Page 109 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

I’d never given much credence to the old stories that said mates held half of the other’s soul. That only with a fated mate could wolves bewhole. But with Gael? I felt whole. Iwaswhole. He filled spaces in my heart that I hadn’t realized had been gaping open.

“I can’t tell you that because it’s not true.” I lifted my chin and squared my shoulders. “But I also know that it’s not just the two of us. We have more to think about.” I dropped my hand to cup my baby belly, and I watched him follow the motion down.

Sorrow. That was the only word for his expression. Pure, unadulterated grief and distress. Because heknew. He knew I was right.

“I can’t choose her over you, Leigh, and you can’t ask me to. How am I supposed tochoose?” His shoulders seemed to cave in on themselves, and watching the tears start to fall down his cheeks broke something inside me. Something that wouldn’t ever be whole again.

I stepped forward, crossing the last three feet and throwing my arms around him. I cupped the back of his neck and pressed myself tightly against him, offering him comfort with my whole being. I tucked myself in close to his ear to whisper, “You don’t have to choose, my love. I can make that choice. Let me carry that.”

His shoulders shook as he clung to me, and then his fingers fisted in my hair, pulling me back from his shoulder. He found my lips with his, kissing me with all the words neither of us could say, though I felt like I’d poured my very essence out into the air between us. He tasted of salt and man, of promises and regrets.

I don’t know how long we kissed, because time ceased to exist when I was in Gael’s arms. He was my safe space, my shelter in this worst storm of our lives. But when we finally separated, his words were hoarse against my lips.

“I will find another way. I will not give you up. I don’t accept any calling that means I spend eternity without you.I will find another way.”

“Okay,” I whispered back. I didn’t see another way, but if he needed to believe it, I couldn’t deny him that sliver of hope.

He pressed a tender kiss to my forehead, then stepped back.

“I’ll let you finish your discussion and then escort you both home. We need to have a pack meeting about the IGC decision.”

I nodded, feeling bereft even with only two feet between us. Watching him walk out Kari’s cottage door and then hearing thesnickof it seating back into the frame felt so final.

When I walked back to the couch, it was with hollow legs. Brielle wrapped an arm around me, but she didn’t say a word. What was left to say, after all?

There was silence for a heavy moment, and then Kari spoke. “That man really loves you. Are you sure about this?”

I swallowed hard but nodded. “I love him too, and I love my daughter. This is our only option.”

“Okay, then. I’ll get the concealment charm for you to drink, and I’ll see you again in two weeks to a month.”

FIFTY-THREE

Gael

Idrove us back to the castle in silence. Sergei had gotten the update about the IGC train wreck from someone while I was inside, so he filled the women in. I let the explanations flow over me, ignoring the gasps of surprise and the murmurs of concern as Sergei laid out the request for the breaking of the packs, the way the IGC denied our petition and booted us all from the appointment as if we were naughty children. The only saving grace was that they didn’t grant the breaking either—claiming it was a matter for pack law.

Of course,thatthey chose to stay out of. They’d murder my daughter but wouldn’t help squash a coup.

Bastards.

But honestly, it was hard to care if the whole damn shifter world fell down around the pack’s ears when my personal world had already burned to ash. Leigh was planning to die and leave me alone with our daughter. She’d accepted that as the only possibility.

And the worst part was, I couldn’t see any other way forward. I knew what I promised her, and I had every intention of keeping that promise, but I had no idea how. I wanted to rageat the moon, scream myself hoarse protesting it. Force it to be different, fight it into submission. But for the first time in my life? I was completely helpless. I couldn’t change the laws. Fuck, I couldn’t even get my own damn family to let me out of my political engagement. So, how was I supposed to changefate?

Why would she believe I could change our daughter’s future?

It was the lowest I’d ever been, and my motions were robotic as I parked the SUV haphazardly in front of the castle and got out to open the door for Leigh. Sergei clocked my parking job with a raised eyebrow, but he wisely didn’t say a word. A wolf’s hearing was good enough to have picked up at least some of our conversation inside, but more than that, he could have scented the grief on me when I walked out, alone and defeated.

That’s the rest of your life, you sad motherfucker. Alone and grief-stricken. Too piss-poor weak to save your own mate.

How was I supposed to survive watching her go? Just watching her walk back into the castle ahead of me was enough to put my wolf on edge, even though we were trailing in slowly behind her. There wouldn’t be anything left of me worth having when she was gone.

But then I thought of that little kick I felt, of the tiny fighter growing inside her, and I let my eyes close, leaning my forearm against the nearest wall inside the entryway to keep myself upright. It was an uncharacteristic breakdown, but I was alone; Cristian took one look at me and quietly shut himself back into his study, and Sergei followed the girls in to report to Kane that the outing was successful.

It was going to kill me, but I had to be strong for Petal. I wasn’t sure I was man enough. When it came right down to it, I didn’t know if I could stay behind with Leigh gone.

It sounded insane, but within a few short months, Leigh had become the center of my universe. How could I keep onrotating as if nothing changed when the sun winked out in the middle of my sky?

---