“I don’t mean claim her. I mean tell her. Or tell Lucas what you’ve noticed, but that you’re keeping your distance until she’s an adult herself.”
Kaiser shook his head. “No, I can’t do that. It’s like declaring my intentions before she’s old enough to reciprocate.”
“Let’s be clear here,” Remi said. “She’s sixteen, not twelve. She’ll be a legal adult in two years. If she wants you, she’ll let you know.”
“I didn’t know what I wanted at eighteen. It’s not fair to take that time away from her. She deserves the right to live her life any way she sees fit, chase her dreams,” he choked on his own words as he tried to say the next part, “maybe even fall in love with somebody she meets in college.” He clamped his teeth together and set his jaw again in an effort to get his emotions under control again.
“That’s very magnanimous of you,” Remi said.
“There’s nothing magnanimous about it, or me. I just want her to have every opportunity to go after what she wants. I want her to be happy, even if it’s not me that makes her happy.”
Remi burst out laughing, and sat up from his reclined position. He leaned his forearms on his thighs let his head hang enough so that he was looking at the wooden boards that made up his back porch.
“Why is that funny?”
“It’s not. It just shows how much of an idiot I’ve been.”
“Care to explain?” Kaiser asked.
“Suffice it to say that when I alienated my entire clan back home, the male who is actually mate to the girl I was seeing told me almost verbatim the same thing. He said I didn’t love her like a mate would, because if I was truly her mate, I’d want her happy, with whoever it was that gave her happiness, even if that person wasn’t me because her happiness would matter more than my own. And he was right.”
Kaiser sat back and ran his fingers through his hair, gripping the end of his hair with his fingertips instead of running them all the way through. “So, you’re saying it’s not my imagination. She’s definitely mine if I’m willing to suffer to give her a chance to explore her life even if I don’t wind up in it.”
“I hadn’t quite thought of it like that. I was thinking more about myself and my own situation, but yeah, now that you’ve put it out there. Yes.”
“Do you think she knows I’m hers?” Kaiser asked quietly.
“I don’t know. But she was certainly threatening to her sister to convince her to back off.”
“This, along with the part we discussed earlier about having a choice, has made my decision for me.”
“Oh, yeah?” Remi asked.
“Yeah. I have to go back to Atlanta.”
“It’s not time yet for pre-season training is it?” Remi asked.
“No. This is all about Keegan. I have to get away from here. I don’t want her to plan her future around me until she’s had the chance to live and decide what she wants first. I don’t want to steal any time from her.”
“Kaiser, are you aware that Maia was seventeen when Riley saw her and knew she was his mate?”
Kaiser looked at Remi. “Seriously?”
“Yes. And they made it work. He declared that she was his. Actually, if I remember the story the right way, he barelycontrolled himself and Maverik almost killed him. But he promised to wait until Maia was old enough to choose him, and he did. In fact, he planned to leave and build a Pride for her to come to when she was ready.”
“And that worked for them?” Kaiser said, encouraged.
“No. She renounced him — literally, and both spent time apart before Maverik brought her here and dropped her off. They almost lost each other forever, had it not been for Maverik interceding.”
“Great,” Kaiser said.
“But she knew from the time she saw Riley that he was her mate. Told her father that he was her mate, but also promised to wait until she was older.”
“I don’t think Keegan knows. And it’s honestly better if she doesn’t. She’s got so much growing and experiencing to do without me interfering with that in any way.”
“So you’re going to go back and just avoid the Pride until you decide she’s old enough to make her own decisions about her own future?” Remi asked.
“You got any better ideas?”
