Alpha's mate is a male?!?-Chapter 88: Family Reunion!

His throat tightens painfully. "You... you didn’t want to leave me?" His voice cracks at the end, raw and vulnerable.

Elira lets out a soft, broken sob and rushes forward, cupping his face with rembling hands. "Never," she breathes, her voice shaking. "Never, my love. You were our everything."

Ace swallows thickly as he stares into her tear-filled eyes, the warmth of her palms grounding him.

Ace sobs against Elira’s chest, his body shaking with emotions too vast, too overwhelming to contain.

His mother.

His real mother.

The one he has unknowingly longed for in his loneliest nights.

And Marsel_ his father_ stands beside them, his strong arms wrapping around both of them as if he can shield them from all the pain of the past.

Tears soak into Elira’s clothes, but she doesn’t care.

She runs her fingers through his hair, whispering soothing words between her own quiet sobs. "My baby... my love... you are home."

Ace clutches onto her, his fingers curling into the fabric of her sleeves like a child afraid of losing his lifeline.

He wants to be angry, to scream, to demand why they never came for him sooner, why they didn’t tell him earlier, but at this moment, all he can feel is the aching relief that he is not alone.

He wants to think that it’s a lie, that they are telling a lie but he has felt it, he has felt them, the way he felt around them, the way he always ran here for some peace of mind.

Marsel lets out a heavy breath, his forehead resting against the back of Ace’s head. "You don’t know how many times we wanted to hold you like this. How many times we stood in the shadows, watching, wishing we could reach out." His voice cracks at the edges, betraying the emotion he tries so hard to control.

Ace pulls back slightly, his breath shaky. His eyes meet Marsel’s, and for the first time, he sees something raw and unguarded there. A father’s love. A father’s sorrow. A father’s pride.

"You should have told me," Ace chokes out, his voice rough from crying. "I kept calling you by name and you never told me! Why didn’t you tell me the first time?!"

Elira cups his face, her thumb wiping away his tears. "We wanted to. Every day, we wanted to. But the Moon Goddess had a plan, and we had to trust it. Even when it tore us apart. And we couldn’t have told you when you first met with your father because at that time you had a lot on your plate, we didn’t want to distract you from your duties."

Ace sniffs, shaking his head. "But I..."

Marsel places a firm hand on his shoulder. "We are here now, son. And we are never letting you go again."

The words strike something deep within Ace. A dam breaks. A fresh wave of tears spills down his cheeks, and this time, Marsel pulls him into a crushing embrace.

For the first time in his life, Ace feels the warmth of a father’s arms.

Yes, the step dad that he had wasn’t bad to him, he treated him like his own, but this is different, his own blood.

The steady, unshaken presence of someone who will stand by him no matter what. He sobs against Marsel’s chest, feeling the strength of a man who has sacrificed everything for him.

"I don’t know what to do with this," Ace admits brokenly, his fingers clutching at Marsel’s shirt. "I don’t know how to accept this_ how to stop feeling like I don’t belong anywhere."

"You belong here," Elira whispers fiercely, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "With us. You have always belonged, Zeiren."

"Zeiren?" Ace asks, confused.

"Yes, that’s the name we had given you, do you want to know what it means?" Elira answers, still patting his hair.

Ace chuckles. "Yes"

"It means, a strong wolf born with unnatural powers and strength, a protector." Marsel says .

Marsel pulls back slightly, placing a firm hand over Ace’s heart. "You don’t have to figure out and digest everything now. Just let yourself feel it. Let yourself know that you are loved. That you were never abandoned."

Ace swallows hard, his breath uneven. He has spent his entire life searching for a place to belong. And now, after all the pain, all the loneliness... he has found it.

With them.

"You know... one of the reasons I get really hurt when Kieran rejects me, it’s because it makes me feel like I am meant to be abandoned, that if my parents themselves abandoned me, then why can’t an outsider. All this time_ Xiao Jun, he has been the only person assuring me that am worth it." Ace says, somehow Kieran finds a way in his words now.

"That is not true! And that Kieran! How dare he makes my baby suffer just because of him! I’ll have to pay him a visit!" Elira says, her voice dead serious. Making Marsel and Ace laugh, but she doesn’t.

A small, shaky laugh escapes Ace as he wipes at his tear-streaked face. "I must look awful right now."

Elira chuckles through her own tears, cupping his face fondly. "You look perfect."

Marsel ruffles his hair, his own eyes misty. "And exhausted. You should rest."

Ace sighs, rubbing his temples. "I don’t think I could sleep even if I tried."

"Then eat," Elira insists, already wiping her own tears as she moves toward the kitchen. "Let me make something warm for you. Something from home."

Ace hesitates before nodding, watching her go with a strange warmth in his chest.

Marsel claps a hand on his back, guiding him toward the small table.

"Dad...?" Ace calls in a whisper after Elira, he laughs at the feeling of that word, refering to Marsel.

Marsel laughs but the emotions swirl into him.

It’s his son, for once he feels settled in his twenty years after he lost his son. They couldn’t get another child even if they tried.

Not that they wanted to replace Ace, but they just wanted to have another.

Ace’s phone vibrate, and looking at it, he realises it’s Jun. He receives the call, his voice chirpy. "Jun, guess what?!"

"Whoa...! whoa! Calm down, I was dead worried about you and turns out you that happy! Anyway, I can’t guess now, tell me!" Jun says ,

"I jus... " suddenly Ace stops mid_sentence. He remembers that Jun’s parents are all dead, and one of them died partly because him. If he wasn’t a wolf, mr. Wang would have been alive now.

"What? You just what?" Jun insists. "Am also waiting, or am I not supposed to hear." Ace hears Rey’s voice too.

"Oh my God! You guys , are you like joined at the hip or something?! Why are you always together!?" Ace says amusedly. It’s like Since they found each other, they never spent a minute without each other .

"Jealous?" Rey asks.

"Pretty much." Ace answers laughing at that.

"Well, didn’t you tell me that I should take care of him? How can I take care of him if am not with him?"

"Easy now! Am actually glad that it is you Rey, you are really a nice person and am glad that you were meant to be with Jun." Ace says honestly.

"Ace, what did you want to tell me? Are you okay? Tell me, what was I supposed to guess?" Jun asks after a minute of silence.

"Nothing important, how are you?" Ace brushes it off.

"Ace!" Jun calls.

I can’t hide it for long anyway, can I? And if he finds out and I didn’t tell him, it will just make him mad.

"I... I... ju" he stutters.

"What?!" Jun asks impatiently.

"Just found" he pauses. "My parents." He finally lets it out.

For a moment they are quiet before Jun’s voice is heard. "Are you serious?!" Jun asks, his voice unpredictable.

"Yes, I can hardly believe it myself." Ace says.

"Where are you, am seriously coming to confirm that myself, besides , I can’t wait to meet them, tell me. Where are you?!" Jun asks impatiently.

"Okay, I’ll sent you the location." Ace says chuckling.

Elira and Marsel can’t help but smile.

"Babe, am coming with you." Rey’s voice is heard through the phone.

"No, you are not. Go back and check up on Kieran, he’s probably sobbing now, as we are the ones who asked to be a jerk to the person he loves." Jun doesn’t even care when he says it , am if it is the most natural thing.

Ace hearing that, his heart skip a beat. Kieran could be sobbing or Jun is just using that for fun?!

"Did he heal?" Ace can’t help but ask.

"Physically?_ yes. But emotionally?_no _ he is a mess. All he wanna do is sit in his room, drink alcohol, and when he can’t get drunk because he is a wolf... he breaks everything. And..." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"I just sent you the location," Ace cuts him, he doesn’t want to listen to that. It does things to him.