Page 14 of Pack Kasen: Part 3
He’s still straightening the pale green sheets on the beds, though they look perfect to me. “The bigger the wrong, the more time it takes for a person to decide if they want to forgive.” He looks at me. “Andifthey can forgive.”
“Patience,” I say slowly. “That’s what you’re getting at, isn’t it?”
“Might be,” he says vaguely.
My eyes narrow. He doesn’t like people hovering over him as he works. I don’t like vague. Give me blunt honesty every fucking day of the week.
A hint of amusement warms his gaze, and he scratches his short, salt-and-pepper beard. “Give her time, Aren.”
I rake a hand through my hair. “I don’thavetime. Her parents are here. They’re going to want to take her back to Nebraska.”
“So, why did you call to tell them Kat was hurt, knowing what their reaction would be?”
Calling her dad, who has made it clear he hates me already, was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And not onlybecause I did it while I was sitting beside Kat’s bed and she was unconscious.
“She needs them, and they need her.”
He nods approvingly. “Love means putting someone else first. It’s good that you’re thinking of someone other than yourself. You were quite selfish as a pup.”
I glare at him.
His lip twitches. “You’re also getting better at controlling that temper of yours. You’d have been howling or growling not that long ago. Your father would be proud. Your mother, too. I’d tell you I was proud, but you’ve a big enough head as it is.”
And just like that, I go from wanting to choke Gregor for pressing my buttons to wanting to hug him for being the father figure I sometimes need. No one else has such a powerful effect on me.
Only Kat.
She twists me up more than I thought anyone ever could, and the thought of losing her is making me desperate enough to lock her up. But I caged her before. I won’t do it again, even if it means losing her.
My heart clenches. “I can’t let her go, Gregor.”
His amusement fades. “And how long will it take her to forgive you for keeping her from her long-lost family and a connection to a past she needs?”
I spin around, preparing to howl the way I always do when something pisses me off. I swallow the urge.
Kat is with her parents. The last thing she needs is to hear me howling and think I’m the same Alpha who was too fucking blind to recognize his mate was standing right in front of him. She deserves my best effort. How else can she know I’ve changed if I don’t show her?
“I need her.”
“And Kat? What does she need?”
“One day you’ll tell me the answer without me having to figure it out myself,” I grumble.
His brown eyes sparkle with amusement. “This way is more fun. And this way, the lesson you learn sticks with you longer than if I spoon-feed you everything.”
And that’s why he’s such a good teacher.
He doesn’t just teach you things you don’t know. He encourages you to learn and grow beyond what you thought you were capable of.
“Could you?—”
“No.” He walks over to a scarred wooden desk, where he keeps most of his medical supplies, and sits down.
I scowl at him. “You didn’t let me finish.”
He looks at me. “I will not talk Kat’s parents into letting her stay.”
“How did you know I was going to say that?”
