Page 83 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

“Close the door. I need to speak with you on a private matter.”

Salar does so and approaches me. “What it is?”

I tap my fingers on the desk. “This conversation doesn’t leave this room.”

His expression grows serious. “You have my word, Alpha.”

The rhythm on the table grows faster. “Is it possible for a shifter to have two fated mates?”

Salar goes still. “Why are you asking me that?”

“Answer the question. I’ve never heard of any case.”

He sits down in the chair opposite mine without being invited, his expression reserved. “There are cases. Four that I’ve read, all of them in records older than this pack, and two of those seem more like folklore.” He rubs the bridge of his nose. “It’s a phenomenon that does take place, but it’s very rare, rare enough that a man could go a whole life without meeting anyone it happened to.”

“Explain.”

“People misunderstand what the bond is. A fated mate bond isn’t love, Alpha.” He turns the pen over in his fingers. “It’s compatibility, instinct, and chemistry that can’t be reproduced with anybody else. Sometimes that grows into the whole of a life. Other times it stays what it started as.”

“I had Elena.”

“You and Elena were fated, but I’d say your bond never went much past the physical.”

“Elena was still my mate.” My brows knit together.

“She was, but I will be honest, Alpha Vance. You have always been very reserved as a person. That does impact a bond. My understanding of you two had been that you never allowed her inside, and she was the same. She didn’t like the violence your status carried, so she kept you at arm’s length and you her.” He leans forward with his forearms on his knees.

His words hit the mark. Elena had always been a society princess, well-behaved, perfect in every way, unmarred. She didn’t like bloodshed and violence or politics. That was one of the reasons I never approached our bond with anything aside from the physical.

“But I am still the same person.”

Salar shakes his head. “You believe so, but that’s not true. You aren’t the man who bonded with her. That man was nineteen. He’d been raised by Rowan Vance, he’d never once been outside the life drawn up for him before he could walk, and he’d never lost anything.” Salar spreads his hands. “Since then, you’ve buried your father, taken the alpha seat back by force, spent years stabilizing this pack, and found out you have a son.”

“None of that changes what a wolf is.”

“It changes what your wolf has been through.” He tips his head. “Our wolves grow with us, and you went through several experiences that anyone can call traumatic, and losing Elena was the biggest of them all. You survived through sheer will and determination, and that also changes your wolf.”

I ponder over his words. “You’re saying my wolf has changed, and it can choose another fated mate?”

“Somewhat, yes. The cases that I mentioned were all alphas or lunas going through turbulent periods of their packs.” He hesitates. “I will be bold enough to ask whether this has anything to do with Miss Reyes.”

When I don’t answer, he sighs. “Your wolf has formed a bond with her because of several factors, one of them being your son. But I don’t believe that’s it. Your wolf needs her. She suits him. Maybe had you met her when you met Elena, there would have been no bond.”

“So you’re saying it’s possible that Ariela can be my fated mate.”

More hesitation and then he answers. “More than possible, I’d say she is. You’ve allowed her into your life in a way you never have anybody else. You have let her influence you, which is how fated mate bonds should work. But this time, you have to decide whether you want the same relationship you had with Elena or a different one. Because this time there is a child involved as well.”

My eyes flicker toward the couch where my son is asleep with a math workbook open across his stomach and a pencil still in his fist. He came in after his tutoring lesson without asking, dropped onto that couch, and started working. He’s been doing that for the past week, as if he wants to be near me.

My wolf is content with this arrangement, with the scent of the woman and child all over my estate.

“I believe Ariela knows you had a fated mate. If she thinks that a shifter can only have one mate, then what does she believe she is to you?”

“She sleeps in my bed. I’ve told her she’s mine.”

Salar shuts his eyes briefly. “Alpha, humans don’t hear that as a relationship.”

“It’s plain enough.”