Panic crashed through me. I tried to tamp everything down the best I could to keep Fiona and Carlos from feeling it.
But the dads knew. I could see it in their eyes.
Shit. I thought for sure that they’d demand we get un-bonded.
How the fuck was I going to be a responsible alpha and be part of a functional pack? Especially since I’d started everything off by screwing up so badly.
While Fiona’s confidence in me was sweet, it was misplaced. They didn’t know me–and I didn’t really know them.
This is how mistakes happened. This was how everything fell apart.
“Let’s have dessert.” Fiona held out her hand to me.
I took it and stood. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”
But I didn’t go to the bathroom. Instead, I found some room full of toys and sank to the ground, putting my head on my knees.
What did I do? Could I even make this work? Did I want tomake this work?
I had no idea. All I knew was that I didn’t want to hurt anyone, even though I already had.
“Hale, are you all right?” Saoirse said. “We’ll just have our dessert here. That meeting was a lot, and we should probably debrief.”
“I didn’t think they’d let us stay together,” I admitted.
“It’s not their decision.” Fiona sat on the floor next to me and put her head on my shoulder.
“But it is. All they have to do is use their alpha bark. Why didn’t they? I don’t understand why would they let us try knowing this is a really bad idea?” Looking up, I frowned, confused.
“Use their alpha bark? On your kid? Isn’t that illegal?” Carlos frowned.
“No. My parents did it all the time. That’s why Verity didn’t become a pro fútboler after she finished undergrad. They made me stay, too.” I shrugged.
Fiona blinked. “Your parents didwhat? That’snotokay. My dads wouldneverdo that.”
My eyebrows rose. Sure, it was shitty. But her dads were powerful and used to getting their way. “Why wouldn’t they?”
“Wow, that’s fucked up. Also, Saoirse would throat-punch them,” Fiona replied.
“We’re never doing that to our kids.” Dusty pulled over a chair and placed his plate of cake on his knees.
Kids? The panic returned.
Carlos sat on my other side. “It’s going to be okay.”
“How? I have no money. No prospects. I’ve just disappointed everyone–including you. Ican’tdo this. The best choice really is for me to un-bond you. Which will fucking suck, because it hurts. I saw what my dad went through when he un-bonded my mom after she went to jail. But it’s better than us spending decades fighting, pretending like the kids don’t know, then breaking up the pack,” I explained.
“Hale.” Fiona let out a sad whine. “You don’t want me?”
“I do. But we barely know each other. We rushed into things. This is how babies get trafficked, and I couldn’t stand if that happened,” I blurted, taking my plate of cake from Saoirse, begging them to understand.
“I’m missing something,” Carlos told me. “How did we go from starting a pack to trafficking babies?”
“When you do something because you think it’s in the best interest of the pack and you’re full of mating hormones, then it bites you in the ass later and everyone hates you–and your kids–for it.” I took a bite of cake to hide the pain of some of the other parents rejecting Mercy and me.
Fiona squeezed his knee. “Is there a story here? Will you share?”
“Yeah. I mean this is why we’re not supposed to date or do alphahole shit like this.” My voice broke. “The parents told us over and over to not be stupid like them. I think this might be even worse.”
