Thanks for your reviews Kelly & EC Brenway!

Kelly - OMG Shaun did it!

EC Brenway - Shaun the wolf in sheep's clothing! I love it! Oh Shaun's intentions are pure just not the Chelly kind that we like!

The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Ninety-Six

Saturday 26th July 2025

Chloe leant back against the edge of the bed as she took in the sight of Aster's father standing next to the werewolf whom had abducted her more than a day ago, "Shaun, what the hell is going on?"

"Ah, so you do remember me? Good girl," Shaun smirked then turned to the werewolf, "Cody, sorry it took me a while to get here. How's she been?"

Cody…? And Shaun…? What the hell is going on here?

"Been a pain not wanting to eat but she always gives in because she knows she can't starve herself or her baby. Bit annoying constantly asking why she's here and if she'll see her family again," Cody answered.

Annoying? I'm flipping panicked that I might never see Elly and Aster again! What does he expect?

"I'll take it from here," Shaun decided, watching Cody leave the room.

Chloe glared at Shaun, repeating, "Take what from where? What the hell is going on?"

"Not overly bright are you, Chloe?" Shaun sniggered.

"Why have you taken me?" Chloe ignored his dig.

"Do you really need me to spell it out for you, Chloe?" Shaun chuckled.

Chloe ignored him once more, instead asking this time, "How long have you been back?"

Shaun placed his hands in his pockets, "According to Elly I've spent most of the last day on a flight from Switzerland…but I'll give you a little hint…it's a lot longer than Elly believes."

"You've seen Elly?" Chloe was surprised.

Shaun pulled out his phone from his pocket, fiddling with it until he brought up the photo of Elly, Aster, Bea and Yashvi, showing it to Chloe, "I had to act pretty quickly when this lovely little photo made its way to my feed. Bea never would've thought of little ol' me when she posted this in all her excitement of getting married. Let's just say it sped up my plans and I waited a reasonable amount of time that flights take halfway across the world before I found myself on Elly's doorstop earlier this evening."

"Is Elly, okay?" Chloe panicked.

"Oh, she's fine, she's over you already," Shaun teased then smiled as Chloe glared at him with disbelief, "Relax, Elly's fine…she does miss you but to be honest I really didn't want to get into the 'girlfriend's been abducted' drama she was dealing with. I was more interested in seeing the look of surprise on Elly's face when she opened the door to find me standing there…bit like yours really. This photo gave me all the reasons in the world to be back in Elly and Aster's lives…I mean can you imagine my shock when I saw Elly was alive and the little girl in front of her in the photo had to be my little girl that I thought hadn't even been born?"

Chloe refused to talk about how Elly was coping without her, expecting Shaun to lie to her anyway, "You knew Elly and Aster were alive before the photo?"

"Ah…now you're getting it," Shaun applauded, then glared at the blonde, "I suspected Elly and my unborn baby hadn't been killed by Finn several years ago…I turned my life around into investigating what happened to them. I didn't have proof until Elly resurfaced back in Erinsborough late last year…that Elly could just be…getting on with her life…knowing that I had survived the avalanche because there's no way that no one told her and still…she didn't call me! I was furious! Who does that? Who keeps their child from their father?"

Chloe found herself staring down at her pregnant belly, wondering if her impending parenthood journey with her own child was affecting her as she felt Shaun's anguish, "I know you might not understand, Shaun, but Elly did have her reasons and Aster wasn't ready to upturn her life either."

"Elly gave me her reasons. Her excuse boiled down to not wanting to complicate her life? That "things" with you were happening unexpectedly and that they were so perfect that including me, Aster's father, in Aster's life would've been a complication to that! Aster is five! She doesn't know what she wants!" Shaun suddenly yelled.

"We can't change the past, Shaun. Both you and Elly had thought the other had been killed, you had reasons to believe that. Surely you can comprehend Elly having some insecurity about wanting to contact you. It was wrong but you have no idea what she's been through in the early years of Aster's life and how much Elly and I worked to make things good between us. Which I know doesn't have much to do with you. Aster knew what she wanted…maybe she didn't understand the impact of it on you but she wanted things with her Mum to be settled before reaching out," Chloe explained.

"I'll never comprehend it…keeping me away from my little girl," Shaun replied sadly, then smiled gently, "She's amazing, isn't she?"

"You met Aster?" Chloe realized, feeling upset that Elly and Aster were dealing with Shaun's return without her, let alone that the man was lying through his teeth to them about it been such a sudden return to Erinsborough.

Shaun's smiled widened, "She called me 'Daddy'…can you believe it? I've been waiting more than five years to hear my little girl call me 'Dad' or 'Daddy'. It never should've taken that long. Aster curled up in my arms and was talking non-stop about her life and it was just…perfect that moment between us. It made everything I've been doing the past couple years…worth it…to have her in my arms."

Chloe tried to swallow her jealousy, unable to have admitted to Aster or Elly that she had felt that things were so good between the three of them that she had hoped one day Aster would call her 'Mum' too, "Aster's very special. So…why are you doing this?"

"To get my little girl back," Shaun answered methodically, then with a look of ferociousness, "And to avenge my brother for what Elly did to him."

"What?" Chloe spluttered out, shocked beyond any further words that Shaun may've known what had become of Finn.

Shaun took several steps towards Chloe, approaching her with a look of anger all over him, "When I survived the avalanche and returned to Erinsborough where I found out that after regaining his memories, Finn had gone missing a month beforehand and that Elly, pregnant with my little girl, had disappeared months before that…I was broken…the three people who meant everything to me."

Chloe shuddered at the suggestion Elly meant something to Shaun. Finn and Aster she understood, but Elly?

Elly could not mean anywhere near to Shaun what she means to me…

Shaun continued his ranting, "Then there were all these cops and detectives telling me that the only explanation was that despite the evidence been that Finn's memories returning had been recent prior to his disappearance because of the video diaries he made…he had them back as early as when Elly disappeared…that Finn had…killed her and our unborn baby…then there was some…trail of Finn boarding a flight to Shanghai. Broken doesn't even begin to explain what I was going through… With no family left here…I returned to Switzerland…things got worse for me there. My Mum…Claudia…she had been in Erinsborough for a visit to Finn and Elly to console with them over my presumed death when Elly went missing…she was a piece of work…I wish it hadn't taken me so long to see it. Mum blamed Finn for everything…and that Elly would've been a horrible mother…she had been planning on seeking custody on the baby and that's why she was in Erinsborough…she wasn't there to grieve me! I cut ties with Claudia when I found that out…I had nothing left…but questions about Finn, Elly and my unborn baby…"

"And you turned your life around into investigating what happened to them," Chloe realized, repeating Shaun's earlier words back to him.

Shaun ran his tongue over his bottom lip, "It took me months to figure it out…and find proof…Finn never boarded any flight overseas. Finn had been killed…by Elly!"

Chloe's eyes widened in shock that Shaun had figured it out, immediately praying that Shaun would mistake it as surprise that he could suggest such a thing.

"The trail of the fake flight…that the police fell for hook, line and sinker…I traced it back to a hacker. It took me weeks to hack the hacker…I believe you've heard of her…lived with her even…Raven. Then I investigated her…and began to suspect Elly and my little girl were alive…they had disappeared off the grid…living with this Raven and a bunch of other no named wastes of space in some cabin more than an hour away from Erinsborough. Did you know Elly was that close to you? Four years…just an hour's drive away…she never made the effort to come back to her home. These new people were her home…I wondered if they had captured Elly…but then some things fell into place with the information I was able to gather," Shaun revealed.

Chloe could only swallow hard.

"Elly had attempted to return home three months after she went missing…and she killed my brother," Shaun said darkly, "She ripped him apart…then buried the pieces of him out in the grounds of the cabin she returned to…I'm surprised Elly didn't eat him…"

"What?" Chloe was taken aback by Shaun's admittance.

Shaun knows…he can't possibly know!

Shaun sniggered at Chloe, "I know."

"What do you know?" Chloe asked quietly.

"Everything," Shaun answered, then when Chloe leant back on the edge of the bed, continued, "It took some time…but I finally learnt the truth…the mother of my little girl is a werewolf!"

"You're insane, how could you possibly believe in werewolves?" Chloe struggled to get out her response to match her words in her attempt to keep Elly's secret.

Shaun pointed towards the bedroom door where the werewolf, Cody, had left, "Insane enough to get a werewolf of my own to take you!"

"There's no such thing," Chloe claimed.

"Stop lying to me, Chloe!" Shaun shouted, "I literally have a werewolf working for me. You think I haven't seen Cody turn during the Full Moon? C'mon now, Chloe, stop playing dumb with me. I've been investigating this for longer than you think. I suspected those that Elly and Aster lived with were werewolves…took me a little bit longer to accept Elly was one of them. Then when I sought out a wolf to work with one to get my little girl back…I had no idea that Aster could end up been one of them when she grows up."

"You think Aster might be a werewolf one day?" Chloe still couldn't believe how much Shaun knew, giving in from been able to keep up the pretense that she didn't know about the werewolves, feeling hurt about been called dumb by him as that was something she despised most by people thinking she wasn't smart.

"See, I knew you knew the truth about Elly and my little girl. You've probably even seen for yourself Elly transforming into the wolf. As for Aster, Elly was still pregnant with her when she was turned into a werewolf which according to Cody, means the gene can be passed onto Aster and we'll know when she's closer to been an adult," Shaun explained.

"And you believe this…Cody?" Chloe raised her eyebrows in doubt.

"Cody hasn't lied to me once, not so far about any of his existence. He's an omega, a betrayer of his own Pack, just like the wolf that turned Elly years ago. Cody doesn't take to those wolves that band together and take in members that aren't family…barely stands those that can't just live on their own…but he's happy to make more of his kind when the chance presents itself," Shaun winked wickedly, "Cody's gonna help me win Aster back!"

"What? By getting rid of me? You think that's the way to win back Aster?" Chloe demanded angrily, yet her voice waivered with fear.

Shaun only shook his head at Chloe.

"That's what this is about, isn't it? Abducting me and taking me away from Elly and Aster? You think you can replace me and that Elly would let that happen? That you could be what I am to Elly or to Aster?" Chloe was furious now, "You don't even have a clue what Elly and I share. I'm her mate. Nothing in the world can come between us been together. Elly will stop at nothing to get me back and I will do anything in the world to get back to both Elly and Aster."

Shaun sniggered loudly, "Chloe, Chloe, Chloe…you misunderstand me. You think that taking you and your unborn baby away from Elly and Aster is how I plan to win my little girl back?"

Chloe swallowed hard in fear, "Are you going to kill me so that I never see my girls again and they never get to meet our baby?"

"You really do misunderstand my intentions, Chloe," Shaun chastised her, "You will be here for a little while so I can spend some important time with my little girl…but have no fear, Chloe. You will be able to return to them in a week or two. Don't think for a moment that you won't get to see Elly and Aster again if you should choose to want to go back to them when the time is right."

"What do you mean by if I 'should choose to want to go back to them'? I would never choose to not go back to my family!" Chloe declared with ascertain, "None of this makes any sense. If you let me go back to my family then your time with Aster is over and Elly will tear you apart when she finds out you were the one who took me."

"I wouldn't be so sure of either of those things if I was you," Shaun sneered, "See the thing is…when I'm ready to let you go home…you're going to be a little bit different…and I think you'll find that you'll want to keep your family safe and choosing not to go back to them will be…understandable…"

What the hell does that mean? 'Understandable' that I wouldn't want to go back to Elly and Aster and that if I don't it will keep them safe…? Is Shaun going to have Cody turn me into a werewolf and he's gonna set me loose on them when I'm not in control of my powers? Make Elly try to kill me to protect Aster?

Next time - Chloe, Chloe, Chloe...if only that was what Shaun was planning...but what else could Shaun be planning that might just be the one thing that could indeed prove Chelly's mate bond can be broken...?