Page 62 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

“I know, but?—”

“Do you know? Do you have any idea how badly that hurt me? You just tossed me aside without even trying to come up with another solution. And now you’re here asking me what I want? It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think? Why didn’t you care what I wanted a few days ago?”

“I did care! Of course, I cared. I just?—”

“What? Didn’t care enough?”

“No, it’s not like that.” He sighed and closed his eyes in frustration for a moment. “It has nothing to do with how much I cared about you. It wasn’t even about you at all. It was about me. I was being stupid and letting my fear dictate me. I thought about how painful it would be if I lost you, and once I let that feeling sink in, it was like I couldn’t turn it off. All I could think about was keeping you safe, and sure, I blamed some of it on the pack as well, but…”

“But what?”

“But if I’m being honest with myself, it was all because of you. What can I say? You make me act crazy and do things without thinking them through first. I convinced myself I was doing what was right by you, but taking away another person’s choice isn’t being protective. It’s being controlling. I was trying to control the situation, like I always do, and for that, I’m sorry. So, so sorry. Please, Diana, if you can see past everything I said that night and just listen to what I’m saying now.”

I pursed my lips. “Which is what exactly?”

“That I love you.”

I said nothing, but he quickly filled the silence.

“And that I fucked up. I realize now that I don’t want to live without you, and even if that means I have to spend every waking moment watching over you for the rest of my life, then that’s what I’ll do. In fact, that sounds like a dream to me.”

As much as I was trying not to show any emotion, one half of my mouth was involuntarily tugged upwards into a slight smile. I looked away and hoped he hadn’t seen. I wasn’t ready to give up the fight just yet. I still had my doubts.

“And what about the pack?” I asked. “What about Sarafina and the merger? How is that going to work if we’re together?”

“Sarafina and I have a plan. It’s not foolproof, hell, I don’t even know if it’s going to work at all, but we have to try. She wants to be with the man she loves, and I want to be with you, so we’re going to do whatever we can to make that happen.”

“And what about the rules?”

“Fuck the rules!”

I balked. “This—this goes against everything you’ve been telling me from day one. I’m a human, Andreas. I thought that meant we could never really be together.”

“I thought it did, too. But that was before—” He stopped himself.

“Before what?”

“Before all of this happened! Before I met you and understood what falling in love actually felt like. It was easy to follow the rules back then when they didn’t keep me from having what I truly wanted. But ever since we met, I’ve been questioning just about everything I thought was right, everything I thought was important. I think back to when I first heard these bullshit rules about who I was and was not allowed to date, and what was expected of me as a would-be pack leader and—I don’t know.” He laughed, but the sound was more doubtful than jovial. “I just have to wonder, who the fuck made this shit up? And why should I listen to them?”

I stared at him with open confusion. This was so unlike him. I didn’t even know if I was standing in front of the same man that I’d met just a few weeks ago. “This is just insane…” I rubbed my eyes as if this were all a dream I would soon wake up from. “I’ll say this, though, you’ve come a long way from the strict rule follower you were.”

“Thanks to you. Diana, listen to me—we can make this work.”

For the first time in the conversation, I started to allow myself to humor this idea. If there was a chance that we could be together without him losing his leadership position of the Vilks, then why was I trying to poke holes in it?

Oh wait. I know why.

“It’s not just the rules I’m worried about. When you told me to leave the compound the other day,” I said. “You broke my heart. Truly. So, if you’re asking me to give you a second chance, then you need to promise that it will never happen again. I refuse to be the woman who hands her heart over to someone who’s already ripped it apart just for him to do it again. That’s never been me, and no matter how much I love you, I can’t just pretend like I’m not terrified of getting hurt again. Are you really so sure that you’re ready to do this? For real?”

Andreas stood up straight and squared his shoulders. “Absolutely. In fact, I already have a plan to show you just how serious I am about this. About us.”

I raised a brow. “What kind of plan?”

He smiled. “If you agree to come with me, I’ll show you.”

The slightest bit of worry still rattled around in my chest, making it difficult for me to breathe, but I found myself nodding anyway. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

We arrived at the compound a short while later, and I was surprised to see that all the pack members had already been gathered in one place. There was a growing crowd behind Andreas’ house, and when we got out of the car, I heard the general murmuring of a confused group of people. They didn’t know what they were doing there, and neither did I.

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