Page 13 of Bonded Beyond Regret

Nyx swallows hard, a look of worry crossing her face before she squares her shoulders and nods. “Of course, Alpha,” when I growl, she corrects herself, “Samuel.”

I’m not sure why I want to take her with me to see about the female seeking help and refuge, but it’s an instinct I can’t ignore. I’m hoping that because Nyx is female and experienced the death of her mate, it’ll make this whole thing easier for whoever is here for help.

Or maybe I just want to be near the black-haired female who intrigues me more than I’m willing to admit.

CHAPTER 6

NYX

When the man who is about to become your official Alpha in the matter of a few days asks you to join him to go…somewhere, you don’t say no. Nope. You follow along like a good little wolf.

As we head away from the training grounds, I grab my tank top and water bottle. I swear Samuel has a look of disappointment on his face when I pull my tank on, barely accomplishing it while juggling the bottle. That couldn’t be right, though, could it?

Being close to him makes me question pretty much everything. I’m not sure how I feel about it at all.

For the last few days, I’ve been attending training and it’s been amazing. I wasn’t sure how it would go. Not only am I in a new pack who does training in their own way, but joiningtraining after not being very diligent about it over the last three years meant it could have gone horribly wrong.

Thankfully, the training at Waning Moon isn’t that different from Silver Howler and my body seemed to easily remember what it needed to do. Sure, I’ve been more winded and sweated more in the last few days than I did when I was at the height of my training game. And yes, my muscles have burned which reminded me that I had put off getting back to training for far too long.

Still, it’s been good, and I’ve soaked at night to help my body recover. The sigh I let out as I sink into the warm water would be embarrassing if there was anyone around to hear it. Aisley is in bed by the time I soak and take a moment to just be which means no one is around to witness the audible evidence of just how much training again is kicking my ass.

Over the last few days I’ve been training and sparring with a few different she-wolves, and it’s been nice to get to know some of the members of the pack I’ll be joining alongside my daughter this weekend.

Again, those contradictions because I’m looking forward to putting the past where it belongs and taking this final step to join Waning Moon. I also feel like I’m betraying my birth pack and Andrew’s birth pack by cutting ties with Silver Howler.

“You’re not cutting ties,”my wolf soothes me.“You will always be connected to Silver Howler and both packs have a solid relationship. You heard how open Samuel was to have our parents come and visit us and our pup. They are allowed to come here anytime, and Alpha Whitaker extended the same option to you. There’s no betrayal.”

“I know you’re right, but does joining Waning Moon mean I’m losing a link to Andrew?”I swallow hard and my voice shakes a little,“That Aisley is losing a link to her father? Isn’t that a bad thing?”

“Our mate was a good man. He was a blessing from the Mother Goddess. I am grateful we had him,”my wolf sighs softly,“and he gave us our pup. But moving forward is a testament to him because we need to heal to be the female our pup needs. He would want us to be happy. Our mate would be proud of you for doing this for us.”

I stumble a little, not expecting this from my wolf. She was so devoted to Andrew, we both were. I know she’s right and I’m glad we’re in Waning Moon, but that doesn’t mean I’m not surprised because I am.

“Nyx,” Samuel’s voice is a caress and has me jerking slightly, not even realizing that he’s gripped my elbow gently. “Sorry,” he murmurs, “I didn’t mean to startle you. I could tell you were having a conversation with your wolf. I didn’t want to interrupt, but I also wanted to prepare you.”

“Prepare me?” I know I’m just parroting Samuel, but I’m still a little dazed.

It feels like my brain is moving at half speed right now. The ache in my chest flares, but it doesn’t make me want to find a cave somewhere and disappear like it normally does. Huh; I guess that is progress.

Healing?

Maybe.

When I look up into Samuel’s blue eyes, they’re full of concern. I’m damn glad that I don’t see pity there though. I’vebeen given more than enough pity in this lifetime. It’s useless and only makes me feel like I should be stronger, better, and more put together.

Concern, though? I can handle concern.

“Right,” I clear my throat, “prepare me. Where are we going? You need my help with something, or did you want to talk about something?” I glance back at the training grounds and gnaw on my bottom lip. “Is it about Samantha? I wasn’t trying to overstep, I was just trying to help,” my words take on a hint of panic at the end.

I hope I didn’t offend anyone, especially Gamma Connor. He’s a great trainer and Gamma. I’ve enjoyed learning from him and training under him. Still, there are only so many of him and if I can help my sparring partner improve, I didn’t see a reason why not to.

Other than, of course, someone’s ego standing in the way.

I didn’t get the impression the Gamma was like that, but I could be wrong.

“Nyx,” Samuel stops my ranting, both internal and external, “you were doing an amazing job helping Samantha. I could see your tips and pointers, along with your praise, was already making her more proficient.”

Damn it, Samuel’s praise has me wanting to ruffle my fur and prance around with my tail standing straight up.

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