Page 62 of Sigma
Dad’s gaze narrows.
I continue. “Yeah, you lost Mom, but you didn’t let it make you bitter. And look how you got blessed a second time withKathleen. Don’t you think Fate is looking after me, too? Looking after him? You’re not thinking clearly. You’re not thinking like a council alpha.”
“I might be a retired council super-alpha, Cicely, but I’m a father first. Father has always outranked council alpha.”
“But mate outranks everything, Dad. Have a little faith.”
“I don’t want you to be hisfirstmate, the one who dies. The one who gets remembered because it all gets figured out later on. Fate does do shit like that, and you and me both know it.”
“And we also know that no matter how much we want or don’t want what we think Fate has planned, we can’t fight it. Fight Fate and you know you won’t win, Dad.”
He sighs, pain taking over the anger in his expression.
I add, “I’m going to continue believing that Mom is good wherever she is. And I’m going to continue to be happy for you and Kathleen. I’m gonna live my life, believing it’ll work out. And I want your support.”
Dad and I hold one another’s gaze for a long minute before he gets out of the car and pulls me close, kissing the top of my head.
“Proud of you. Love you,” he says. “Even if I don’t say it often enough.”
“Yes, you do. And more than that, you do more than enough to show me what I mean to you. I’ve never doubted it for a second. Please try and support my relationship.”
He doesn’t make any promises. Instead, he gives me another kiss and hug before he gets into his car.
23
JARED
She walks in with the keys and squats, reaching for the ring around my throat. I grab her wrist, seeing the back of her hand looks bruised and raw.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “What happened?”
Her eyes hit mine and infuse with warmth. She falls into me and wraps both arms around me, planting herself on my lap.
My arms close around her and I hold on tight, burying my nose into her hair, kissing my mark, reveling in the feel of how the goosebumps rise on her body at my touch.
Everything inside her is emotion. She’s feeling a lot of things right now. And they’re cutting through me like a thousand knives, making me want to go to my default of avoidance. But comforting her is the least I can do. She needs this from me.
And fuck, she feels good melting into me like this, as if she believes me holding her is the key to fixing her problems.
I don’t know that I’ve got hope that there’s a way around all this. I don’t know if it’s true that my monster didn’t kill my mother and my sister. I don’t know what it means – if anything – that my father could still be alive. Don’t know much of anything right now, except that everything about having her in my embrace feels right.
“Where were the keys?” I ask.
“Want the truth?”
“Always,” I tell her.
She looks me in the eyes. “I want the same, okay?”
My throat feels clogged, so I nod instead of answering.
“Dad stole them after he saw the surveillance of what happened outside.”
“It hurt you.”
“A little,” she says.
“Tell me.”
