Page 106 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“I can’t believe they got it ready so quickly,” I told Dominic as we toured our new house, but I suddenly stopped walking and turned to my mate.

“How did they get it ready so quickly? We never even finalized our choices before...” I trailed off.

He looked to the side, “They were very... motivated.”

“And what was the source of this motivation?”

“They were offered a generous tip.”

“Only that? No threats?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him, but he just pressed his lips together, refusing to answer.

Did visions of the future have a name? Something like flash-ahead instead of flashback? Because in that moment, in my mate’s face, I could see Gabriel as a young boy of maybe seven, pressing his lips together defiantly to avoid answering my question.

I smiled and shook my head at Dominic. He sat down on the couch that had moved to the new house with us, and I joined him.

“I didn’t want you setting foot in that house ever again,” he admitted, closing his eyes.

I felt the pain and guilt radiating from him. We’d been staying with Florence in his childhood home ever since we came back from Colorado.

“I wouldn’t have minded,” I told him gently.

“Trust me, you didn’t want to see Gabriel’s room like that,” he said with a faraway look in his eyes.

I hated seeing his jaw so tense, so I put my hand on it, and he leaned into my touch.

“I can’t believe I never recognized what a wacko she was; I failed to protect you,” he whispered.

“Luckily, Nana taught me to protect myself. Come on, Dominic, not even Vera noticed, and it’s her job to read others. No one could have seen it coming. Besides, I’m fine now; everything is fine.”

He shot me a look that said it was anything but fine, but he’d let it go, for now.

“Are you working through this in your sessions?” I asked him.

“Yeah, most of the sessions now are about me trying to work through the guilt, both as an Alpha and as your mate. I shouldhave done a better job. Vera thinks that Heather probably had a personality disorder in addition to her wolf being messed up from the wolfsbane. She always sensed something was off about her, but it’s hard to tell with widowed wolves sometimes.”

I knew what she meant. My father was always off somehow after Mother was gone.

“What about your sessions, Penelope?”

“I did the ten hours mandated by the Court,” I said defensively because Dominic had been paranoid about how killing Heather would affect me.

“I know,” he said soothingly. “I was going to ask how you liked them.”

“Oh,” I said and then thought back on the time spent on Vera’s couch. “She wanted to talk about all sorts of things unrelated to the events of that day. It was annoying sometimes.”

He chuckled, “I know exactly what you mean. But somehow, she leads you back to a conclusion you didn’t even know you needed.”

“She does,” I agreed.

The sessions had been eye-opening for me.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, and he seemed so vulnerable in that moment.

I moved to his lap, and I hugged him, which was very difficult for me to initiate. I had worked with Vera on that. A lot.

“Dominic, listen to me. I do not regret taking her life. And I don’t feel tainted by it. I feel strong, and my wolf is proud. Don’t ruin this for me by treating it as something bad.”

“I’m sorry,” he murmured into my neck.

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