each other the wrong signals. Or rather, I was trying not to give him the wrong signals, because he could read my reactions (and smell them), and I couldn’t interpret his beyond what he chose to

show.

I stepped back and tossed the badly folded sweater into the suitcase.

I closed it and took my warm clothes to go to the bathroom and change. I didn’t say anything else as I left, and I don’t know whether Alexander expected me to respond to his confession. I simply walked out.

I suppose that if I had told him, he would have understood that I wouldn’t have liked to lose those children either.

And that he could interpret it however he pleased.

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