Page 41 of His Treasured Mate

“Are you insane? That guy raped you, Madelyn.”

She cringed. I’d skirted around that word since her return, never bringing myself to say it aloud even though we all knew it was true.

“That was a long time ago, and you weren’t there, Thomas. You don’t know what happened that night.”

“I know enough. And I damn well know that he does not deserve to be in my nephew’s life. You don’t need that sort of reminder.”

She snorted and shook her head. “You don’t know what my son or I need, so don’t pretend that you do. I don’t have to justify my decisions with you.”

“No? Well, what about your mate?”

“I’ll admit it wasn’t easy on Liam at first, but we got through it. All of us. Jack isn’t looking to replace Liam as Oscar’s father. And Oscar doesn’t look at Jack as a dad. He’s simply the sperm donor. But my son isn’t just some wolf. He’s half tiger too, and we can’t just ignore that. Liam and I can’t understand that part of him, and he deserves to have a connection to his roots.”

“Then make a tiger friend, but not that guy.”

“That guy is my friend. He’s family, too.”

“No. Maddie, no!”

She took a deep breath and looked me right in the eye. I was an Alpha. Few people could stand there and hold that gaze with me without submission, but she did.

“I need you to find it within yourself to be okay with this, Thomas. You don’t have to like it, but you need to accept it and respect the fact that this was my and Liam’s decision to make as his parents and no one else’s. And at this point, he’s eighteen, a grown man able to make his own choices.”

“I’m not sure I can do that, Mad.”

“Yes, you can. You can do it for me. You can do it because you love and support your favorite sister even when you don’t understand or like it.”

“You aren’t seriously pulling the sister card right now.”

“I am. I’m pulling the pitiful, long lost, presumed dead sister card over this and you know that’s not something I use lightly.”

I sucked in a sharp breath.

“You’re really that serious about this?”

“I am and really need you to try to be okay with this because Jack is in our lives and intertwined with this family. He’s not going anywhere.”

I sighed heavily.

“I hear you. For the record, I don’t like it, but I hear you.”

“And . . .”

“And I’ll try not to kill him.”

She smacked my arm.

“Thomas!”

“Fine, I won’t kill him. But only because Kyle already warned me that he has Westin Pack protection. Asshole.”

“So, we’re good?”

“No, but dammit, Mad, you pulled the presumed-dead-sister card. How the hell do I come back from that one?”

She smiled brightly.

“You don’t!”

---