Page 15 of Rebel for Claws
Alaric jerked backward, breaking the contact that had triggered the mate bond. His transformation came in a rush of displaced energy, his bones reshaping and fur receding until he stood naked in the December air, his chest heaving with emotions he couldn't process.
I need to get away from her. I need to think.
His hands shook as he grabbed his clothes from the snow, pulling on his black boxers and dark jeans with movements that lacked his usual fluid precision. The navy thermal henley went over his head in record time, and he snatched up his socks and boots without bothering to put them on.
Betraying my mate's memory. That's what this feels like right now. Even though she wasn't my fated mate, even though our marriage was arranged, I loved her, and she was the mother to my two sons. And I grieved her for the past thirteen years. How can I just?—
He couldn't finish the thought. The guilt pressed against his chest like a physical weight, mixing with the terror of what this mate bond meant for the future.
My reputation with my pack and with other pack leaders. My standing with the High Council. All of it will instantly change if anyone discovers that my fated mate is a hybrid and the last descendant of the original ancient shapeshifter bloodline that Thorne wants dead.
Alaric's feet carried him toward Logan's cabin without conscious direction, his Alpha instincts seeking shelter and space to process what had just shattered his carefully ordered world. The warm light spilling from the windows felt like a mockery of the storm raging inside his chest.
She doesn't even trust me. She thinks I'm the monster everyone believes me to be. How do I explain that everything she's heard about my cruelty and rigid traditionalism has been a necessary lie? How do I tell her that the man she thinks I am doesn't even exist?
He burst through the back door with enough force to rattle the frame, his boots and socks still clutched in his hand as he headed straight for the bathroom at the far end of the hallway. The small space felt like a sanctuary as he closed the door behind him and braced his hands against the sink.
Control. I need to regain control. I've spent forty-eight years mastering my emotions, and I will not let this—whatever this is—destroy everything.
But even as he thought it, he could feel the mate bond humming beneath his skin like electricity, calling him back to her with a burning intensity that made his wolf pace restlessly.
He turned on the sink faucet and splashed cold water against his face, the shock of it helping to clear some of the fog from his mind. In the mirror, his grey eyes had gone gold betraying the intensity of his emotions—a dead giveaway to anyone who knew what to look for.
She felt it too. I saw the recognition in her eyes before I ran like a coward. She knows what we are to each other now, and she's probably just as horrified by it as I am.
The thought stung more than it should have. Her immediate distrust and hostility when they'd met made perfect sense given his reputation, but knowing that his fated mate saw him as a threat cut deeper than any physical wound he'd ever sustained.
How do I face her again? How do I explain that finding my fated mate was the last thing I expected and the last thing I want to deal with right now? How do I tell her that she represents everything dangerous and forbidden in my world?
A sharp knock on the bathroom door made him freeze, his enhanced hearing picking up the familiar cadence of his son's breathing.
"Father?" Kieran's voice carried concern and confusion. "Are you alright? What happened out there?"
Alaric gripped the edge of the sink until his knuckles went white. His son had witnessed whatever had passed between him and Vivian and had probably seen the exact moment the mate bond hit them both like lightning.
How much did he see? How much did he comprehend?
"I'm fine." The words came out rougher than he intended, betraying the chaos he was trying so hard to contain. "I just need a few minutes."
"Father—"
"A few minutes, Kieran." His Alpha authority bled through the words, creating enough distance for him to gather the shattered pieces of his composure. "Then we'll discuss this situation further with Maya, Logan, and Zoe."
But not with her. I can't face her right now. I can't look at her and pretend that everything hasn't changed, and that she isn't the one thing I never thought I'd find. That she isn't the very thing that just turned my world upside down.
The silence on the other side of the door stretched long enough that Alaric wondered if Kieran had left. Then his son's voice came again, quieter but no less concerned.
"We'll be in the living room when you're ready."
Ready. As if I could ever be ready for this. As if there's a way to prepare for discovering that your fated mate is the mostwanted woman in the territory and you're the man she has every reason to hate.
Alaric stared at his reflection, seeing the face of a man who'd just had his entire reality completely altered by a pair of violet eyes. The perfectly controlled Alpha who'd survived thirty years of political manipulation and emotional numbness was gone, replaced by someone he didn't recognize—someone vulnerable and conflicted and completely out of his depth.
She's my fated mate. The woman I've been unconsciously searching for my entire life. And she's also the most complicated, dangerous, impossible disruption I could have imagined.
As he bent down to put on his socks and boots, the mate bond pulsed beneath his skin, a constant reminder that she was somewhere in this cabin, probably just as shaken and confused as he was. The urge to go to her, to claim her, to protect her from every threat including himself, warred with the rational knowledge that acting on those instincts would endanger them both at the present moment.
I need time. I need to figure out how to handle this without complicating everything further. I need to find a way to protect her from the Council without exposing our mate bond publicly. I need?—
