Page 69 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

“I’m sorry you feel that way because I love him and I’m going to him.”

“I’ll make sure you never see Edward again.”

“Actually, I’m going to file for custody of him. With your hate, I’m not sure you’re the best guardian for him. If you fight me, I will tell them about your hatred for shifters. They will either declare you mentally unfit for believing in fairy tales or they will sympathize with me. Or, you can act like a civilized human being and understand that my brother is a huge part of my life.”

He snarled at her. “Get out. Get out of my office. You are no longer my daughter.”

“So be it,” she said sadly.

She sat in her car and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. Her father was a colossal ass, but she still loved him. He was her father, but she needed Sean more.

Xyla started her car and pulled out onto the street.Please don’t let him reject me.

27

Sean

Sean leaned against the railing on the deck ofHowlers’, staring vacantly into the sky. The sun had dipped behind the mountains and the sky was streaked with purple, dark blue, orange, red, and yellow. He didn’t notice the beauty of the sky, the cold evening air, or the sounds of the cars driving by. Sean’s thoughts were a million miles away. He could still see her face when she chose her father over him.

He felt like a complete idiot. Sean had told her that he was in love with her and he knew she was his fated mate. He asked her to go through the mating ceremony with him, and she had one word for him – “Goodbye.”

That’s it. “Goodbye, after all they went through. Making love to her had been magical. It was more than a connection of their bodies. It was a connection of their souls – at least that’s what he had thought.

Sean felt like he had been punched in the gut. She chose her abusive, hateful father over him. He tightened his grip on the railing, his knuckles turning white. He thought that Xyla had gotten past the hatred her father had for shifters. She had eventold her father that they had been together. Yet, she still chose him.

“Hey, man, are you alright?”

Startled, Sean whirled around. He never heard Sawyer coming out of the bar.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You look fine,” Sawyer said sarcastically. “What you look like is someone who hasn’t slept or eaten in a month.”

“You know, when Ivy and the baby died, my world was destroyed. A part of me died, too. I was certain that I would never love again. Then, here came Xyla. We connected – at least, I thought we did. I let myself feel something for the first time since I saw my dead wife holding my dead child on that hospital bed.”

“She’s your fated mate. Eventually, she’ll come to her senses. She just needs a little bit of time.”

Sean shook his head. “I doubt it. She’ll go back to her life. Her father will be a constant influence on her and she’ll start believing that our relationship was nothing more than a vacation fling.”

“I don’t think so. She’s your fated mate. Besides, I saw the way she looked at you. Everyone at the resort, including her father, saw how she looked at you. The woman loves you. She’s afraid of losing her father. I can understand that. That’s a feeling that starts at birth.”

Sean growled. “I feel like an idiot. I’m a grown man, and I’m moping around like some idiot teenager. At least when Ivy died, I had a reason to be upset.”

“You have a good reason now. She’ll come back. But if she doesn’t, you’ll be alright. After all, you have the second-best thing – me. We might not do all that smoochy smoochy stuff, but we can watch movies and play pool.”

Sean laughed, which was Sawyer’s intention. “Next, we’ll be painting each other’s toenails and talking about which character onCriminal Mindsis the hottest.”

“Garcia, of course,” Sawyer said as they walked back into the bar.

That evening, Sean was in his office. Jade knocked on the door. “You have a visitor.”

“Who?”

Jade stepped aside and Xyla walked in. Sean’s jaw dropped and his heart started beating a million miles an hour. Jade closed the door.

Sean didn’t say anything. He just stared in disbelief at the woman sitting in the chair across from his desk.

“I guess you hate me and you have the right, but I had to come and talk to you.”

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