Page 79 of The Alpha's Stolen Mate

Her lips twitched and she squeezed my hand.

“I stabbed him with a rusty nail.” There was pride in her voice.

“You managed to get a hold of a nail with your hands tied behind you back?” I said with awe. “Your cleverness and skill continues to amaze me.”

A smile crossed her face, but after a moment she sighed and looked at our intertwined hands.

“We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?” she murmured. “You’re going to have to explain to me why everyone in WaterLock thought you were going to get married to Olivia.”

A tiny shock went through me.

How does she know about that?

But when our eyes met again, I realized it didn’t matter how Summer found out about my dad’s plans. In a way, I was glad she had. Moving forward, I wanted to have open and honest communication in our relationship. Even if the worst happened, and Summer only wanted to be co-parents together, that would be hard for me to accept, but at least I would still have her in my life.

“But that conversation can wait for another day,” Summer continued. “For now, I’m just grateful to be alive and to be able to hold your hand.” She squeezed my hand again.

My throat became thick with emotion.

I leaned down and kissed her cool forehead.

I stayed like that—with my lips pressed against her forehead—until I could fully wrap my head around the fact that she was going to be alright.

***

I stared out at my pack, focusing on all the familiar faces of the WaterLock community to draw strength for what I was about to do.

It was two days after I’d killed Axel, and I’d called an emergency pack meeting.

After I was certain Summer would be all right, I went to the holding cells that the Rogues were being kept in and obtained the information I needed. I videotaped their confessions and then sent them with ten guards from the army to a Rogue prison I helped set up with the other Alphas two hours away. While we were putting together the army, we developed prisons all over our three kingdoms. The plan was to fill the prisons with Rogues as the shifter army fought through the kingdoms. The Rogue army was still out there causing death and destruction every single day.

Now, I was standing on stage in our meeting hall, facing my entire pack. I gripped the wooden podium until my knuckles were white.

As soon as my eyes met Summer’s, my body instantly relaxed.

She was sitting in the back of the meeting hall with her mom—Aunt Mia was back at my compound watching Grayson since he was too young to hear what I was going to discuss at this meeting. I’d asked them to come to the pack meeting. Summer’s mom said that it was too dangerous for Summer and Grayson, but I assured her that my father and I talked to the Elders yesterday.

When I said this, Summer’s mom began to scream that I had no right to endanger her daughter and grandson by doing that. But Summer assured her mother that I’d asked her permission before I spoke with the Elders.

I told the Elders that my one condition of WaterLock being protected by the shifter army was that Summer and I—and by extension, Grayson—be granted a full pardon for breaking pack law six years ago. After I explained everything that happened, there was a tense moment where a few of the Elders were outraged, and one even suggested that Summer, Grayson, Summer’s parents, and I be exiled immediately. The Elder had always held unbending loyalty to pack law.

But most of the Elders were just grateful that our pack would now be protected from the Rogues. The majority of them spoke up in support of me and praised my work toward helping eliminate the Rogue army. My heart lifted when most of the Elders took pride in my role in helping create the shifter army.

The five of us were granted a full pardon.

Summer and Grayson were free to come back and live in Brindle Creek. When I told Summer the news, her eyes had filled with tears of joy.

The past two days had been filled with a whirlwind of activity, but I could deal with anything as long as my Mate and my son were safe.

My family.

Summer and I were still staring at each other from across the room. She looked beautiful in a checkered red and black flannel and jeans. Her long hair was in a high ponytail. There was also an angry pink line on the middle of her neck from the wound Axel had given her.

The bastard.

Everyone who had been injured on our side was able to be mended and discharged from the hospital that same day or the next morning. The two fatal casualties on our side were my two guards—Finn and Rachel. When I had time yesterday, I sat down with Finn’s wife to tell her the news and called Rachel’s family, who still lived in the Pryegate Kingdom. I told them that their loved ones were great warriors, but even greater people and I was here if they needed anything.

Now, it was time to tell my pack that I’d been keeping the shifter army a secret from them for a long time.

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