Killing me.
He waited until I nodded. “I’m a very old man, and I’ve found not much focuses a man more than three things.”
“Revenge,” I mumbled, already knowing that one.
“Right you are.”
“And?” I asked, my brain thinking of too much all at once to focus.
“Love.” He chuckled at the dry look I gave him. That sounded like romance movie bullshit. “And autonomy. You have never felt like your choices were yours, cub. Everything was manipulation and debt and came with a price. You went intolaw because of owing them and now your lion wasn’t even yours among wolves.
“This will give you afutureof your own making. It doesn’t have to be here being an EMT. The sky is the limit. This could change the charges brought against you and—you will be the decider of your fate and cut the cord with them for real. With that past. Those three things are what you will need to focus on to make it through this, Creed.”
I opened my mouth to tell him one wasn’t reasonable… But I slowly closed it and shot a quick glance at Aurora. “It’s too soon. I’ve never even been in love. I wouldn’t know—”
“You both might not be in love fully yet, but I’ve been seeing auras and the string of fate and mates for a thousand years. It’s all there, and thebondyou have already is stronger than some who have been mated for decades.”
“He’s right,” another woman who hadn’t talked yet said. “Honestly, I’m a bit jealous. You have such a good foundation for a mating that—I’m jealous. The start with my mate was all passion and fireworks, but you have such a deep level of understanding and respect that…” She let out a slow breath and I smelled the jealousy.
Wow.
“So mate each other to save our asses,” I whispered, black spots forming in my vision. “Yeah, no, I saw that fucking coming.”
“I’m not even offended,” Aurora said quietly. “We barely know each other.”
“But that’s not how you really feel,” Monroe argued gently.
“No, I feel like I’ve known him—I’ve never felt like someone sees me the way Creed does,” Aurora admitted. “But I was married for so many years and that was a disaster of abuse and pain. I barely know Creed and you’re talking an unbreakable bond of mating.”
“Not unbreakable,” Monroe corrected. “Difficult to break, but I’ve broken many a mating. You couldn’t until Creed stabilized for sure.” He sighed when we didn’t say anything. “What does your heart say at the idea of him mating someoneelse?Or dying, Aurora?”
“Hey, none of this is on her,” I snapped. “Don’t make this her problem!”
The smirk he shot me like I’d just proved his point about my feelings for her irked me. He wasn’t wrong… But it still fucking irked me.
11
Aurora
“What do you want to do, Aurora?” my psychiatrist asked me. “Ignore the noise and all of the opinions being thrown at you and just answer what you want.” She waved her hand in front of her before I could even answer. “Scratch that. It wasn’t fair for me to ask that. I apologize. That put it all on you, and that puts you on the defensive like this is your responsibility.”
I relaxed a bit hearing that. “Thank you.”
She gave me a kind smile. “None of this is on you. This is Creed’s problem. It’s his to find a solution to. I know others are finding female lion shifters and working on other options.” She nodded when I bristled. “Yes, it’s complicated, and to hear that is upsetting too, but you need to so the pressure is off you.”
“Yes, this is far from easy.”
She was quiet a moment. “It’s also complicated for me to address. I can’t ask you what the result is you want. You want Creed to live and be okay. Of course you do. You’re a good person.” She sighed when I snorted. “Aurora, good people make horrible decisions and choices. What you did was horrible,butyou protected both Ellie and her mother as best as you could.”
“I know, I know,” I whispered, not wanting to bring up the past when the focus needed to be about Creed. I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Yes, I want him to live and thrive.I don’t want him to do it with another woman.” I blinked back tears. “I want to be whole and see some world where we could be happy together and cute like Ellie and Ha-joon. It’s not…”
“You’re not jealous of her in a bad way, Aurora,” she said gently. “It’s not toxic.I’veseen them be attentive and loving towards each other and find myself jealous and I am mated. I’ve spoken to my mate about it. And we’ve agreed we’ve drifted. We’re going to see a counselor.” She nodded when I blinked at her. “Relationships take work, not just getting to them.”
“I’m willing to put in the work if he is,” I heard myself say, shocked but also feeling like a weight was taken off of me that I’d finally said it.
“Good, that’s huge progress for you that you’re saying whatyou want,” she praised. “Now, unfortunately, there’s a clock on this because he gets worse as the days go by, and the stress of knowing what’s going on makes things worse as well. So as much as I hate pushing people down paths, this time I’m going to have to a bit, and then we can go back and reaffirm the path.”
“That sounds good, even having a plan,” I said. “I just want…”
