Page 57 of Broken Fate
Clive nodded. “So, I guess this has been bubbling since you rejected me on our Fate Night. That hurt. Knowing you didn’t want it so badly that you were willing to try todestroythe stone, I won’t lie. I guess it just boiled over now.”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t get to act like a victim here, Clive,” I said, perhaps a bit harder than I intended. “You werelyingto me for the past few years. Hiding a new part of your life, a differentperson. Besides, you wanted to join this rebellion toresistmate bonds.”
“Not quite,” he said. “We just don’t want them preordained by the Alphas. We want them to be as Fate intended.”
“I note how you say that, but you were still more than willing to go through with the sham if it meant you could be mated to me.”
Clive looked away, not having an answer.
“You’re a good man, Clive,” I said softly, relenting. “A goodman. You aren’t the boy I grew up with anymore.”
That stung, but I knew it had to be said. He had to know that despite things changing, he was still a good man, and I didn’t hate him.
“I guess we’ve both done some maturing lately, haven’t we?”
“Yes, we have.”
“I guess that’s why you want someone older and more mature.”
Despite my attempt to keep it in check, I couldn’t hold back my temper at his underhanded jab.
“I have no ideawhatI want, Clive,” I snapped. “I didn’t join this cause to find a lover, you know. Besides, it’s not exactly at the forefront of my mind, given, you know,my parents were just brutally murdered. Love isn’t a high-up priority for me.”
Clive sighed. “Yet you kissed him anyway,” he pointed out just a bit sourly.
I wanted to smack him. But the truth was, he had a point.
“Sort of,” I said. “He kissed me.”
Truthfully, I wasn’t certain of who had started it. Things were a bit blurry.
“You kissed back.”
“I …” My lungs rose and fell as I took in a slow breath. “You’re right. Yes, I did do that.”
“And you didn’t hate it.”
“No,” I admitted. “I didn’t.”
Clive pushed off the tree and walked over to me. His fingers came up and cupped my chin, tilting my head back. Without waiting, he dipped his head low and pressed his mouth to mine.
It was warm, soft, and welcoming. Like birds chirping in the early sunlight on a crisp spring morning. Pleasant in every way possible. Something to look forward to, time after time, since it never got old.
But it wasn’t Kiel.
Clive pulled away, sensing it. “What now?” he asked softly, retreating from my personal space.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, tears forming in the corners of my eyes even as I tried furiously to hold them back. “I just don’t know.”
The last thing I wanted was to lose Clive as a friend. Or even the possibility of more. There could be a life with him if I chose it. A different life, for certain, but I would never be sad, I would never be unhappy. We would probably live a long life filled with lots of laughter.
But would I be fulfilled? Was he the one Iwantedto be with? The one I longed for? And if I got involved with Clive, what would I be losing out on—if anything? After all, Kiel had told me to go to Clive. Had insisted, even. Saying it would be better that way.
The two were opposites. Clive was kind and gentle, but he didn’t set my body on fire the way Kiel did. Didn’t make my mind melt. He wasn’t the one I dreamed about at night, waking up to a furious pressure between my legs due to a single memory of a stream …
A life with Kiel would be intense, blazing hot, like the surface of the sun. It might also burn itself out sooner.
So, what did I want? A loving, doting mate who didn’t rev my engine, or a man to give my body to, who I had no idea what the future held, but I knew would make my every dream come true.
