He turned to face me and his strained expression caused my heart to sink.
"Clint? You're scaring me."
"There are things that you don't know," he muttered so quietly that he could have been talking to himself. "I can't do this. It isn't right."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't reclaim you."
"Talk to me," I pleaded. "I thought we worked this out last night."
"You did," Adalwolfa said with a snicker, looking pointedly at the bite on Clint's neck.
She cackled at the venomous look that my Alpha shot her but sat back in her chair when Rafe growled a warning.
"Enough!" Rafe snapped at her before turning to Clint. "She's right, Clint. The claim balanced. Can't you feel it?"
"It can't be." Clint stared at him. "I didn't bite him."
"You didn't have to," Adalwolfa said, her voice kinder. "You bit him the first time. The claim balanced whenTrevorbityou."
"It doesn't matter." I raised my voice to catch Clint's attention. "Tell me what you meant when you said there were things I don't know."
Adalwolfa's eyes narrowed.
Rafe blew out a harsh breath.
Colby and I exchanged a confused look.
Clint sat down next to me and reached for a small book that was sitting on the table, flipping to a spot a third of the way through the volume and handing it to me.
"I can't read German, Clint." I could feel my brow knitting together as I handed it back. "What does it say?"
"It says," he inhaled sharply, "it says that the spell Adalwolfa used could have cost us everything."
"I don't understand." I looked at the old woman. "What does he mean?"
She huffed and glared at Clint before answering. "If the claim hadn't balanced, then there is a possibility that everything that occurred after your claim bite could have happened differently." She snorted. "It isn't guaranteed. Everything might have still ended up exactly as it did. There is no way to know."
"Everything after the bite," I repeated the words slowly and turned to pin Clint in my gaze. "You mean..our kids?" He nodded, and I could hear his teeth grinding.
"Not just that." Clint's voice was strained. "The rescued Omegas, all of their pairings, even Rafe and Colby." He swallowed hard. "And Leia. Everything."
Colby choked on the air he was breathing, but remained silent.
I stared at Clint. "You knew?"
"No!" Rafe rushed to answer. "Not until after it was cast." He frowned apologetically. "We couldn't tell you, couldn't risk damaging the way the future was meant to happen." He shook his head slowly. "Then, after it was cast, we couldn't risk you making the decision to protect everyone else. The future had to be allowed to restore naturally."
"I see."
"Now do you understand?" Clint asked softly. "I was a party to manipulating you into the claim a second time. I'm not sure it gets more unforgivable than that."
It was a lot to take in, and I sat silently, considering everything that I'd been told. Would I have been willing to forfeit my kids, selfish enough to risk the futures of so many beings that I loved to escape my unhappiness? No. It didn't take me three seconds to know that I wouldn't have done that.
"Don't you think that it's up to me to decide what I can and can't forgive, Clint?"
My Alpha's head jerked up, his eyes meeting mine.
