Page 47 of The Alpha's Stolen Mate

“Do you want any more salad, Summer?” Aunt Mia asked and held out the crystal bowl of Italian chopped salad.

I shook my head and took a sip of my lemonade.

It was the fourth day of living in Gabriel’s house, and Aunt Mia, Grayson, and I were just finishing up lunch. My son had already devoured his PB&J and had been excused from the table. Aunt Mia had been the one to suggest eating in Gabriel’s expansive backyard, which was complete with a fancy-looking grill, an inviting, huge pool, white lounge chairs with umbrellas over them, and a shaded area with a long table where my aunt and I were sitting now.

My mom was at the hospital visiting my father. The three of us had been taking turns sitting with him. Grayson occasionally came with us, but he was just a kid and got bored easily. He preferred to explore the many rooms in the house and play with Goose outside.

There was still no change in my dad’s condition.

Over the past few days, I’d barely seen Gabriel, which wasn’t surprising in a house this size. The few times I saw him coming toward me in the hall, I went the other way. Gabriel spent his days shut in his office, probably making his next billion dollars so that he could build another mansion.

I speared a tomato on my fork with more force than necessary.

I knew I wasn’t being fair to Gabriel. He had been charitable with his wealth and had not only used it to help WaterLock, but the rest of the kingdom, and the surrounding kingdoms, too.

But every time I thought about my former Mate, my heart—the place where our Mating bond had been—panged with remembered agony. It was like I was being slowly stabbed to death.

I sighed and set down my fork.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you, sweetie?” Aunt Mia said and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

Her hair was swept back into a low ponytail, and there was a weariness to her eyes that had been there since my father’s attack.

“It’s…nothing,” I replied and looked over at Grayson and Goose instead of at my aunt.

“I’ve lived with you for the past six years, Summer. I know when something is wrong.”

I scrubbed my hand down my face. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to my aunt. But my problems seemed so trivial compared to my dad fighting for his life in the hospital and the threat of Axel and the Rogues. Gabriel’s words from the hospital kept running through my head.

I don’t believe Axel will stop there. I think that once he joins the Rogues, he is going to share all of WaterLock’s secrets to help them take over our pack.

The first night at Gabriel’s house, I truly considered grabbing my son and going back to Aunt Mia’s farm, since Gabriel thought that there would be a full-scale attack on WaterLock. But then I thought of being ten hours away from my father, who was lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by machines that were breathing for him. Also, I considered the fact that Axel could be tracking our movements now. Would it be safe for Grayson and me to stay somewhere alone? Wouldn’t Gabriel’s secure compound be the safest place for us? When I talked to my aunt and mom about all of this, they agreed with me.

“Does your mood have anything to do with Gabriel?” my aunt prompted.

I nodded.

“I haven’t told Grayson that Gabriel is his dad,” I admitted and bit my lip.

My aunt’s eyebrows raised.

“I know, I know,” I said, raising my hands and leaning back in my chair. “I should tell my son. It’s the right thing to do.”

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

“It wasn’t?” I asked.

“No, I was going to say that it’s a big decision. I don’t know exactly what happened with you guys, but I do know that each time your father would give us updates about the pack and he would mention Gabriel’s name, you would flinch,” my aunt said.

I swallowed.

“I would?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “I know that allowing Gabriel to have a relationship with Grayson would mean that he has to be in your life too, and that’s going to be extremely hard for you, but wouldn’t it be harder on Grayson if he never gets the chance to know his father?”

I sighed.

“You’re right. So, I have to go talk to Gabriel now?”

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