Page 42 of Her Reborn Mate

“Are you serious?” I asked once the enormity of this commitment dawned on me.

“I will hold back nothing. You may see for yourself,” he said.

And so I did. I closed my eyes and traveled within his psyche using my bond, exploring everything. The violence of the war, the journey from Germany to America, the imprisonment under Beckett, and everything after that. I explored his feelings, just as he had asked me to, and nowhere in them did I find any adoration or love for anyone else other than myself. His entire soul throbbed like a heart, a heart that was in love with me. Now, I could see that he was telling the truth all this time. There was no Ariana in there. I saw the memory of him standing in that afterlife plain, talking to Ariana’s spirit, telling her that he was in love with me.

When it ended, this intimate connection, I felt nothing but love for him, and I knew that he had been telling me the truth all along.

Chapter 18: Will

I should have let her in my mind a long time ago. That would have made things so much easier. But it never occurred to me that it was a real possibility until we stood beside the burning carcass of the caves. It was a stroke of genius, a moment of pure inspiration. Up until then, I didn’t even know that it was possible to let someone in your mind and soul like that.

But when it happened, it paved the way for trust and allowed our relationship to bloom again.

“What are you thinking about?” Alexis asked. She was in our bed, lying, completely covered by a blanket.

“I’m just wondering what I’m going to make you for breakfast,” I said, smiling at her. She was exhausted beyond comprehension, having braved imprisonment and torture. I had barely been able to get her back to Fiddler’s Green. She had lost consciousness seven times during our journey, and by the end, I had to lift her and take her to my house. She slept for the entire night, and only now did she wake up after a whole twelve hours had passed.

I sat by her side all night, looking at her, worrying about her health, and thinking of all the things we’d do now that we were together again. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to go to the pack and tell them I had taken care of Maurice. After all, this was not my news to share. It was someone else’s.

“I could eat you for breakfast,” Alexis said, lowering her blanket. “Come inside. Water’s fine.” She patted the empty bed beside her.

I wanted nothing more than to join her in bed, make love to her, and then fall asleep in her gentle arms. However, this was not the time for it. My mate was famished and weak. I had to take care of her.

“I’ll get in after I’ve gotten some food in your belly,” I said, smiling at her, then leaving for the kitchen. There wasn’t much in the kitchen, as I hadn’t had the opportunity to run to the market and grab fresh supplies. There were eggs, bread, bacon, orange juice, and cheese.

I hurriedly began frying the eggs and making toast. Then I put orange juice in a flask and put it in the tray. I also made a cup of coffee, knowing that Alexis loved drinking coffee. Once the eggs were fried, I removed them from the pan and put in the bacon. The air inside the kitchen was warm, smelled good. It even stoked my own hunger. I had overlooked how long I had gone without eating a proper meal. Perhaps, after Alexis had eaten breakfast, I would take her out for lunch and shopping.

I arranged the tray and went into the bedroom, placing the tray by her side on the bed.

“Oh, my God. I could eat it all,” she said. “Maurice never fed me so much as a piece of stale bread. Didn’t even give me a drop of water.”

“How did he even capture you in the first place?” I asked, watching her eat the toast and the bacon. She sliced some of the cheese and put it on the toast, then made a sandwich with eggs and bacon and bit down on it.

“I was at the culling field. I saw you beat Ralph and everything. I wanted to come back to the pack, but then I thought that you wouldn’t want me there. You know, classic Alexis overthinking moment. Then I went to the cove and saw that it was abandoned. Maurice blindsided me there. Then he took me to that cave and kept talking about how I was going to be his one shot at revenge and blah-di-blah-blah-blah,” she said.

“He was completely deranged,” I commented. “By the end, he had lost his mind. But even with all of his thinking faculties gone, the greediness in him made him want to continue smuggling. What do you make of that?”

“I guess it means that the man was so attached to the money he was making on the side that he wouldn’t let his defeat come in the way of his smuggling business,” she said.

“I think there’s more to it than that. It wasn’t just about the money. He could have done so many different things and made much more money doing that instead of resorting to a life of crime and risk. There’s not that much money in smuggling anyway. And if there is, where is it? Maurice didn’t live a very luxurious life. Neither were the vampires, for that matter. So if they were not doing it for the money, there must be some other intent. I believe that Maurice was vying for power. He could have all the money he wanted, but what he yearned for was true power. Deep down, he knew that he was not a strong wolf. He also knew that he was not a good mayor at all. When he was elected as the Alpha, he shirked his responsibilities. The only time he came alive was when he was conspiring with Blair and Ralph. I believe that he was telling me the truth about being controlled by someone who had been conspiring against me for more than seventy years. The only freedom that Maurice was getting was through his misadventures with Ralph and Blair. They allowed him to feel like he was free,” I said.

“That would mean that there’s someone out there, someone who’s been operating in the shadows, someone who’s been controlling even Maurice. Who could that be?” she asked, finishing her breakfast and staring at me with wonder and curiosity.

“As much as I have tried to solve that mystery, I come up short of answers. There are other things to worry about for now. Vincent, for one. We have to tell him about his father’s death. We have to let him take in the news and then reveal it to the town later. They’re going to want to hold elections for the new mayor. Things are now in motion that cannot be stopped. Whoever it was that was controlling Maurice now knows that we are onto them. This is an opportunity for them to strike. They may even try to retaliate on a scale that we aren’t prepared for,” I said.

“We have to be very delicate when telling Vince,” Alexis said, finally getting out of bed. As she got out, she staggered and nearly fell. I immediately shot to her side and held onto her. “I’m weak, Will. What has happened to me?”

“You have been through so much,” I said, helping her as she went to the bathroom. “You need all the rest in the world.”

“It feels so good to have you taking care of me,” she said, patting my cheek as she went into the bathroom.

I did not wait for her to come out. Inside, I could hear her taking a shower. I wanted to give her some me-time so that she’d relax, recover, and then recuperate.

I had another task at hand. I took out my phone and called Vincent.

“Hey, what’s up?” Vince said when he picked up the call.

“I found Alexis,” I said.

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