Page 23 of Lost Fate

What the hell is Leander doing here?

“Thank you,” he says, finally. “It would be nice to at least know what I’m up against, to recover my memories and all that.”

I glance over at him, then quickly look away.

“Yeah,” I murmur. “That would be good.”

We sip our beers in silence. The mountains rustle and shift around us, but nothing feels as restless as my heart.

Underneath all my doubts, there’s something even more terrifying. Fear.

I’m afraid of what Leander knows about me. What he doesn’t know. What he’s here for.

But mostly, I’m afraid that once again, I found someone who I thought would care about me. Someone who I thought I belonged with.

I’m afraid that this time, just like every other time, it’s all a lie. I can handle myself, and I’m not worried about Leander hurting me.

I’m worried about him leaving after everything’s said and done. It will hurt, but the leaving is what I’m most afraid of. Because if Leander breaks my heart and leaves, then I’ll be alone.

Again.

Chapter 8

Leander

“I’m trusting you with this, Leander. Don’t fuck it up, and don’t disappoint me.”

“Never, Alpha.” It’s my first task as his beta. There’s no way that I’m going to screw this up.

He looks me up and down. “This is my daughter we’re talking about. I want to see her safely home with me. So when you find her, don’t let her get away. Convince her to come back to Florida with you.”

“Sir, I’m not exactly persuasive…”

“I don’t give a fuck. I’ve lived my whole life without her. Get her back to me, or don’t come back at all.”

My eyes snap open, and guilt spirals through my stomach.

Holy shit. I remember everything.

Ember isn’t next to me, and I can hear sounds coming from the kitchen, which means she’s probably making us some breakfast. I want nothing more than to get in there with her and laugh, make coffee, and figure out how to start our day together.

But I can’t. I fucking know everything.

My alpha is a nice guy. He’s getting up there in age, though, and he had a mate, but they never had any children. When his mate passed away three months ago, he found a letter. It was addressed to him, but his mate had clearly been keeping it from him while she was alive.

The letter was from Ember’s mother.

After finding the letter, which just happened to coincide with him promoting me to the Fort Meyers pack beta, the alpha figured everything out.

I breathe as I remember him calling me into his office to tell me everything. I had been an enforcer, along with my dad, for quite some time already. When my alpha, or James, as he kept asking me to call him, promoted me to beta, it was a big deal for me.

I didn’t realize that it wouldn’t just come with more pack duties, though.

The look on the alpha’s face when he told me the story? It had been heartbreaking. My chest still aches thinking of it. He held the letter in his hands like it was made of glass, and the tenderness of that gesture rings through me like a bell as I remember everything he told me.

He and Ember’s mother had been on one date together. A great date, as far as dates went. He held the picture out to me of him and a beautiful young woman who looked just like Ember, one of those photo booth pictures that come in a long strip. The picture that I kept with me during my drive.

He shared that he and Ember’s mother had a one-night stand twenty-six years ago when she was in Florida for Spring Break. Ember was the product of that. Ember’s mom and aunt were from the Oakwood pack, although that wasn’t the name of the pack when they were in Alaska, which is where Ember was born.

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