Page 234 of My Unexpected Mate

“I am so sorry, Patricia,” Gabriel said quietly.

“Yeah,” I said nervously. “I am really sorry for your loss.”

She looked up at us and nodded. Her previously cold gaze had now softened. Her rigid posture was gone. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked broken. I couldn’t imagine the pain she must have gone through. She lost her child because of that man.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, as she fidgeted with her fingers. “He broke me that day. I swore I would never stand by him again. I decided to fake my own death so I could run away and wait for my chance to crush him. You are my chance. I believe you can defeat him, and I want to help you do it.”

“Why did he kill your child?” Gabriel asked her.

“He didn’t want children,” Patricia sighed. “He said that our child would only slow us down and distract us from our main goal. He had just recently found out about the prophecy, and he thought that a child would mess up his plans. He wanted me to go get an abortion. When I refused, he did it forcefully.”

Gabriel and I gasped.

Fucking shit!

“What do you mean forcefully?” I muttered quietly.

“He put me under a spell so I would remain asleep for a while,” she said, her voice trembling. “Cora took the child away from my womb while I slept.”

I growled loudly.

WHAT THE FUCK?!

I will kill him. I will kill Cora.

“Goddess, Patricia, I am so sorry,” Gabriel said quietly. “I can’t imagine what you went through.”

“No, you can’t,” she said and looked up at us. “And you shouldn’t have to. Nobody should have to know what that feels like.”

Gabriel and I nodded. We were both still shocked.

“When you choose a partner, you give them your trust,” she continued. “You give them your love and you expect to be safe and protected by their side. When a Goddess chooses your partner for you, all of that is enhanced. Your trust, your love, everything is amplified. You feel safe and protected immediately. You don’t need to get to know them. They are your mate, and they are everything to you. You love them from the moment you see them. Anyone would be broken if a partner forced an abortion on them. But when a mate does it to you, it is unbearable.”

My heart clenched painfully. She was right. Nothing could compare to a mate bond. Everything was stronger with a mate. Love, trust, sadness, betrayal.

“It is even harder for a wolf,” Patricia sighed. “Not only do we feel our own pain, but we also feel the pain of our wolf. And the wolf’s pain is different. It is more aggressive, harder to control. They react on instinct, and they don’t listen to reason most of the time.”

She looked at me, and I nodded. “Being away from her is torture.”

“I know,” she said. “The pain you feel right now is immense. I admire you for managing to control your wolf like that.”

“It is not easy,” I mumbled. “He is one stubborn bastard. I shifted a couple of times, but the guys managed to stop him.”

Patricia nodded and sighed. “Understandable.”

“Wait a second,” Jacob interrupted. “He thinks you are dead, right?”

Patricia looked up at him and nodded.

“How?” He narrowed his eyes on her. “Mates feel the break of the bond if one of them dies. How did you manage to fake your death?”

I raised my eyebrows and looked at Patricia. Jacob was right. How the hell didn’t I think of that?!

Patricia was as calm as before. Her behavior didn’t show any signs of nervousness.

“He did feel it break,” she said.

“How?” I growled.

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