Chapter 12
A few hours back before Damian saw Nalda.
He left Asher at the hotel they were spending the night.
He drove down to Ironwood pack house. He sat in his car for some minutes.
Damian knew something was fishy right from the moment he heard Nalda's laughter.
He detected Nalda's smell from up the balcony.
FLASHBACK...
At that moment Nalda burst into laughter behind the pillar.
Damian looked at her direction and he detected her smell.
He smirked in his head.
Finally found you Nalda. He said in his head before leaving.
FLASHBACK ENDS...
Damian sat in his car waiting patiently for Nalda to come out and confirm his doubts.
Just like he thought, Nalda headed out with a scarf on.
He followed Nalda up to the shopping mall and intentionally bumped into Nalda.
Back to the present...
Nalda's eyes widened in shock. She held her chest which was racing a marathon.
Since it's gotten to this. I can't allow Damian to know it's me. She said in her head.
Damian couldn't read her thoughts this time. Nalda has been training herself for this for the past years cos she knew if she ever crossed paths with Damian again, he might end up reading her thoughts and that's a gateway to her losing her kids.
"Who are you?" She stuttered faking not to know him.
Damian leaned closer to her ears.
"Did you lose your memory or you're just pretending?" He asked seriously.
Nalda moved away from him. She kept her act together.
"I don't know you and I don't know what you're talking about!" She lied looking at him with scared eyes.
"Your name's Nalda and you better stop with this act of yours cos I know you know me," Damian said seriously almost grabbing on her arm.
Nalda shut her eyes fearfully. Covering her face with her palms.
"I really don't know you and my name's Alessia not Nalda!" She said almost breaking into tears.
Damian laughed in disbelief, he ruffled his hair frustratedly.
"Nalda, you can't do this to me after six years of search. You can't do this to me! I need to find out about what happened to you and my child. Please Nalda try to recall. I know it's you Nalda!" Damian begged holding her hand.
Nalda shoved his hands off.
"Stay away from me. I don't know you and what child are you talking about? I don't have any kids. You might be mistaking me for someone else. Excuse me!" Nalda said and ran off without looking back.
Damian turned around swiftly.
"Nalda! Nalda!" He called out frustratedly.
His gaze fell on the spot where Nalda was standing and his eyes caught something.
He bent over and picked it up. It was a locket.
Damian opened the locker, it had a photo of Aila, Aaron, and Nalda in it.
He burst into tears not knowing why but deep down inside his heart he never thought this was how his first encounter with Nalda was going to turn out after six years of search. He was also hoping, Aila and Aaron were his kids since he confirmed Nalda was living with them.
Disappointment broke him down. Damian went on his knees tiredly as he stared at the locket and tears streamed down his cheeks.
Nalda got away from Damian's sight and she ran into a corner holding her chest which was aching way more than she expected.
She felt pain just recalling Damian's words to her. It brought tears to her eyes.
How do I keep up with this? Faking my identity was the easiest way to get him away from me and the kids but what if Damian doesn't buy any of it? What if he doesn't believe me?
I can't give up my kids just like Asher said to me years back. I can't do that and I never will. It's better to pretend than reveal my true self and give my kids up. I know Damian so well. He will do everything in his power to dig into my relationship with Aila and Aaron.
I can't let him do that till I clear up my parent's name. I'm never going back as a hostage. I'll fight with everything inside of me to make sure that doesn't happen. Nalda said in her head and took out her phone from her pocket.
She placed a call across to her mum's twins.
"I don't think I can wait any longer. I need your help with finding the rest of the members. What do I need to do?" Nalda asked desperately over the phone.
The lady laughed.
"You know what they say Nalda... Nothing comes for free, I believed you had the potential to get those members, why are you suddenly desperate?" She asked.
Nalda clenched her fist.
"We're just business partners, I still find it hard believing you're my mum's sister and I don't think you have the right to know about my every move if it doesn't relate to this... It's something personal so I don't feel like sharing it with you. What do I need to do to get the rest of the members?" Nalda asked seriously.
The lady kept mute. Nalda could hear her calm breathing in her quiet environment.
"I'll help you with all the information you need in finding them but on one condition..."
Nalda stared at space intensely.
"What condition?" She asked.
"We need an insider to be next to Damian if we wish to exert our revenge so give me little details on Damian, that's the condition!"
Nalda furrowed her brows.
"Why do we need an insider? I can do this job perfectly and alone. I'm a little pressed and that's why I'm asking for your help in the first place!" She protested.
The lady scoffed.
"Do you have feelings for that b*stard Damian?" She asked.
Nalda blinked nervously.
"Why are we suddenly talking about feelings? I want to do things my way and I don't need an insider helping me do my job and by the way, none of the members resides in the pack house"
"It's not a suggestion, Nalda. It's a condition. You give me what I want and give you what you want! You've refused to accept me as your aunt so I'll let you do so in a hard way. Are you giving me the details or not?" She asked in a vicious tone.
Nalda bit her lower lips.
"I'll give it some thought and get back to you!" Nalda said and hung up the call.
Why does she need an insider? Is she planning on hurting Damian just like Hazel did? Well, hurting him isn't part of my plan. I just want to clear up my parent's names.
Damian drove back to his hotel room and fell on the bed ignoring Asher who was calling him out from the bathroom.
Asher came out, seeing how Damian ignored him. He knew something was up.
"Did something happen when you were out?" He asked with concern.
Damian exhaled deeply.
"I met with Nalda!" He responded and Asher dropped the towel that was on his hand.
He dragged a chair with him, sitting in front of Damian.
"How is she? Is she well? Does she recognize you? Is she physically sound?" Asher asked curiously with a smile on his lips.
Damian looked at in tiredly.
"She doesn't recognize me! She said I was mistaking her for someone else!" He said.
Asher leaned back on his chair getting a bit confused.
"She doesn't recognize you? Memory loss or you really mistook her for someone else?" He asked and Damian glared at him.
"I'll take that as a good night!" Damian said turning over to the other side of the bed.
Asher stood up cos he knew Damian was way too upset to speak.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow!" He said and left for his room.
Damian took out Nalda's locket and kept staring at the photo in it.
"Zander, what do you think? Do you feel a connection with the kids?" Damian asked.
Zander kept mute. He was way too down to speak. He tried connecting with Celia a while ago but Celia didn't reciprocate.
Damian exhaled deeply staring at space.
She's still very beautiful. I almost couldn't recognize her! He said in his head as a half smile appeared on his lips.
"If anything really did happen to my child. I'll search the whole earth just to find you, Hazel! Just pray my predictions are wrong" Damian uttered with his cold eyes.
NEXT DAY...
Nalda dropped the kids at the academy.
"Aaron, promise you will be good at the trip!" She said.
Aaron stretched his hand for a handshake.
"You can trust me, momma. I'm not like Aila!" He said funnily and they laughed about it.
Aila punched him lightly on his arm.
"You promised and you know so well how I hate broken promises. Don't talk to strangers and don't misplace your things" Nalda cautioned.
Aaron sighed tiredly.
"Aila's always the lucky one. She got to make a cool friend on her trip. I'm hoping to meet him again" Aaron said dancing with his brows.
Aila laughed.
"I'm really lucky cos momma told me, your school trip isn't at Moon Shadow Pack!"
Aaron pouted.
Nalda bent over to the kids but then she felt like she was being watched.
Who could be watching them right now? She remembered Jerome telling her this morning that Damian got back to his pack safely.
Nalda turned around and she saw a blind screen car parked in the parking lot.
She kept staring at the car suspiciously till the owner of the car came out. It was one of the parents of the students. She quickly looked away.
"You can both go in now. First, my goodbye kisses!" Nalda said leaning forward.
They both kissed her on both cheeks and she reciprocated as well.
"Bye, bye, momma!" They chorused waving at her as they headed to their various classes.
.....
Damian was seated in a different car.
He watched Nalda from there.
When Nalda turned around staring at the blind screen car, Damian was even closer to her than that car.
Damian got a call from Asher.
"You've arrived safely right?" Damian asked over the phone still keeping his eyes on Nalda.
"Yeah, I arrived hours ago but are you staying back for Nalda? What if she doesn't recognize you?" Asher asked.
"There's something suspicious going on with her. The kids obviously see her as their mum and they call her that! She said she doesn't have any kids... Have you ever seen a nanny this close with the kids they're looking after?" Damian asked staring at Nalda keenly.
"Yeah, I have. Sophia's very close to her nanny! Sometimes my mum gets upset seeing how close their relationship is" Asher said.
Damian scoffed when he saw Nalda checking herself up in someone's car mirror.
"Interesting!"
"You think?" Asher asked.
"I wouldn't be Alpha Damian anymore if I can't detect this much. Nalda's lying to me. I just confirmed my doubts now!" He said and hung up the call.
Aila's friend Hannah, her mum just stopped Nalda.
Damian got out of the car and stood next to it. All thanks to his werewolf hearing abilities. He could hear everything Nalda said to the other lady.
"Alessia you're doing a great job raising Aila. Hannah always comes home telling me about all the wonderful things she does with Aila. It's an amazing feeling seeing our kids grow up so fast" she said with a smile.
Nalda nodded.
"I'm glad that our kids are getting along well. Sorry if you don't mind but I have to go now! The clock's ticking, work's calling" She said rhythmically.
Hannah's mum smiled and waved Nalda goodbye.
Nalda took a few steps forward and in the blink of an eye, Damian appeared before her.
"Why did you lie to me that you don't have any kids? What are Aila and Aaron to you and just before you think about lying to me... If you deny your kids before me then you're not worthy of being their mother!" Damian stated coldly gazing straight into Nalda's soul.
F*ck! He's caught me! She gushed in her head shutting her eyes.