“When you wouldn’t,” he corrected. “There’s a difference.”
Rowan had climbed into my lap at some point, studying me with intense focus. Thea was humming softly to her unconscious mother, a lullaby I didn’t recognize. My family. Broken and complicated and perfect.
“When she wakes, she’ll decide what happens next,” Noah said, his tone making it clear this wasn’t a suggestion. “Whether she stays, whether she lets you near the children, whether she forgives you. And you’ll respect whatever she chooses.”
“I understand,” I said immediately. “But she needs monitoring for a few days first. The bond is new, her body’s adjusting. She can’t just leave until we know she’s stable.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t use that as an excuse to-”
“I’m not,” I cut him off. “It’s medical fact. A new mate bond, especially after trauma, needs time to settle. A few days minimum. After that...” I swallowed hard. “After that, whatever she wants.”
“No.” Noah’s voice went hard. “Not ‘whatever she wants’ as some grand gesture. You’ll actually do it this time. If she says she never wants to see you again, you disappear. If she says you can only see the kids supervised, you accept it. If she wants to return to Pine Valley and pretend this never happened, you let her go.”
Each scenario he painted was worse than the last. But I nodded anyway. “Her choice. Always should have been.”
“Good.” Noah’s expression softened marginally. “I’ll go make some food for the kids. They need to eat.”
“Aunt Vivi makes better sandwiches,” Thea informed him seriously. “But yours should be okay too.”
Noah actually smiled at that. “High praise. What kind does Aunt Vivi make?”
As they discussed sandwich preferences, I held my family close and tried not to think about how temporary this might be. Lina would wake up. She’d remember what I’d done, how I’d hurt her. She’d have every right to take our children and never look back.
But for now, in this moment, I had everything I’d ever wanted in my arms. My mate, breathing steadily against my chest. My daughter, singing soft songs. My son, whose weight in my lap felt like absolution I didn’t deserve.
“Daddy?” Rowan said quietly, the word stealing my breath. “Is that what you are?”
I couldn’t speak around the lump in my throat. How did he know? How did this tiny, perfect person know?
“You smell like us,” he explained, as if reading my mind. “Like family. Like how Mama smells like us. That makes you Daddy, right?”
“I...” I swallowed hard. “We can ask your mama once she wakes up, okay?”
He nodded solemnly, accepting this condition. “Okay. Daddy who makes Mama better.”
Daddy who makes Mama better. If only it were that simple. If only I could heal years of hurt with one bite. If only I deserved the trust shining in those gray eyes.
But I’d take it. Whatever scraps of forgiveness Lina might throw my way, whatever moments with my children she’d allow, I’d take it all and be grateful.
Because the alternative - going back to that hollow existence without them - wasn’t an option anymore.
I’d tasted what I’d thrown away, and I’d spend the rest of my life trying to earn it back.
“I know,” I whispered, pulling Lina closer and breathing in her scent. “Her choice. Always should have been.”
21
— • —
Lina
I woke to an unfamiliar ceiling, my body aching in ways that suggested I’d been hit by a truck, then reversed over for good measure. The burning poison that had been killing me was gone, replaced by a weird tingling sensation under my skin that felt wrong but not painful.
Memory crashed back in waves. Noah kidnapping me. Ravenshollow. Knox.
My hand went to my shoulder automatically, searching for the wound from the woods but finding nothing. My neck, however, was tender. I explored carefully and froze. There was a new wound there, raised marks in a perfect dental pattern. Teeth marks. The bastard had bitten me.
I tried to sit up too fast, making the room do an unpleasant spin cycle. Strong hands caught my shoulders, steadying me, and Ifound myself staring into gray eyes I’d spent years trying to forget.
