Vasile let out a deep breath as he began to tell his true mate about his parents. He was embarrassed and yet he knew if he told her she would not judge him. His Alina was a kind, gentle soul, and if anyone could understand what he was going through, it would be her. She listened to him without interrupting, seeming to understand that he needed to get it all out. Like a dam breaking open the story rushed from him with all the gory details. And even though it was brutal to relive, when he finally finished, he felt as if a thousand pounds that he did not even realize he had been carrying had been lifted off of his chest. His heart was still pounding in his chest from the memories of finding his father a bloody mess by his own hand. If he had ever wanted to wipe his memory clear of anything more than those images, he could not remember it. He finally turned to look at her and immediately gathered her into his arms.
She was weeping silently, his little Luna, broken for him. She was not bothering to block her emotions from him and he felt all of them: anger at his parents for putting him in such a position, admiration for his mother at having loved a man that had not been her true mate for so long, and pain for his father at having slowly gone mad. Regardless of the love his mate had for him, it was not enough.
“Do not waste your precious tears on me, beloved,” he whispered to her. “It is a sad story, but it was their choice and only they are responsible.”
“That may be,” she said around quiet sobs. “But they…left you…to deal with the consequences.” Her words were interrupted by the rapid breaths caused by her tears.
When she began to shiver, he pulled her tighter against him as though his arms would be enough to hold her together. He hated that telling her had caused such hurt in her, but then he knew that was the way of true mates. They felt deeply for one another, and when one hurt, they both hurt. When one rejoiced, they both rejoiced. He knew that even though there would be times when the truth would be hard on her, he would not keep things from her. She was his mate, his equal, his beloved, and she alone deserved to know everything―even his darkest, most painful secrets.
“No one must know, Vasile,” she said suddenly, her voice urgent as she pulled back so she could look up at him, “not even my parents. If the wrong wolves in the pack had that information. . . .” Her words died away as her eyes widened at the understanding of how bad that would be.
“I know, Alina. Only one other knows the truth and he will not speak of it.”
“You are sure?”
He nodded. “Anghel was one of my father’s best friends, regardless of the fact that they were Alphas of separate packs. They respected one another and that respect will continue on past the grave.” He stood then, still holding her in his arms, and began walking back towards her home. It was after dark and past time he got her home. “It is late and you need rest. I have surely taxed you with my sordid family secrets.”
She shook her head against him. “None of us is perfect, Vasile. We all have dark things tucked away that we would rather never see the light of day.”
His wolf perked up at her admission. “And pray tell, Mina, what dark things do you have tucked away?” He dropped his voice suggestively hoping she would hear the teasing in it and the desire to know her even more.
She laughed. “I think I will wait until I bear your marks and your bite before I go digging into my gritty details.”
“There is nothing you could ever tell me that would keep me from you.” He gently set her down at the door of her home and tilted her chin to look up at him. “You are stuck with me Luna mine, forever.”
She smiled and it nearly stopped his heart to know that it was for him and him alone. “In a couple of centuries when you are growling at me in irritation, I will remind you of your words this night, Alpha.” Then to his surprise and utter pleasure she reached up on her toes and pressed a quick kiss to his chin before quickly ducking into the cottage closing the door quietly behind her.
He chuckled at her boldness as he wandered over to his usual place to sleep for the night. He stripped off his clothes, folding them for in the morning, and then phased into his wolf form. He settled down against the side of the cottage and waited.
“Goodnight, Vasile,” her voice brushed against his mind.
His wolf rumbled with satisfaction. “Goodnight, Mina.”
Alina’s eyes fluttered open as she felt something brushing across her lips. She blinked several times to see Vasile’s handsome face come into focus. She could not stop the smile that spread across her face.
“It is time for me to go.”
And just like that the smile from the previous night was gone. His words were like a jagged piece of glass cutting across her chest until her heart was exposed to the harsh elements, no longer protected in the safety of his care. She nodded as she sat up and brushed her hair from her face. Alina knew she should care that he was seeing her in such a state, but she was filled with too much sorrow to care.
He stood to give her room and she followed as she briskly braided her hair down her back and straightened her clothes. She had been so tired the night before that she had not even bothered to change into her sleep clothes.
“Can I walk you out?” she asked him putting on the bravest smile she could muster.
“I would like that,” he answered with his own pain lacing his words.
They walked hand in hand in silence to the edge of the forest where his two warriors had departed only a few days ago, but to Alina it felt like months. For three days she had lived in a bubble surrounded by Vasile. She had foolishly thought that it would not come to an end, yet here she stood about to tell him goodbye. For how long she had no clue. She was afraid to turn and look at him, terrified for him to see the desperation she felt, embarrassed by her neediness.
“I need you even more,” he told her softly as he turned her to face him despite her desire to keep him from seeing her. “You have no need to feel embarrassed, Mina. You can look inside of me and see just how frantic I am to keep you with me. I am fearful that if you see just how strongly my wolf and I feel for you, you will run.”
As she looked up at him she was surprised to see the sheen of wetness in his eyes. The tears never fell, but the anguish of what he felt was clearly there. She needed to be strong for them both because he was not exaggerating. She let go of her own pain long enough to look into her mate and sucked in a breath as she realized just how closely he was to taking her with him, consequences be damned.
“We can do this,” she said with a small smile as she lifted her hand to his cheek allowing their skin to touch. He turned his face into her palm taking a deep breath and then pressing a soft kiss to it. “I am not going anywhere. I will be right here waiting for you in two years. You do what you need to in order to help our pack heal, and when it is time, we will finish this.”
The wicked smile that stretched across his delicious mouth had her heartbeat racing. “We will indeed finish this, beloved, and it will be sooner rather than later.”
She was sure that he would kiss her, hoped beyond reason that he would pull her close to him and press his warm lips to hers, but he did not. Instead he pressed them to her forehead and then held her tight against him for several minutes. He did not say anything, not out loud, but he flooded her with his love through their bond causing her gut to clench against the assault. When he finally pulled away, he looked into her eyes one last time and then turned taking off at a dead sprint phasing as he went. She had felt the determination it had taken for him to turn from her and how deeply it cut him to let her go, and she wondered if either of them would heal from the pain that being separated for so long would surely cause. She could feel him clamping down on the bond, attempting to keep her from enduring his distress. For now she would let him but not for long. He was hers, and she would not let him endure anymore pain alone. “Never again my love,” she told the tiny speck that her mate had become against the vast forest stretched out before her. “Never again will you suffer alone.”
Vasile slowed to a trot once he was within a mile of his home. He needed to get control of his emotions before anyone saw him. Alphas did not have the luxury of being out of control. It was seen as weak, and weakness was something he could not afford. His gut told him something was coming, and he did not think it was a good something. When the pack castle came into view, for the first time in his life, it was not a welcome sight not because he did not love it but because his mate was not there waiting for him. Instead she was a hundred miles in the opposite direction feeling the same ache that was growing in him with every mile as he moved further and further away. He stopped abruptly and threw his head back as a deep mournful howl rushed out of him. To say that his wolf was not happy was like saying the ocean was just a pond. He was barely holding him back and truly did not know how long he would be able to keep the beast from going after their mate. In all truthfulness it was a tossup between who would lose control first―the man or the wolf.