“I met my fated mate, Grandpa.”
“Son of a bitch…”
“And I broke no contract in taking her instead of Aurora. The contract said I was to marry Clive’s daughter. It didn’t specify which daughter.”
“You’re making no sense, Killian. He had only one daughter.”
“No. He has an illegitimate one who grew up in the human realm. Her name is Daphne, and she is my fated mate. Clive’s sons were trying to kidnap her, so they could sell her off to some other pack to be forcibly mated. I rescued her and brought her back to the compound.” I winced.
He let out a snarl of disgust. “Damn it! Don’t play games, Killian. Follow the intent of the contract, not the word.”
“I can’t. My wolf would go mad. Now that it’s met her, it can’t live without her.” I wasn’t lying.
“You moron! You’re ruining everything!” he groaned. “Do they know that she is your fated mate?”
I knew what he was worried about. If they knew, it would paint an enormous target on my back.
“I don’t believe they do. I haven’t told anyone outside the pack.”
“They’ll find out sooner or later. Be a man, get your wolf under control, and give her to them!”
Oh, how my wolf was screaming at me at the mere thought of giving her up.
“I am telling you that I am not able to do it. Giving her up will destroy me, which is not in the best interest of the pack.”
“So what’s best for the pack is to make yourself vulnerable? To weaken yourself and guarantee your own death?”
This wasn’t a tactical anger. He wasn’t angry because I was simply refusing to marry Aurora as agreed.
This was a personal one. One of pain and loss.
My parents were fated for one another. Their love was intense and incredible. But before I was even a teenager, a rival pack ambushed my mother and killed her. Not because they cared if she lived or died—she wasn’t that powerful. They did it because they knew what would happen to my father.
Once fated mates were moon bonded—once a fated mate bit his mate’s neck on the full moon—their life forces were tied together. Kill one, and the other would die.
Of course, we had our revenge for my mother’s death. The White Fang annihilated this rival pack ruthlessly and efficiently, not letting this insult to us stand. Only the children were spared, and they were taken far from the ley lines and given to human families. Far from magic, they would never become wolves. The pack was completely annihilated.
My father passed days after the deed was done. Many of the people who knew him said it was only his personal strength that kept him going long enough to attain some semblance of justice, but he couldn’t escape the inevitability.
My grandfather lost his son.
And then he lost his other son.
Sometimes the universe is just cruel.
My uncle had found the woman fated for him too. Doting, they were quick to stand in for my father and try to be the guidance I needed as I grew to be a man.
Then a car accident claimed my aunt.
My uncle followed weeks later.
My grandfather didn’t want to lose me too. From the moment I moved in with him and my grandmother, I had been warned about the dangers of meeting my fated mate. How I would be tying my life to another, and how weak it would make me. How I needed to put the pack before myself, as I would someday take over and be the pillar that it all rested on.
“Get her as far away from you as possible. Take her to another country. Another continent. For your own good, Killian.”
My grandmother shook her head. “He doesn’t have to moon bite her, you know. The bonding isn’t complete until that happens.”
She was right. There was nothing saying I had to bite her under a full moon. The magic would never take full hold of us unless we did that.
