Page 43 of Once You Go Pack
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest with desperate hunger. She felt perfect in his embrace—warm and solid and utterly real in a world that had become a nightmare.
“I can’t do this,” he whispered against her hair, the admission torn from somewhere deep in him. “I can’t be what he was. I can’t fill his shoes, and everyone’s watching, waiting for me to fail, and I?—“
His legs gave out.
The strong King Cade Dravik, High Sovereign of the Ice Mountains, collapsed to his knees on the cold marble floor of the ceremonial hall with his mate’s arms around him and tears streaming down his face for the first time since his mother died.
“Cade, I’m here for you. And I’m not going anywhere,” Mila whispered, her arms tightening around him as his body shook with the force of grief finally unleashed.
FIFTEEN
MILA
The ceremonial hall had fallen into a hushed stillness that felt almost sacred, broken only by the soft echo of their breathing against the marble floor. Mila’s hand traced gentle circles on Cade’s back as his ragged breathing slowly steadied. His intense grief had crashed through their mate bond like a hurricane, leaving her own cheeks wet with tears she hadn’t realized she’d shed.
I can feel everything he feels,she thought, wonder and concern warring in her chest.His pain, his fear, his desperate need to be strong for everyone. How does he carry all this alone?
She reached out with trembling fingers to wipe away the dampness from his cheeks, her touch feather-light against his skin. He flinched slightly at the contact, shame flickering across his features like he’d been caught committing some unforgivable sin.
“You don’t have to be made of stone to be a king,” she whispered, her voice barely audible in the vast space. “Strength isn’t about never breaking. It’s about letting the right people help put you back together.”
Something shifted in his piercing green eyes—surprise, perhaps, or gratitude. His large hands came up to frame her face, his thumbs brushing away her own tears with a gentleness that made her breath catch.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice raw with emotion. “For being here. For not running when you saw me fall apart.”
The vulnerability in those words sent warmth through her chest. This powerful Alpha who commanded respect with a mere glance had just thanked her for witnessing his humanity. For seeing him as more than a crown and a duty.
“You don’t have to protect me from the truth,” she said, her voice gaining strength. “Or from yourself. I’m not as fragile as you think I am, Cade.”
She sensed the shift in him—the storm of emotions beginning to ebb, replaced by something quieter but no less intense. He was trying to pull himself back together. But Mila could feel through their bond that something fundamental had changed between them. The careful distance they’d both been trying to maintain since yesterday afternoon had been obliterated by shared tears and desperate honesty.
His eyes searched hers with a piercing intensity that made her pulse jump. She could practically see him wrestling with something—some internal battle between the king who needed to appear invincible and the man who desperately craved connection.
He’s been carrying this weight alone for so long,she realized.Protecting everyone else from his fears and doubts while slowly drowning under the pressure. But he doesn’t have to anymore. Not if he’ll let me help.
“There’s something you need to know,” she said quietly, “before we take another step forward.”
Wariness flickered across his face, and she felt a spike of anxiety through their newly formed mate bond. He was bracinghimself for rejection, for her to tell him this was all too much and she needed to return to Earth.
Instead, she settled more comfortably against him on the cold marble, her hand finding his and intertwining their fingers.
“Yesterday morning, when Lyra was showing me the castle archives, we found something in one of the ancient texts. A record of humans who lived alongside the wolf packs centuries ago, before the great migration that separated our worlds.”
His brows drew together in confusion. “Mila, what are you?—“
“My mother’s maiden name,” she interrupted softly. “It was listed in that book. The Aylwards were guardians, Cade. Spiritual and social protectors of the Ice Moon pack. My maternal lineage was associated with your kind long before either of us was born.”
The transformation in his expression was immediate. Confusion melted into something approaching wonder, his grip on her hand tightening as understanding dawned.
“That’s why,” he breathed. “That’s why my wolf recognized you instantly and so intensely. Why the mate bond formed so quickly. Why you feel so right here.”
“I felt it too. From the moment I stepped through that wormhole, something in me just... came alive. Like I was remembering something I’d forgotten rather than discovering something new.”
“You were never just a visitor,” he murmured, his free hand coming up to cup her cheek. “You were always meant to return home.”
The word ‘home’ sent shivers through her entire body. Not the small ranch house on Earth where she’d spent her adult life feeling invisible and overlooked, but here. This impossible world of twin moons and aurora-lit skies, of powerful wolves and ancient mate bonds that transcended species.
This is my true home,she thought with utter clarity.Not because of what I can offer him, but because my very soul recognizes this place. Because my blood sings with memory of what it means to stand beside wolves, and to be their guardian and their equal.
