Page 84 of Knight Life In Vegas

“Yes. I’ll have to work from there. I need to rearrange some things with my assistant and get them delayed until the bond settles a bit.” I dipped closer to Charlotte, scent marking her cheek on impulse.

I needed to talk to Bryce too, but god help me, I wasn’t in any fit mindset to have the conversation that needed to happen. I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye. Not yet, anyway. Everything was far too raw. Once Charlotte and I had a proper discussion about the future, I could speak to my son and give him more information than I had now.

Very shortly after our arrival at the arena, they had her up on horseback, tidy low jumps set up at intervals.

Her matches welcomed me over to watch once they’d finished the setup, the four of us transfixed by her grace.

“Talk to us,” said Francisco. “I know you said the plan doesn’t change, but is that really the case? You’re still leaving her?”

“Fate made a mistake.”

“Bold to say.” Francisco stared me down, his dark eyes searching my face. “Anyone can see you like her.”

“That doesn’t mean we’re suited for a lifetime together. I had a scent-matched omega once and I lost her. I simply refuse to do that again.”

The three of them watched me in silence for a few moments.

“I don’t think that’s a choice you really get to make,” said Eduardo. “Whether you want to go through it or not, you’re bonded. She’s part of your life now.”

“The bond will settle if we give it time and distance.”

Dylan scrunched his nose. “But why would youwantto?”

“I wonder if you’d still be asking that if she lived in New York and didn’t want to move here? Your lives are here, your families, your friends. I’m an outlier in her world, and New York is my home.”

It was simple for them. Charlotte was where they lived and worked. She loved what they loved. They were younger and excited for a future with her, and they had more energy for her children. Not to mention they probably came with considerably less emotional baggage. Charlotte wouldn’t be competing with a ghost for her place with them, and I wanted her to have those easy connections. We didn’t have that. So much was in our way, and as much as I didn’t want to think about leaving, I knew it had to be inevitable.

“What happened to your first omega?” Dylan asked.

Eduardo kicked him in the shins. “Don’t be rude.”

“It’s all right. She passed about twenty years ago, far too young and vibrant to deserve such a fate. I can’t even begin to explain to you how agonizing her loss was. If you could understand it at all, you’d know why I need to distance myself from Charlotte.”

“Would you not feel it if something happened to her?” asked Francisco. “How does that work?”

“The bond is strengthened by proximity and intimacy. That’s why the urge to be close afterward is so all-consuming. It punishes distance because enough of it can weaken the connection.” I stared at the dust plumes kicked up by Charlotte’s horse, choosing my words carefully. “I don’t know for certain, but I think given enough time and space, it would get weakenough that it wouldn’t destroy me if something did happen one day. I also recognize that I’m older than all of you, and likely to be the first to go by that alone. I don’t want it to hurt her either. I’d never want her to feel even a fraction of what I experienced when Emily died.”

I could protect her heart in a way I couldn’t with my own.

Francisco nodded, stepping closer until our arms were pressed together, a silent comfort. “Would you go back in time and avoid bonding Emily if you knew then what you know now?”

“I—” Would I? For Bryce’s sake, maybe. Would I have been a better father if I’d lost my wife rather than my omega? “I don’t know. It’s hard to look at the situation with perspective. My bonding with Emily was an accident just like with Charlotte, so there wasn’t a choice to do it or not.”

“Maybe fate thought you’d chicken out on something amazing,” suggested Dylan.

I snorted. “I’d rather fate mind its own business.”

“It’s never been good at that.” Eduardo offered me a sympathetic smile. “We’ve been talking, and it’s obvious that Charlotte likes you, too. Are you open to a pack?”

“I don’t know how to be in one,” I confessed.

“Does anyone know until they’re part of it?” he asked.

“I suppose not.” I considered each of them. Being part of a pack wasn’t in my plan, but even if I wasn’t an active participant with my impending departure, I should still get to know them. And, from a legal standpoint, Sammy and Ollie were my sons, whether or not I was around to parent them. I needed a good relationship with Charlotte’s future pack so it wasn’t an awkward hell for everyone if I visited. “What did you have in mind?”

Francisco sighed. “You can give her the world a lot easier than we can. We want to get to know her, get to know her kids. We’d like her to look at our neighbors’ place so she can be closeby but still have her own space. We know asking her to move in with us isn’t realistic this early, but it’s a step closer. Do you think you’d be okay with that? Not roommates, but neighbors?”

“That sounds much more reasonable. I could certainly manage that.”

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