Page 61 of Frost Wolf

“Go. You have my permission.”

Alistair nodded. It was always weird to speak to any of us in this form, especially when I was in my human one.

We both stood there, looking at one another, and waited, expecting something to happen.

“Will you talk to her?” I asked.

“As her father?”

“Yes.”

“And tell her what?”

“How about the truth? I kept your secret because you asked me to. I lied to my mate for you.”

“It was not a lie.”

“Yes, it was. It’s my duty to tell her. And I’ll tell her now. She deserves to know she has a father, even if said father is a fucking coward.”

“You be damned if you do that. That means our friendship is of no consequence to you.”

“My mate comes first. This is something she should know. I should have told her sooner. I listened to you. I allowed your doubt, bitterness, and fears to slip into my soul. You and Ruby were like two sides of the same coin, and both of you kept me away from my mate, from the woman I love and who is meant for me.”

Alistair threw his head back and howled deeply. “You don’t know what it means to live without your mate.”

“I don’t? What have I been doing the past twenty years?”

“That was not it. You were not mated. You hadn’t tasted her sweet heat. And you were not the one watching her go cold in your arms. To feel weak, broken, powerless as your mate clung to you, telling you it hurts, and she doesn’t want to die. Asking you to take care of the baby. That hurts. That is what breaks a man, a wolf.”

“I’m sure that it hurts. I can imagine.”

“No, you can’t. I lost Mia. Someday, something will happen to my daughter because she’s your mate, and I will lose her, too. That will make me lose my mind. You will never recover. If you love her, break up with her.”

“I can’t. And I don’t want to. We are mated for life.”

“If you leave, if you reject her formally and go away far enough, the bond that connects you before the bite will weaken. She will be fully human again. She’ll only feel the benefits of better health and longer life, but she will have a chance to live a normal life without Demons and fights for life and death. How do you think your mate will feel when one day, not today, not tomorrow, but one day she’ll have to wrap her arms around your dead body? Do you think she’ll ever get over it?”

“Humans die, too. You act as if human relationships are perfect and no one ever dies or gets hurt. Cut me some slack.”

“Forgive me, alpha. I hope you’re lucky. You two deserve to be the lucky ones.”

Alistair ran away. The shrubbery crunched under his paws. Seconds after the branches covered his retreat, the forest became silent again, as if he had never been here.

It was almost eerie to watch his disappearance. I stood there, waiting for him.

Did he at least love his daughter? He used to volunteer to guard Ruby’s house and ensure their safety, but he never attempted to look into Yana’s life. He left when the time came for me to follow the mate bond and claim her. He never said anything, not until now. Then his mood and general disposition shifted, becoming progressively darker with each day.

My mind was with Yana back home. I needed to get my phone because showing up at her place now sounds like a bad idea. I will grab KFC later and stop by. I can fix this. I just found my mate, and the fact that her father was broken beyond repair won’t push her away from me.

I shifted back into my wolf form because of all the small twigs scratched on my naked human body. As soon as I was wolf again, my head howled in agony. The house was under attack, my pack brothers fought hard.

I could feel the pain in Will, who had a stab wound from a silver dagger.

I ran.

All I could think of was to get there as fast as possible.

19

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