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I was shaking, but I forced myself to walk forward and sit down at the table across from him.
“Talk,” I said. “Tell us about what happened thirty years ago. I think it’s time you’re honest. With everyone.”
The man was too thin. Now that I was sitting closer to him I could see the hollows in his cheeks, the pallor of his skin.
He’d been running from his past for a long while. It was time he put his cards on the table, so to speak.
A soft growl rolled through his vocal cords and he ran a hand through his wet hair, pushing it back off his forehead. “It’s been a long time since I talked about all of that.”
“Well, I think you need to,” I encouraged. “For everyone’s sake.”
He nodded and sighed. “Yes. Okay. There’s a lot to it, but basically... I met Genevieve when I was on a run one night. She was... magnificent. Perfection. I shifted back to human, fell to my knees and my heart broke, all in that one moment. I knew I’d found my fated mate, the one woman made for me. And I knew it was already too late. I couldn’t have her.”
“So what happened?” Xander asked, sliding onto the seat next to me.
The Alpha’s gaze turned reflective. “We spent some nights together. It was perfection, like I said, but our time together was touched the whole time by sadness. I was engaged to the woman my parents had picked out for me. Not fated, of course. You only get one of those. I was honest with Genevieve, and told her I couldn’t stay, but I’m not sure she believed me. If you two are mates, you’ll know the strength of the fated mate bond. It was agony, for both of us, when I left.”
Xander and I exchanged a glance, nodding. I couldn’t imagine someone telling me I could never be with Xander, Kyle or Michael again. It would destroy me.
“So you knew we could have mates outside of the pack,” Xander said, the accusation obvious.
He nodded. “Yeah. I did. But look where that got us. Cursed by a vindictive witch who couldn’t handle the fact I had to go home and marry the woman my parents wanted me to.”
I shivered at his words. “What happened to your wife?” I was pretty sure I knew, but I had to make sure.
“She was the first.” He pressed his fist to his lips to cover the sudden tremble.
“The first... what?”
“The first pack woman to carry a child to full term... and then die in childbirth.”
My breath caught in my throat. “And the baby?” I didn’t want to hear the answer but I had to know.
“She died.” His voice cracked with emotion. “First my wife, and then my innocent baby daughter. Dead. Because of Genevieve. And because of me. Just like every other girl baby conceived since that day. All dead.”
Chapter 6
