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“Not if she wants to maintain her standing in the pack. But I didn’t ring you to talk about her. How are things going up there?”
“It’s been... interesting.”
“Which is usually code for ‘it’s a shit fight, but you don’t want to worry me.’”
I laughed. “Basically.”
“Is it your family, or is something else going on? Because the vibes I’m getting from Monty suggest the latter, but he’s refusing to say anything.”
“Is that why you called?”
“I called because I miss you.” His soft reply was filled with an ache that echoed deep inside of me. “I called because I needed to hear your voice. Because I miss your scent in my nostrils, talking to you in the mornings, and loving you at night. I just...”
He stopped. I waited, but he didn’t go on.
“I miss you too, Aiden,” I replied eventually. “But the reality is, nothing has changed.”
Though he remained silent, a big “not yet” seemed to pulse down the line. Hope or imagination?
I wearily rubbed my forehead. “To answer your question, it’s more than just my family. The past has come back to haunt the present.”
“Meaning what?”
“The sorcerer who killed my sister is back in town, and he’s gunning for my whole family.”
“Fuck Liz, you can’t handle this alone—”
“I’m not alone, and you can’t be here. He’s already made one attempt to grab Belle. I don’t need to be presenting him with a second option.”
“He couldn’t possibly know that you and I are connected.”
“He can, because I had to walk through a wall of his magic to find the body of his first victim, and it was basically a magical data scanner.”
“Damn it, it’s not in a werewolf’s psyche to stay away and do nothing when their mate is under threat.”
Mate. Goddammit, he’d called me his mate. And my stupid heart danced giddily even though I was well aware it was just a word. Maybe even a slip of the tongue.
“You can and you will,” I said, somehow managing to keep my voice even. “There’s too much at stake for us both. You running up here to me will not help the situation with your pack.”
And it would definitely provide more ammo for his mother’s attacks on me. She’d without a doubt use it as evidence that he cared more for me than he did his pack and his duties as alpha.
“I don’t fucking care—”
“That’s a lie, and we both know it,” I said. “Your pack has been at the forefront of your thoughts from the very beginning of our relationship, and nothing will ever change that. I appreciate the sentiment behind the statement, but you can’t jeopardize your future by acting rashly now. We both know you’ll regret it when the inevitable consequences hit.”
He sighed. “Honestly, there’s a large part of me that just doesn’t care right now. I’m over them all, Liz.”
“And once again, we both know you’d never forgive yourself if you did walk away from it all.”
I might have once hoped that if it came down to a choice, he’d choose me over his pack, but deep down I’d always known that such a choice would, eventually, also destroy us.
He couldn’t change what he was. He’d said that time and again. It meant our only hope as a couple was his pack accepting me as his mate, and right now, with his mother in the opposition corner, that was very much a fifty-fifty proposition.
A bristly scraping sound echoed down the line, and the vision of him dragging a hand across his stubbly chin rose. Lord, how I ached to follow the motion with gentle kisses.
“When did you become the sensible one in this outfit?” he said eventually.
I laughed. “I can be sensible. On occasions. Rare occasions.”
