Chapter 23: Daddy Thinks Mommy Is Truly Beautiful

The heavy mass of the golden protection lock caused Leo to instinctively tilt his small head under its weight. He reached up with a tiny hand to trace the polished metallic surface, unable to suppress a sweet, brilliant smile directed straight at Matriarch Evelyn.

Through his mind-link, he captured Great-Grandmother’s internal voice proclaiming how flawlessly precious he was, alongside a deep, ancestral yearning wishing he truly carried his father's dominant bloodline. Hehe, Great-Grandmother possessed zero divination that he was already born of his father's true seed!

Furthermore, her consciousness continuously vibrated with a powerful blessing, praying that his spirit would adore this protective talisman, binding it to his skin to ensure his life force remained safe, unbroken, and granted a hundred winters of strength.

Though certain archaic concepts eluded his toddler intellect, Leo comprehended perfectly that Great-Grandmother was deploying her power for his preservation.

"Oh, look at that! Our little Leo truly adores his protection lock, does he not?"

Evelyn's features smoothed into an expression of deep, aristocratic satisfaction. She reached out, her fingers gently pinching Leo’s soft, milk-white cheek. "My brave pup, address me as Great-Grandmother."

"Great-Grandmother..." Leo murmured, blinking his large, liquid eyes as he unleashed the title.

Clara felt a sharp spike of anxiety, yet her principles fiercely rejected initiating a scene before a revered pack elder. She could only execute a temporary tactical retreat, calculating that she would permit Leo to wear the artifact tonight, before finding a secure coordinate to return it to the Matriarch later.

"Furthermore, Clara, your own tribute is prepared."

Suddenly, Evelyn captured her hand within her own, sliding a freezing, highly polished jade heirloom bracelet straight over her wrist.

"Grandmother, the pup's token is one matter, but my den strictly cannot harvest your private treasures."

Clara gasped in genuine shock. By raw material grading alone, the jade artifact did not rank as a flawless, supreme-tier jewel, yet her observation recorded that the Matriarch had worn this specific piece since their very first encounter. It undoubtedly carried a sacred ancestral legacy, and Clara dared not claim it.

"Within my vision, your status shares the exact position as the pup; you are both children of my line. Settle it onto your skin. Look at how flawlessly delicate your hands are; the alignment is beautiful!" Evelyn remained entirely unyielding, pinning Clara's hand down and violently blocking any attempt to slide the artifact off.

Standing adjacent to them, Dominic Vance witnessed the sequence, a sudden flash of profound shock breaching his dark amber eyes.

The jade heirloom anchoring Clara’s wrist was none other than the sacred bloodline ring passed down through generations of the Vance Empire to each newly claimed Luna. Before his biological mother had fled into exile from the pack stronghold, the Matriarch had explicitly reclaimed this exact treasure to guard its legacy.

Now, she was bestowing the Luna ring upon Clara Thorne; the hidden ancestral meaning was completely transparent.

Yet, his relationship with Clara carried zero alignment with the old wolf’s calculations... Furthermore, this female wove so many illusions within her speech that his predatory senses could not separate truth from deception. Whether a sire truly existed for Leo remained a complete mystery.

Dominic wrestled with an uncharacteristic urge to deploy his dominant authority to stall his grandmother’s hand, yet the exact second the commands reached his lips, his inner wolf choked them back down into silence.

"Grandmother, this heirloom carries a status far too prominent. I cannot accept its weight."

"If your fingers attempt to slide it off a second time, this old wolf shall unleash her wrath," Evelyn warned with a faux-severe expression, her grip tightening firmly around Clara's hand as her temperament turned absolute.

Observing her unyielding stance, Clara possessed no leverage but to murmur her submission and accept the piece. The exact second the deep green jade fused with her skin, a wave of warm, soothing energy saturated her veins, thawing her guarded heart.

"Daddy says Mommy is truly beautiful!" Suddenly, Leo suspended his movements across the juvenile platter, tilting his face up to look directly at Clara as his vocal cords unleashed a devastatingly shocking declaration.

Clara instinctively redirected her sharp emerald gaze straight at Dominic’s face. His lips had remained perfectly sealed, had they not?

Dominic’s inner wolf suffered a violent jolt, yet his commanding external mask remained flawlessly smooth and detached. "Your skin density is exceptionally fair; the mineral tone of that heirloom bracelet complements your aura perfectly."

The exact breath prior, his internal thoughts had indeed unbiddenly praised Clara’s striking visual traits.

But how had the pup’s consciousness intercepted his hidden mental frequency?

Perhaps young offspring were naturally sensitive to the shifting currents of a dominant wolf's aura, capturing the ripples through basic instinct.

Intercepting his father's dismissive logic, Leo pouted his small lips in disappointment.

In past seasons, he had explicitly communicated to his Mommy that his mind-link could harvest the internal speech of those around them, yet Mommy had dismissed his gift as a mere toddler illusion; now, his authentic sire was executing the exact same blindness. Waaah... he would lock his vocal cords and never speak of his gift again.