Alpha's Regret: Losing His True Mate-Chapter 201

David was still a little scared of Dante. He always had been. There was something about his uncle, the way he carried himself, the cold look in his eyes, the authority that seemed to radiate off him without effort, that made David nervous.

So when he walked into the living room, he made sure to greet everyone properly.

"Grandpa. Grandma. Uncle."

His voice was small but polite.

Dante gave him a brief nod. Nothing more.

Liora was sitting on the floor near the coffee table, completely absorbed in a puzzle. Pieces were scattered everywhere, and she was frowning in concentration, trying to fit two pieces together that clearly didn’t match.

Amber nudged David gently. "Go play with Liora."

David nodded and walked over, plopping down on the floor beside his cousin.

"Liora, cousin," he said.

Liora looked up and smiled. "Oh, you’re here?"

"Yeah." David reached for a puzzle piece and started helping. "I went to the movies with Mom today."

Liora hummed absently, still focused on the puzzle.

Then David added, almost like an afterthought, "I saw your mom there."

Liora’s head snapped up so fast she nearly knocked over the puzzle box.

"You saw my mom? Where?"

"At the cinema," David said, confused by her sudden intensity.

Liora’s face scrunched up immediately. "No way. My mom is super busy. She doesn’t have time to go to the movies. You probably saw someone else."

David frowned. He didn’t like being told he was wrong when he knew he wasn’t.

"I didn’t see wrong," he said firmly. "That person was definitely your mom."

"You’re lying!" Liora shot back, her voice rising.

She had called her mom last night. And this morning. Both times, Elodie hadn’t picked up. If she was too busy to answer the phone, there was no way she had time to go watch a movie.

David’s face turned red. "I’m not lying!"

"Yes, you are!" Liora insisted, her hands balling into fists.

David, now frustrated and hurt that she didn’t believe him, blurted out, "And your mom wasn’t alone! She was with another kid. About your height. Super cute!"

That did it.

Liora’s face went hot. Her chest felt tight. Before she even realized what she was doing, she grabbed a puzzle piece and stood up, throwing it at David as hard as she could.

"No way! Stop lying!"

David yelped, startled. He didn’t understand why she was so angry. He was just telling the truth!

So he grabbed a puzzle piece and threw it right back at her.

"I’m not lying!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I’m not!"

"Enough!"

The sharp voice cut through the chaos.

Both kids froze.

The noise had drawn everyone’s attention. Stella came rushing over first, her expression a mix of concern and frustration.

David’s eyes were already watering. "I just said—"

But before he could finish, Liora let out a frustrated huff, tears streaming down her cheeks now. She didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to listen to him anymore.

She turned and bolted toward the living room.

"Daddy!"

Dante, who had been in the middle of a conversation with one of the Pack elders, looked up immediately.

Liora ran straight to him, her face red and blotchy, tears spilling over.

Without hesitation, Dante bent down and scooped her up into his arms, holding her securely against his chest.

He excused himself from the conversation with a polite nod and carried Liora out of the crowded living room, away from the noise and the stares.

When they reached the quiet hallway, he finally stopped and looked down at her.

"What’s going on?"

Liora opened her mouth to tell him. She wanted to explain what David had said, wanted to ask if it was true, wanted to know why her mom would go to the movies with some other kid and not her.

But the words wouldn’t come.

Because suddenly, all she could think about was the image David had painted... her mom, smiling and laughing with another child. A child who was cuter than her. A child who got to spend time with her when Liora didn’t.

And it hurt.

It hurt so much.

The emotions crashed over her all at once, and before she could stop herself, she burst into tears.

Dante’s expression shifted. His jaw tightened.

"Liora," he said quietly, his voice firm but gentle. "Talk to me. What happened?"

But Liora just buried her face in his shoulder and cried.

By the time Stella and Dante made it over to where the kids had been fighting, David had already spilled the whole story. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Stella looked at Amber, her tone sharp but controlled. "Did you not see what happened?"

Amber glanced up from her phone, barely looking fazed. "I wasn’t paying attention. So I don’t know if what he said is true or not."

Stella let out a quiet breath through her nose, clearly unimpressed. She thought for a moment, then softened her tone, mostly for David’s sake.

"I believe David isn’t lying," she said carefully. "It’s possible he really did see your sister-in-law. But it’s also possible he saw someone who just looks like her."

She paused, then added, "After all, if Elodie had time to go watch a movie, wouldn’t she have come home instead?"

That seemed to make sense to everyone.

They’d all assumed Elodie was swamped with work. That’s why she hadn’t been around. That’s why she never answered her phone. So the idea of her casually going to the cinema? It didn’t add up.

Still, David’s words had planted a seed of doubt.

David, who’d been on the verge of tears just moments ago, perked up immediately when Stella sided with him. His chest puffed out a little. See? He wasn’t lying.

Meanwhile, Liora had stopped crying.

She sat curled up in Dante’s arms, sniffling quietly as she processed what Stella had said.

Right. Maybe David had just seen someone who looked like her mom. That made more sense, didn’t it?

Her mood lifted, just a little.

But then another thought crept in.

She remembered the way her mom had talked about Tommy once. How she’d said he was so cute. How the two of them had seemed really comfortable with each other, like they’d known each other forever.

Liora’s chest tightened again.

She wiped at her face with the back of her hand, then reached toward Dante’s pocket.

"Dad," she said quietly, her voice still shaky. "Phone."

Dante had already pieced together what was going on. He could see the worry written all over her little face. Without a word, he pulled out his phone and handed it to her, brushing away the last of her tears with his thumb.

Liora didn’t waste any time. She pulled up her mom’s contact and hit call.

---

Elodie was at the arcade.

After the movie, Harry had suggested they stop by since Daisy was still full of energy and clearly not ready to go home yet. So now Elodie was standing in front of a claw machine, watching Daisy try and fail to grab a stuffed bear for the third time in a row.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

She pulled it out and glanced at the screen.

It was Dante.

Her finger hovered over the screen for half a second.

Then she hung up.

She wasn’t in the mood. Not today.

She slipped the phone back into her pocket and turned her attention back to Daisy, who was now pouting at the claw machine like it had personally insulted her.

"One more try?" Elodie asked with a small smile.

Daisy nodded eagerly.

---

Back at the Wilson estate, Liora stared at the phone in her hands.

The call had gone to voicemail.

Her eyes were still red and puffy. She let out a long, shaky sigh.

"Mom didn’t pick up."

Dante, standing beside her, kept his expression neutral. "She’s probably busy. Let’s not bother her right now."

He crouched down so he was eye-level with her. "How about I take you out to eat tonight? Anywhere you want."

The mention of her mom being busy made Liora feel a little better. If Dad thought Mom was busy, then maybe David really had made a mistake.

She nodded slowly. "Okay."

Then her face brightened just a bit. "Can we invite Aunt Sienna too?"

Dante smiled. It wasn’t warm, but it was there. "Of course."

That seemed to settle her.

Liora climbed down from his lap, her feet hitting the floor with a soft thud. She was about to head back to her puzzle when something gnawed at her again.

That uneasy feeling wouldn’t go away.

She picked up the phone again.

This time, she didn’t call her mom.

She scrolled through the contacts until she found her instructor’s number and hit dial.

The instructor picked up after a few rings, clearly surprised.

"Liora? Is everything okay?"

"Hi, Miss Chen," Liora said politely, her voice still a little wobbly. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Of course, sweetheart. What is it?"

Liora hesitated, then said, "Can you give me Tommy’s number? I want to talk to him."

There was a pause on the other end.

The instructor was caught off guard. As far as she knew, Liora and Tommy weren’t particularly close. Liora had never been mean to him, but they didn’t really hang out either.

Still, the little girl sounded upset. And the instructor had a soft spot for her students.

"Let me check with his mom first, okay?"

"Okay."

A few minutes later, the instructor called back with Tommy’s contact information.

Liora’s heart was pounding as she opened the video call app and typed in his number.

She hit the button.

The screen flickered.

Then it started ringing.