Page 8 of Unforgivable Fate

“He’s leaving?” Her voice squeaked and she didn’t miss the look of disapproval Darius shot at her, clearly catching the relief behind it.

“No.” He spoke slowly and carefully, “To move his stuff in here.”

“Here?” This time she screeched and she couldn’t help it, she shot up off the couch. The hot tea sloshed onto her hand and she winced, trying to steady herself. “You’re letting him move in here? With you? What the hell?”

“No. No.” Leo was on his feet at her side, taking the cup before she dropped it and placing it on the side table out of danger. “He isn’t moving in here with us. That isn’t what Darius meant.”

“Then what did he mean?” She shook her hand, wiping the tea on her shorts as her gaze ping-ponged between them.

“He’s not moving in with us…” Leo looked at a loss, “He’s moving into Crescent territory, with the pack.”

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, “That’s insane. He can’t. You can’t let him.”

“Nova…” Darius was standing now too and his calming, steady voice only made her panic double.

“No!” She shook her head. “No. He can’t be here. Not after what he did to the pack.”

“That wasn’t him, Nova. That was Maddox.”

“You know what I mean.” She hissed when Darius corrected her and then turned her pleading stare on her brother. “You’re the Pack Alpha. You can’t let him stay. You can’t. If you tell him to leave then he’ll have to leave.”

“Nova.” Leo reached for her but she jerked away because he was using that same placating tone as his husband and she didn’t want to be calmed right now, not when she had every right to her panic and anger.

“No. Stop it.”

“Nova. He’s your mate.” Leo insisted and she felt the tears that had been welling behind her eyes spill over at the truth she didn’t want to accept.

“He… He can’t be.” Her voice broke on a sob and she collapsed back onto the couch, her head in her hands as tears choked her and she struggled to pull air into her lungs. “It isn’t fair. It’s not fair. It can’t be him. It just can’t.”

“I know.” Leo wrapped her in his arms and Darius was on her other side now, doing the same, forming a protective circle around her like they used to when she was little and was upset.

“It’s going to be okay.” Darius tried to console her.

“It’s not.” She sniffed. “Nothing is ever going to be okay about this.”

“You’ll figure it out. We all will.” Leo soothed but she only shook her head.

“I’ve done everything fate asked of me. I’ve believed even when all of you doubted, when you struggled with your bonds and with the hand she dealt you. I believed and this is what I get in return?” Nova sucked in a deep gulp and steeled her voice, “Fuck fate. Fuck her and fuck her plans for me.”

“Nova…”

“No. I’m done being fate’s little messenger.” She shrugged out of her brother’s hold and swiped at her cheeks, her anger returning. “Done.”

“Nova…” Leo tried again.

“I’ve forgiven fate for the shit hand she dealt us with Maddox, with our parents, with all of it but not this.” She held her chin up high and cursed the only higher power she’d ever believed in. “This is unforgivable and I’m not just going to go along with it.”

She wasn’t sure yet what she was going to do but it certainly wasn’t going to be whatever fate had in store for her. She wasn’t going to sit around and let life happen to her, not anymore. Not if this was what she got in return for her years of service. She had helped guide each of her siblings to their fated mates but this was one bond that was never being sealed.

Everyone always said, you can’t fight fate. Hell, she had said it all her life. But she was damn well going to try.

CHAPTER FOUR

Griffin shoved his things into the spare room that Barrett had shown him to when he arrived and then tried to figure out what he should do next. It wasn’t as if he had a lot of personal belongings to unpack. He’d never had much of anything to call his own and certainly nothing that he couldn’t leave behind on a whim should it become necessary. He hadn’t expected that to change just by walking into Crescent territory but it had.

He had a mate. A Fated Mate. Not only had he been given the greatest gift a shifter could ever receive, but his mate was powerful. Far more powerful than befits a man of his position, or lack thereof. He had always assumed that if he had a fated mate out there that he would find her during one of his many travels but considering his family’s checkered past, he hadn’t been holding out much hope that fate was willing to continue the Clary bloodline.

Then he’d turned that corner and come face to face with his future.

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