Page 58 of His Winter Wonderland

“I know a way,” Kaede told him then grew silent.

Rhen had an idea where this was going. He’d seen it before. Which was why he was adamant about turning Kaede. The alternative was far grimmer.

“Suicide?” Rhen guessed.

Kaede nodded. “It’s the only way.”

There was nothing more important that one’s mate. Rhen had known Kaede would resort to drastic measures. If he was in Kaede’s shoes, he’d do the same thing for his Kitten.

“The things we do for love.” Rhen sighed then rubbed his head.

“You shaved your head,” Kaede said, just now noticing that Rhen no longer had a head full of gorgeous black hair.

“Like I said, the things we do for love.”

“Your mate asked you to shave your hair off?”

“Her crazy ass is the one who shaved my hair off.”

“And you let her?”

“I couldn’t stop the psychopath. Not without hurting her. And I refuse to do that again. So, now I’m bald.”

“Damn.” Kaede frowned as he stared at Rhen’s head.

“Stop looking at it. It’ll grow back. You’ve got bigger problems to deal with. I can’t believe the Elders couldn’t help you.”

“They helped. It’s me who’s the problem.”

“Explain?”

“Let’s walk and talk. I need to get back to my mate.”

As they walked, Kaede opened up about his past, every bloody detail. Kaede told him of the witch who’d cursed him here. Before cursing him here, the witch placed a spell on him that forced him to kill his parents. And Rhen thought he’d had a fucked-up life before being cursed here.

“So, this witch is the reason your dragon wants to hurt Sinclair?” Rhen asked.

“He doesn’t want to hurt her. The curse of the full moon confuses his emotions. It blurs the line between love and hate. He hates that witch. But deep down, I think we’ve started to hate all witches.”

And Kaede’s mate, Sinclair, was a witch.

“Makes sense,” Rhen stated. Most people hate vampires. But usually, it’s because they’ve had a bad encounter with one vamp.”

“I had more than a bad encounter. That witch ruined my life. And I know she’s not Sinclair. My dragon knows that. But…”

“The curse confuses him.”

“It’s more to it than that, but that’s the easiest way to explain it. The Elders said if I can forgive this witch and let go of this hatred, my beast would stop feeling this way.”

“Fuck that. It’s not easy letting go of hatred.” Shit, he sounded like his mate.

“Especially one I’ve held on to for sixty years,” Kaede told him. “That witch forced me to kill my parents. My parents will never know that it was her behind that. They died thinking I’d turned against them. They died thinking I hated them enough to take their lives.”

“Fuck.”

“I don’t think I can ever forgive her. I don’t know how. I don’t know where to start. And I don’t have time to figure it out. So, I’m going to spend these next few days loving my mate. Then I’m going to do something to drive a wedge between us.”

“So that after you’re gone, she won’t pine after you.”