Page 34 of Conflicted Fate
He pushed past me, heading up the shaft toward the surface.
I opened my mouth to call out for him. To try to bring him back, to tell him he was needed for what was coming next. He was a good warrior, and his skills would be a huge asset to our mission to infiltrate Lycaon.
But I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that. The guilt he would feel, regardless of which side he chose, would be horrible. Besides, how could I come between a man and his mother? Even if he knew the location of our new hideout and was headed back to the lair of the beast. If Lycaonus’ men captured him … all the work Andi and Clive had put into that place would be for naught. We’d be on the run. Again.
Yet I still let him go.
I really hope I’m making the right choice this time.If I’m not …
Kiel came upon me an unknown amount of time later. I was still standing in the same place, staring at where Gare had disappeared out of sight.
“How did it go?” he asked softly.
“Not well,” I said with a sniffle, wiping at the tears on my cheeks with the back of one arm. “Not well at all. He’s gone. He said he had to go home. That he needed to see his mother, to make sure she was okay, to let her know she had something left. I didn’t stop him. I know I should have, that it’s a huge risk, letting him go. But, Kiel, I—”
“Shhh,” Kiel said, placing a finger over my lips. “It’s fine, Jada. You made the right call.”
“Are you sure?” I whispered. “What if he’s so angry he betrays us? Or is captured and made to tell?”
“He won’t give us up,” Kiel said, shaking his head. “But he might get captured, yes. It’s a risk we have to take. He needed to do this, and you needed to let him go.”
“If you say so,” I whispered.
“I do,” Kiel said. “Now, come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“To distract you and help you relax,” he rumbled, one arm around me, steering me back down the tunnel and deeper into the mineshaft.
Chapter Eighteen
To distract me?
“Kiel,” I groaned. “I really don’t think I’m in the mood forthatright about now. As much as I’ve been trying to convince you, your timing is—”
“It was my idea,” he said.
“Huh? What was? If you mean to distract me with sex, then yes, I know it was your idea?”
“Not that. Everything. All of this.”
“I’m not following. Please just spit it out. None of this back and forth while I try to pull some context out of you. I’m really not in the mood after dealing with the results of a really bad decision.”
“We all make bad decisions,” he said, his arm still draped over my shoulders.
Despite my protests to the contrary, having him that close, thatcomfortablewith me, was actually pushing through my mood.
“You sided with the Alphas,” I said, leaning a head on his shoulder. “I know that. And you’re making up for it.”
“Not quite,” he corrected. “You’ve got it backward. I didn’t side with them, Jada.They sided with me.”
“Huh? Now, you’ve lost me.”
“It was my idea. The very core problem of it all,” he said, “wasmyidea. To bind Fate. To create the stones. It wasmyidea, Jada. They agreed with me and said they would help.”
Following his admission, it was as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders. It ran through his entire body, journeying through his arm and mine. A very physical and obvious shudder.
“How long have you been holding that in?” I asked quietly, forcing myself back against his side when he tried to pull away. “How long since you told anyone?”
