Page 46 of The Alpha's Stolen Mate

“Why didn't you tell him who I was, Summer? I thought when you agreed to stay here that you were going to let me have a relationship with Grayson.”

The broken expression on his face made my heart lurch, but I refused to pity Gabriel. Not after what he did to me six years ago.

“I never agreed to tell Grayson you were his father,” I said. “ When we talked about it at the hospital, I told you that we would take things slow. Ever since that conversation, I’ve been thinking about whether I was all right with you having a relationship with Grayson. And I decided I’m not. You sent me away when I was pregnant with him. You don’t deserve to know what a wonderful and caring little boy he has turned out to be. You lost that chance when you rejected our Mating bond.”

Gabriel ran a hand roughly through his hair.

“Summer, I only rejected our Mating bond because I was trying to—“

I cut him off with a sharp, sarcastic laugh.

“Because you were trying to protect me, right? Is that what you were going to say?” I demanded, my voice rising. “That makes you no better than my parents! Back then, everyone thought they knew what was best for me. But you wanna know what’s funny? No one stopped and asked me what I wanted to do. Nobody asked me what I thought was best for my life.” I tapped my chest.

My hands were shaking, and my heart was racing. I'd been holding onto this anger for six years and it was spilling out of me all at once. When Gabriel and I had spoken after I woke up in the hospital, I'd been too groggy to access all the bitterness for him that I'd been storing away. And when we talked while drinking coffee in the hospital cafeteria, I'd been focused on learning more about Gabriel's compound. Now, all of the resentment I’d held in my heart for my former Mate was flowing out like a burst dam.

“I know I should have talked to you before I broke our bond, and I will regret that for the rest of my life, but if I had known that you were pregnant I—“

This time, Gabriel had been the one to cut himself off.

Anger pulsed within me, and I wanted to punch a hole through my aunt’s Jeep.

“If you had known that I was pregnant, you wouldn’t have rejected our bond?” I demanded. “Would that have made a difference? Was I not worth anything to you? Was I not good enough to keep in your life? Did our Mating bond get in the way of your big dreams of living in a mansion and being the CEO of a successful company? Were you scared of having me as a Mate and ruining the way the people in this compound—and WaterLock—idolize you?”

Gabriel took a step to the side, as if he wanted to distance himself from me and my anger.

“Yesterday, you compared my compound to a safe haven,” he pointed out, his voice low.

“Yeah, that was before I saw your mansion and questioned your intentions. Did you really create this compound to be a safe haven or so everyone could worship you as their hero?”

In the back of my mind, I knew I was just throwing out words like daggers to hurt him like he had done to me six years ago. I wasn’t sure if I even believed the words I was saying. Didn’t Gabriel open up his residence to families whose loved ones were sick? Wasn’t that what he was doing for my family?

As he should—Grayson is his son.

Yeah, but if my mind was going to use that logic, didn’t Gabriel deserve to have a relationship with Grayson?

My head went back and forth, and my temples pulsed with pain.

“Can we please just keep who you really are a secret from Grayson for now? Just until we figure things out?” I asked and pinched the bridge of my nose.

A muscle ticced in Gabriel’s jaw.

“Is that really what is best for our son? To lie to him?” he asked.

My eyes narrowed, and I took a step toward him.

“Don’t you dare insinuate that you know what’s better for my son,” I said, acid dripping from my tone.

“Summer, I wasn’t—“

But I was already walking away from him, wiping a tear from the corner of my eye.

There was no way in hell I was going to allow him to see me cry.

***

“Grayson! Don’t get too close to the pool, honey!” I yelled.

My son gave me a thumbs up to show he heard me and strolled to the grassy area of Gabriel’s backyard, Goose following after him.

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