Callan brought lunch, and Russ. The three of them sat around the table in the corner of the office, but Jake found he didn’t have much of an appetite. All he had was a pounding
headache and an irritable, lovesick wolf pacing in his head.
“So…” Callan began, setting down his sandwich. “Lyra Hart?”
Russ raised an eyebrow. “What about her?”
“She’s my mate,” Jake said, leaning back in his chair.
Russ blinked. “Sorry… did you just say she’s your mate?”
Jake nodded, lips pressed into a thin line.
Russ gave a low whistle. “Didn’t have that one on my bingo card.”
“Me neither,” Callan added.
“Well, I guess this solves your mate problem with the elders, at least,” Russ said with a shrug, taking a sip of his drink. “Though I’m guessing this sucks for Kylie.”
“She’ll be alright,” Callan sighed. “It’s not like it’s Jake’s fault he found his mate. And it is a good thing. For him.”
“Is it, though?”
Jake’s quiet question made them both pause.
“Is it?” Russ echoed. “Finding your mate is supposed to be a good thing.”
“She doesn’t want to stay,” Jake said quietly, folding his arms across his chest. “She came this morning to ask me to release her and Donovan from the pack. She was not thrilled to find out we’re mates. She insists the pack will never accept her as Luna.”
Russ chewed his lip thoughtfully. “But it’s not like the pack can go against the will of the Moon Goddess. If that’s what She wants, they’ll have to accept it.”
“Will they, though?” Callan frowned. “Let’s be honest, most of the pack doesn’t like the Harts. People see them as freaks of nature.”
Jake growled under his breath.
“I’m not saying I agree,” Callan said quickly, shooting him a look. “I’m just telling you how people think. If we’re being real, your own father left Donovan to die because he was born
Cheer Ta
deformed.”
Jake’s jaw tightened. His father had spent Donovan’s entire life trying to atone for that particular sin. When Donovan was born with twisted legs, the Alpha had taken the “old school” approach by carrying the infant into the woods to leave him for the predators. Lyle had been too lost in grief over his mate’s death during childbirth to stop him.
Donovan probably would have died, if not for Lyra. At only five years old, she’d followed the Alpha into the woods and refused to leave her brother, protecting him through the night. He survived, but she was badly scarred.
“My dad always felt guilty about that,” Jake muttered, though even he could hear the lack of conviction in his voice. He’d known, even as a child, that what his father did was wrong. An Alpha was supposed to protect the pack, not treat a disabled pup like a threat to be disposed
- of.
“He’s not the Alpha anymore,” Russ said, waving a hand. “You are. So what are you going to do about Lyra?”
Jake looked at him but didn’t have an answer.
Finally, he sighed. “I don’t want to reject her. That’s what she suggested. But it feels… wrong. She’s my mate, and even if I don’t understand it, the Moon Goddess chose her for a reason.” “What if the rest of the pack refuses to accept her as Luna?” Callan asked quietly.
“They shouldn’t get a choice,” Jake said firmly, staring down at the table, tracing the swirls in the wood grain. “I don’t tell them who they can or can’t be with. That’s between them and the Moon Goddess. I deserve that same respect.”
“I agree,” Callan said, though his tone was subdued. “I just worry no one else will see it that way.”
“What if she doesn’t want to stay?” Russ asked. His brows furrowed. “She wants to take Donovan to the human world. More treatments. Better life. What if she decides she’s leaving anyway?”
Jake frowned. He didn’t have an answer for that either. In all the years he’d thought about finding his mate, he’d never once considered she might not want him. That she might choose
to walk away.
Women had always wanted to be with him. He’d just assumed his mate would be no different.
Apparently, he was wrong.
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“It’s too many what–ifs,” Jake muttered, dragging his hands through his hair. “I have no idea what to think–or do.”
“What did you two talk about after Donovan and I left?” Callan asked.
“She told me she didn’t want to be my mate. That the pack would never accept her. I convinced her to give me time. A chance to prove it could work.”
“Did she agree?” Russ leaned forward, elbows on the table.
“She gave me a month,” Jake said with a nod. “One month to show her this can work.”
“That’s not a lot of time,” Callan pointed out.
“Well, most mates are bonded and marked within the first day,” Russ said dryly. “So honestly? That’s a ton of time.”
“Not with all the hurdles they’re going to face,” Callan muttered.
Russ considered that and nodded. “Fair point.”
“Your confidence is overwhelming,” Jake muttered.
**
After lunch, Jake couldn’t focus on anything. Not on the paperwork piling up on his desk. Not on the low hum of voices from the training fields outside. Not even on the latest report from the southern border patrol.
His mind kept circling back to Lyra.
To the way she kept insisting the pack would never accept her, as if she’d already decided she didn’t belong.
Before he could think better of it, he stood and headed out, ignoring the way his beta and gamma exchanged looks as he left. The walk to his parents‘ house wasn’t long, but every step weighed on him.
His parents had moved into a small house near the pack house after Jake took over as Alpha. It wasn’t a house he had grown up in, but it was still a warm, safe place to escape to when he needed it.
When he arrived, the house was quiet. His mother was likely out in the garden, as she often was in the afternoons. Jake walked through the house and found his father in his office, reading through some papers at his desk.
He looked up as Jake entered, arching a brow. “A Monday afternoon visit? Can I assume you
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have a problem and not that you just miss your dear old dad?”
+25 Points
Jake huffed a humorless laugh. He sunk into one of the arm chairs, rubbing his forehead.
“Well?” His father raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got the look of someone who has had better days.”
Jake pushed his hair back, the words catching in his throat. “Lyra Hart is my mate.”
There was a beat of silence.
Christian leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowing slightly. “You’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
Another pause.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Christian said carefully. “When did you find out?”
“This morning. She came to ask that I release her and Donovan from the pack.”
“Did you?”
He shook his head.
“And how does she feel about being your mate?”
Jake gave a tight, dry laugh. “She hates it.”
“Ah.”
“I convinced her to give me a month to prove this can work. But she’s convinced that the pack won’t accept her.”
His father didn’t speak for a moment. Just nodded slowly, like he was thinking through a dozen different responses.
“Why did you leave Donovan in the woods?” The question burst out of him, a question he had burning to ask for years.
Christian’s gaze snapped up. “That was a long time ago.”
“Not long enough,” Jake snapped. “You took a newborn baby and left him to die because he wasn’t perfect.”
There was a flicker of guilt, but his father didn’t look away. “I’ve paid for that decision every day since.”
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Jake stared at him, his jaw tight. “Have you? Because it doesn’t seem like it. Lyra’s convinced the entire pack sees her and Donovan as freaks. And I can’t say she’s wrong. Even now, people look at them like they are… less.”
“I was wrong. Is that what you want to hear?” His father raised a brow. “I can admit I made a terrible mistake that day. I saw it every time I looked at that scar on Lyra’s face and knew was the reason it was there. That child had more courage at five years old than I did at thirty. But at the time, I thought I was doing what was best for the pack.”
“By killing a baby?” Jake growled, disbelieving.
His father looked away, pain bleeding into his expression. “I remember when we realized that Lyra was missing. I knew instantly that she was in the woods with that baby, trying to protect him. I knew that Lyle wouldn’t survive it… if those kids died. He had just lost his mate. He would have nothing left to live for.”
He shook his head, his expression tightening. “When I got there, I thought I was too late. There was a bobcat and Lyra was bleeding everywhere and that baby was screaming and covered in blood… his sister’s blood… she was trying to save him and…”
He broke off, a ragged breath escaping him. “I knew the Goddess would never forgive me for what I had done. I killed the bobcat and then I just looked at these two innocent kids and realized that I nearly got them both killed because I was afraid of what that boy would become.”
“What he would become?” Jake shook his head. “What do you mean?”
His father exhaled slowly through his nose. “Donovan was born deformed, damaged, broken. Who knew what his life would become? I made a call I believed was right, but it was wrong. Terribly wrong. I’ve tried for years to fix it.”
“You tried,” Jake said bitterly. “And yet Donovan has always been treated like an outcast, to the point that Lyra thinks he would be better off among the humans.”
Christian didn’t argue. He just looked at a spot somewhere past Jake.
“I don’t want to be you,” Jake whispered.
That landed. His father stiffened.
“I don’t want to be the kind of Alpha who makes people like Lyra feel like they have to run away. I don’t want to lead a pack that decides who belongs based on what they look like or what they were born without.”
Christian watched him for a moment. “Then don’t. But don’t delude yourself into thinking it
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will be easy. If you want her as your mate, the elders will push back. She isn’t wrong. This pack will not want to accept her. They’ve been rejecting her and her brother for her whole life. You will have one hell of a fight in front of you. You have to decide if she’s worth it.”
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
