Page 110 of The Alpha's Protective Mate

I let out an unsteady breath, each of his words hitting me like a ton of bricks. I have considered these things, but perhaps not to the extent that Morris has.

He puts his hand on my shoulder now, his voice heavy. “We’re brothers, Robert. Your happiness is important to me, which is why I’ll give you the same advice that Aisha did. Choose carefully. If you choose your happiness, then don’t look back. We only get one life. Whatever you decide, I have your back.”

“What if I decide that I want to bring Charlotte into my pack?” My voice is quiet as I look at him.

“Then I’ll help you keep her safe. She’ll have constant guards around her.”

“But she’ll be trapped, caged,” I whisper hoarsely. “What kind of life is that?”

“This is why I said you’ll have to choose,” Morris tells me, his eyes grim. “You helped me when I fucked things up with my relationship. So, whatever you need, I’m here for you. Even if it doesn’t make sense to me, I’ll still support you.”

As I watch him leave, I jam my hands in my pants pockets, pondering his words. I’ve been deliberately blinding myself to the truth, not wanting to face reality because it’s going to be harsh.

My whole life has been spent trying to become Alpha. And yet, now that I am, I can’t be with the woman I love because of it. If I choose my happiness, I’ll have to step down as Alpha. If I choose to hold on to my position, I can either lose Charlotte or rob her of her freedom, to protect her.

She’ll hate it. She’ll be miserable. And I don’t want that for her.

My shoulders feel heavy, as if the weight of the world is on them. My friends mean well, and I know they want to support me, but at the end of the day, I’ve gotten myself into an impossible situation.

On the drive back, I’m about to call Charlotte, only to realize my phone’s battery is dead. I glance at the time. She must still be at the shelter; I decide to pick her up. Being around her relaxes me. Her scent soothes me when it’s not driving me wild.

And ever since Florian’s death, Charlotte’s presence helps keep the grief at bay. My interactions with Florian were always brief, but I did consider him a friend. Losing him has been a massive blow to me security-wise, as well. I always made sure that nobody knew the extent of his loyalty to me, but what if I slipped up?

As I arrive at the shelter, I realize I can see the sign for it now. Guess the witch no longer considers me a threat. Not knowing how I feel about that, I park my car at the curb and head inside. The lobby is empty, and I call out for Charlotte.

A moment later, Ricky appears from the back, a small kitten in one hand, a bottle of milk in the other. “What’re you doing here?”

“Where’s Charlotte?” I peer behind him.

“Long gone,” Ricky responds. “I dropped her off at your place. She was in a mood today. Never seen her so angry before. Whatever it is you did, I doubt a simple apology’s going to fix it.”

I take out my phone again. “Oh yeah, my battery’s dead. Guess I’ll find out what I did when I get home.”

“There’s a charger plugged in behind the desk here. Use that. I’ll be back in a minute. Need to talk to you.”

I plug in my phone as Ricky heads to the back with the kitten. When my phone turns on, I see five missed calls and one text message from Aisha. “Call me, you idiot.”

“That’s not very nice,” I mutter to myself. “She’s the idiot, not me.”

However, I don’t get a chance to respond to her because Ricky returns. “I tested the blood, including the sample your man brought by.”

I straighten up, completely forgetting about Aisha.

“What did you find?”

From the look in Ricky’s eyes, it’s not going to be good news. My heart sinks.

“Whatever she threw up was toxic,” Ricky informs me. “And I have a feeling that it was the thing keeping her vampire powers at bay. Do you know if Charlotte was born without her abilities or whether she lost them gradually?”

“She lost them when she was seven.”

Ricky doesn’t look surprised. “She was poisoned. I don’t know exactly what she was given, but I’ve been looking into it. Whatever it was managed to strip her of all her abilities, and the poison remained inside her. Something suddenly made her body reject it. I think it was your blood, but I can’t be sure.”

“My blood?” I frown.

Ricky gestures with his hands, an indication of his own nerves. “I don’t know what triggered it, but something set her off, and she ended up throwing up the poison. She probably still is; there’s a good chance she’s not telling you about it. And from what I’ve managed to figure out, your blood repelled the poison inside her, and now that it’s coming out, she’s going back to normal.”

“What does that mean, normal?” I feel uneasy at the word.

---