Alpha Theo's Unloved Luna - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

~ Gwen ~
"I rode on Daddy's back, and he ran really fast!" Ian exclaimed. He turned to Gwen and asked, "Mommy, have you seen Daddy's wolf? It's big, black and shiny! It's different than yours and my uncles, Mommy."
Ian boasted about his short run with Theo at breakfast. It was as if the pup implied he wanted more time with his father. His eyes gleamed as he turned to Theo, describing, "I am happy that I have a strong warrior for a daddy, and he is an alpha! I can't wait to tell my friends at school!"
"Still not sure if he is your daddy, though," Baron had to pick on Ian. As a result, both the pup and Theo glared at him.
"Oh, come on, Uncle Baron!" Ian stood up next to Theo and said, "See the resemblance. We both have the same green eyes, and I feel it! Alpha Theo is my daddy!"
Ian turned to Gwen and asked, "Right, Mommy?"
Gwen choked on her water. She coughed against her fist and evaded the question. She instructed her son, "Finish your food, Honey."
"So, tell me about this family of yours, Gwen. How are—" Theo narrowed his eyes at the other men before the table, asking, "Baron and Jacob, uncles of my son."
Ian opened his mouth, about to answer for Gwen, but he quickly bit his lip. Theo glanced at Ian and urged him to sit back, and after that, he expressed, "I noticed this about Ian too. He doesn't talk much about this family."
Silence fell in the room, and because no one answered Theo, he suggested, "We should have that talk, Gwen."
"Let's talk after breakfast, Theo," Gwen suggested.
'This was it,' Gwen thought, the anticipated talk. She was determined to set boundaries.
"You start," Theo said as he took his usual place in his office.
Gwen opened her mouth, but Theo cut in and asked, "Why are you wearing contact lenses?"
"I thought I was supposed to start," Gwen grumbled.
Theo ended up raising his hands in surrender. He slouched in his seat and replied, "Fine, go ahead."
Gwen filled her lungs with air before finally admitting, "Okay, fine. Ian is your son."
She saw how Theo looked relieved by her confession. He said, "Thank you for finally saying it."
"But given our history, Theo, there is no way I will let my son live with you here in Port Leon. He is my son, and I will always be his mother. You can't take that away from me," Gwen said with gritted teeth.
"Of course, you will always be his mother," Theo replied. "And why won't you consider coming back? What is this family you have in Southern Alfar? I thought Lucius was your only family."
"He is not my father!" Gwen spilled. She narrowed her eyes as she looked away. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but all that hate you had diverted towards me was for nothing."
She returned her attention to Theo and said, "I am not his daughter!"
Theo's mouth parted in shock. Blood drained out of his face, and his brows drew together, forming a very complicated expression. "W - what?!"
"Are you deaf?" Gwen shot back.
Theo cleared his throat, massaged his chest, and answered, "H—how? After you disappeared, I tried to investigate Lucius, but that information never came up."
There was no way Gwen would tell Theo about her family's secrets. So she responded, "I don't have to tell you everything, nor do I have to prove it. It's up to you if you believe it or not."
"I have my own family, my real family, and I found them after that incident at the pier where you all thought I had died," Gwen described. "Baron is my blood-related older brother. Jacob is his best friend, and I suppose he is my good friend too."
"So, you weren't really lovers," Theo asked.
Another sigh escaped Gwen's lips. She said, "When we met in Drad City, you suddenly attacked Jacob and suggested that I slept with other men! I was angry and said those words to get you off my back!"
"You shouldn't have said that Gwen!" Theo barked.
"You shouldn't have attacked us either!" Gwen retorted. "I never understood the way you acted, Theo. You were like a jealous mate, but why would you be?"
Theo's face was red from anger. He ran his hand over his face, clearly frustrated. He said, "Okay. I guess I started that -"
"You did!" Gwen growled.
"But that was because I was mad, Gwen!" Theo confessed. "I searched for you for many years, and when I saw you again, you were with another man. He was holding you intimately and spinning you around! Of course, I reacted -"
"Why does that sound like you were -"
"Jealous?" Theo suddenly slammed his hand on his table's surface. He admitted, "Yes, I was fucking jealous, okay!"
'Why would you be jealous?" Gwen asked, her eyes rounding.
"Because you are my mate!" Theo answered.
"A mate you wanted to reject!" Gwen responded. "Isn't that what you wanted, Theo? To kick me out of your life? You finally got it! I left because there was nothing for me to come back to."
At that point, Gwen wept. She recalled, "I tried telling you the baby was yours, but you never believed me. You used your alpha command on me, and I answered truthfully, but you did not believe me, either! I tried to fight for our mate bond, begged you with both my knees, down on the floor."
Sniffing her tears away, she added, "You were so blinded by your hate you couldn't see right. Yes, I survived that fall from the ship, but can you blame me for leaving?"
Theo was rendered speechless. Gwen could see the look of regret on his face, which made her wonder what had changed since she left. So, she asked, "Why did you even search for me?"
"Helen Bardin," Theo said belatedly. "She told us you were the woman who helped us in the dungeons during our captive days. I realized you were that woman I was searching for after defeating Lucius."
Gwen exhaled deeply. She slumped in her seat and said under her breath, "So, that's why."
"Why did you never tell me, Gwen?" Theo asked.
"Would you have believed me?" Gwen questioned. This time, her tone was weak. Gone was the strained voice that she had earlier used towards Theo. "You and everyone else in this pack had already judged me. No one believed me when I said I had never participated in Lucius's cruelty. Your sister was ready to kill me then."
"I was not confident to stand on my ground, Theo, because I was fragile and felt remorseful for Lucius's actions. In the past, I thought that if I could bear Lucius' sins, even some of them, then I would feel less guilty about the suffering your people experienced." Sharing this with Theo, Gwen's tears flooded her cheeks. She said, "But this time, it's different. I'm different."
"I'm not that same woman anymore, Theo," Gwen claimed. "So, going back to Ian. I will agree on co-parenting, but there is no chance in hell I will let him stay here and have Madison as his second mother because I am the only mother of Theo!"
"Madison?" Theo asked with his forehead creased. "Why are you involving her in this?"
"Oh, you don't have to lie to me, Theo," Gwen said. "I overheard your conversation with Dunken in the living room. You were with her last night. You are not yet married, but clearly, you are still together, so when you take Madison as your luna, I don't want my son to have a relationship with her."
"Not that I'm selfish," Gwen clarified. "But let's be honest, my experience with Madison, your sister, and the entire pack has not been pleasant -"
"So you were jealous?" Theo inquired.
"What?" Gwen asked.
"That's why you crumpled the picture because you were jealous of how I had spent time with Madison?" Theo pointed.
Gwen leaned back, her heart racing. She felt the heat crawl up to her face as she denied it, "No! That's not it!"
All of a sudden, Theo got up. The way he advanced towards her made Gwen rise from her seat.
"Theo?" She asked. Her hands were ready to push him back, but like the last time, she was powerless against his strength.
Theo wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "I know it may be hard, but I will do everything I can to ask for your forgiveness. I regret everything, all the things I said and how I treated you in the past. My heart ached when you were gone. I did not want to believe that you were dead. And that is why I never married Madison. There was a reason I was with her last night, but it wasn't because we are in a relationship."
He pulled away just a little to grab Gwen's hand. He rested her palm against his chest and resumed, "Feel that, Gwen. Feel the truth in the way my heart beats. Feel the truth through our mate bond. I only want one thing, which is to be your mate, just as the Moon Goddess had originally planned for us."