AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can’t believe he agreed to see us,” Sakura said to her sisters.
Shiya and Shae agreed, and she noted the nervousness in her siblings that she felt herself. The coming meeting with Savino would give them final closure, but it scared the hell out of Sakura too. She felt she’d come to accept her mother’s choices without blaming her, but what had she been thinking? Was it just lust that drove her to sleep with Savino? All of them knew the risks of dealing with shifter men. They were sexy and feral, one hundred percent Alpha, and from what Sakura saw and her sisters confirmed, excellent in bed.
A few days after her sisters’ arrival in Miami, and before Birk and Kotori could reach their limit with the heat, Deveron had finally informed them Savino had agreed to meet with them. Now they sat down in the conference room at Deveron’s company because Savino had refused to come to the villa. The men refused to allow Sakura, Shae, and Shiya to go alone, so they waited in the lobby. All Sakura had to do, Adam had informed her, was to call for him, and he would be there. She loved his protectiveness, but really, even with Shiya being pregnant, none of the Keith girls were weaklings.
“Um, Mr. Bove, Savino, thank you for meeting with us,” Sakura began.
He nodded. The big man took them each in in turn, examining them with one eye. Her heart ached knowing her dad had permanently injured the man, and each time he looked into the mirror, he would see the evidence. That is, if he did look in a mirror.
“We, my sisters and I, wanted to talk to you about your relationship with our mother.”
“Yeah,” Shae chimed in, “basically, we want to know if it was all about the sex or if she somehow cared about you.”
Savino’s eyes widened, and he clenched his hands on the table. Shiya flinched, and he quickly placed his hands in his lap, prob
ably trying to look less menacing. The door burst open, and both Birk and Kotori crowded the opening, two sets of gazes searching Shiya out. She sighed in exasperation. “I’m fine, guys. Get out of here.”
“Two, huh, sis?” Shae said, shaking her head. “I’d have killed one by now.” She slapped a hand over her mouth and looked at Savino, but he gave no reaction.
Kotori seemed less than inclined to leave, but Shiya insisted, and he pinned Savino with a threatening look before he ducked out of the room. Sakura had the feeling he didn’t go all the way back to the lobby. Maybe they were this crazy because Shiya was pregnant.
As soon as the door shut, Savino spoke again. “I loved her.”
“You’re not going to convince me she was your mate,” Sakura snapped. “She was already married—happily married I might add.”
His single eye met her gaze. “If she was so happy, why was she with me?”
“Maybe you forced her!”
“Sakura,” Shae warned. “We’re here for the truth, right?”
Sakura folded her arms under her chest and compressed her lips. She hadn’t expected resentment to rise, but she was determined to shut up and let the man talk.
“No, she wasn’t my mate. I never met my mate, and I thought I would never love anyone. When I met Yvonne, I was different, and she was different. I wanted to be with her, and she wanted to be with me. I asked her to leave him for me. She said she couldn’t because you wouldn’t understand. So we agreed to see each other when we could. If…”
He fell silent, and Sakura knew what he was about to say. If their mother hadn’t been worried about what the family thought, she would be alive today.
Shae shook her head. “I don’t know. He might have hunted you both down no matter what your decision. I understand loving my mate more than my life, so I can’t say you were wrong. If Eiji belonged to someone else, I would take him!”
Sakura blinked at her sister.
Shae looked at her. “What? I’m just being honest.”
Shiya spoke up. “What kind of animal are you, Savino?”
He reddened. “A bull.”
“Damn!” the three of them said in unison.
Sakura knew what she was thinking and figured her sisters were as well. “Mind out of the gutter, ladies,” she teased her sisters.
Shae rolled her eyes.
A thought occurred to Sakura when she thought of what she would do if Laila hadn’t backed off. “Why didn’t you try to kill my dad later?”
Shiya and Shae gasped, but Savino sat in silence for a long while. He glanced behind him at the window, but no one stood there. She had the feeling he looked for Deveron’s approval. The man should be free of whatever hold the fox leader had on him, but Savino’s next words cleared up the mystery.
“I can no longer shift,” he said. “I am physically stronger than a human man, much stronger, but I cannot shift. You might have heard it took me a long time to heal from my injuries, much longer than normal. It was because I can’t forgive myself for being the cause of Yvonne’s death. She… I loved her.”
