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‘Return home. Now. I command it.’
I fought his dictate as long as possible. Trotting back to pack lands, I stubbornly refused to shift since he hadn’t issued any demand about human form. When I arrived, I ignored the crowd of people who watched the large black wolf of my alpha as he stared into my eyes.
‘Go home. Await me there.’
Cole’s wolf bumped into mine and I nipped at him as both of us bared our teeth. He might be my best friend, but I wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone’s intervention.
‘Enough.’
Damn my alpha for sticking his nose in my business. This was personal. None of it was his concern.
“Theo.”
Becca’s voice made my wolf snarl and I spun around in her direction, my incisors dripping with saliva as I contemplated how to rip her heart out like my own. Maybe if she didn’t have one too, we could find a way to be together. Just that single thought caused my wolf to stumble and I turned toward home where her presence couldn’t follow me.
I was wrong.
“Theo, I’m sorry.”
Becca’s sweet voice carried on the back of the wind and met me at my front door where my father and uncle stood with my cousin Elena, all of them concerned. My father held up a pair of pants and I shifted – painfully – into my human form. Snatching the shorts from his hand, I slipped them on and refused to meet any of their curious stares.
“I understand,” Elena whispered as I finally lifted my head. She tapped her heart as tears filled both of our eyes. Her pregnant belly swelled outward as she placed a hand on her stomach.
“Elena, I don’t know how . . .” I couldn’t finish.
“It’ll be alright, Theo.” Her voice held a level of pain that matched my own. “It’s gonna hurt for a long time. Both us have to live with that terrible ache but maybe we can get through it together.”
Elena’s mate had been slaughtered by a ruthless bear shifter only a few weeks ago. Losing her mate so close to the birth of her first child was devastating. I thought I couldn’t comprehend her level of loss until the hour I brought Becca back home. Consummating our mating and spending the night with Becca showed me the bliss of a possible future only long enough to cruelly yank it away. Now I knew her pain and it was as heart wrenching and soul crushing as I imagined. She held out her arms and I ran toward her hugging Elena’s slender frame close as she tucked her head under my chin.
“I love you, Theo.”
“I love you, too, El.”
The door to the house closed as my uncle and father disappeared inside. Once we were ready Elena and I would join them. For now, I closed my eyes and gave in to the ache in my chest and held my cousin closer as we both cried for the losses we could never gain back – her mate, my mother, Elena’s mother, and the broken hearts that would need a long and lonely time to heal.
