Page 74 of An Unending Claim

“Really?” I had assumed they had many different types of shifters, just as we did here. I knew about fated mates and mortal shifters because they all existed in my realm. “What happened a few months ago?”

“A wolf from your universe came to mine and discovered her true mate was the Alpha of the Silver Lake pack—and she was his fated mate.”

“Oh, you mean Asher’s sister, Makayla?”

He nodded.

“Savannah’s old pack. Huh. Small…” I trailed off with a tense chuckle. “I guess ‘small world’ doesn’t really apply here.”

He laughed. “I suppose not. Anyway, until Makayla and Alaric mated, we had no idea that it would result in both mates becoming immortal. And even more interesting than that, because he was Alpha of the pack, it somehow trickled down and that entire pack is now immortal.”

Suddenly, my dad’s appearance and the way he referred to the other Silver Lake pack, telling me he wasn’t in that pack…

His state of mortality hit me again, “You’re going to die,” I rasped. My throat had gone dry.

I couldn’t wrap my brain around the idea. He’d only just come back into my life and now I only had twenty to thirty years left with him. That would sound like a lot to someone who only lived to their eighties or nineties. But to me, who was staring down eternity, it was barely a moment.

My dad nodded and sighed heavily. “Your mother and I never even began the process of becoming mates, much less completing it like Makayla and Alaric.”

I didn’t want to blame my dad’s mate for the natural course of their destiny, but it was hard not to when she was the reason I’d grown up without my dad and would eventually say goodbye to him.

But placing blame and playing the game of “what ifs” was a waste of time. It wouldn’t change the past and we didn’t have time for it.

Adding all of this to the discussion in Nathan’s living room, my dad had just thrown a ton of information at me. I was grateful that Nathan had told me about the bespelled gems, E.V.I.E., and multiple universes before this, or I might not have believed my dad. I probably would have been grateful that the crazy man had stayed away.

I understood his reasoning for not taking me home with him, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to forgive him for it. It should have been my decision and he was just going to do it again when all the shit with Xavier and Bane was resolved. He would leave me, probably for the final time.

I twisted the ring on my finger, but when the inscription came to my mind, I stopped and removed the band. “You said you intended to stay with my mother at first?”

“Yes.”

“And after you met your fated mate…you’re still with Georgia?”

“Of course.”

“Then why did you leave this for me?” I held up the ring. “Why would you point out that it’s in my nature to be a nomad, always searching for my next adventure, living free, making my own destiny?”

My dad’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Is that why you’ve never settled down?”

I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know that?”

He glanced away, his expression guilty. “I didn’t interfere with your life, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t check up on you.”

“Like everything else I’ve learned today, I’m not sure how I feel about that. But, in answer to your question, yes, that was part of it. But I truly enjoyed my life. Anytime I considered putting down roots, I could barely breathe. The freedom to roam, to experience, to see and do new things, it made me happy.”

“Made you happy?”

I frowned. “Makes me happy… kind of. Maybe. I’m a little confused at the moment.”

My dad stood and walked over to crouch down in front of me. He took my hand and put the ring back on my finger before clasping it between his. “You completely misunderstood the context,mon ange. Maybe I should have left a note explaining, but it never occurred to me that you would look at it like that. The truth is, I had these rings made before I met Georgia. I wanted nothing more than to settle down with you and your mother, to make a life here, to choose my own destiny. Peyton, you and your panther are the only ones in charge of your life. How you live it is up to you. You just have to decide what it is that makes you happy.”

“But I’ve never wanted to settle down before. Even after I first came here, the thought of staying nearly gave me a panic attack.”

“Did you just hear yourself,mon ange?” he asked with a chuckle. “Before?”

I hadn’t realized I’d phrased it that way. “Oh, well, yeah. I’m starting to realize that perhaps I’m more wolf than I thought because I was really considering staying.”

“Peyton.” My dad sighed. “It’s not your wolf half that is dictating how you feel. There is no rule book that says you have to be a certain person, live a certain way, or anything else simply because of who or what you are.Tu es ton propre destin, mon ange.”

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