“Have you considered taking a chosen mate, Magnus?” my mother inquired, making me roll my eyes. Your age is 22. Choose a fierce she-wolf to be Luna.
I kept chopping my meat without looking at my mother.
Skol roared. He loathed the idea of selected mates. We awaited our match.
“Leave him alone, Mira,” Gabriel, my mother's new partner, urged. “He already told you he wants to wait for his fated mate.”
Gabriel received a little nod from me.
I didn’t like him. I had nothing against the guy, yet something about him never felt right with me.
My mother married him two years ago. He wasn’t a Lycan like my mother and myself. I never understood why my mother wanted to marry him, but it wasn’t my concern, so I never got involved. I tolerated Gabriel because I had to.
Some of our pack members scowled at the fact that Gabriel was only a werewolf and not a Lycan like my mother and me. Technically, that was true. What my pack members didn’t know was that Gabriel possessed Lycan DNA, but his Lycan never woke up.
It didn’t matter to me anyhow. He wouldn’t be able to become the Alpha of my pack even if he were a Lycan.
Something was wrong with Gabriel today. He appeared distant and a bit scared.
“Gabriel, honey, stop worrying,” my mother muttered as she clasped his hand in hers. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Gabriel looked up at her and grimaced.
“How can you say that?” he replied with a trace of irritation in his voice.
What the heck happened?
“What the hell is going on?” I inquired before my mother could say anything else.
My mother and Gabriel gazed at each other. Gabriel groaned, ran his fingers through his hair, and glanced down at his plate.
My mother stared at me, and I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Gabriel’s fated mate is dying,” my mother whispered, causing my eyes to widen.
I looked at Gabriel. I was so f*cking bewildered.
“I thought that you didn’t find your fated mate,” I murmured, choking back a snarl.
I despised wolves that betrayed their fated mates. A partner was a gift from the Goddess. A partner was meant to be adored and treasured. What the heck was he doing here with my mother if his fated partner was out there somewhere?!
Gabriel glanced up at me and took a long breath.
“I did find her,” Gabriel murmured. “I just never marked her.”
My perplexity evolved into a surprise.
How the heck did he manage to hold back from marking his mate? I was so f*cking convinced that I would sink my fangs into her neck as soon as I met her.
“I was young and stupid,” Gabriel groaned, staring back down at the table. “I thought that my Lycan would surface. I waited for it to happen. I was the only one with Lycan genes in my pack, and I imagined that once I received my Lycan, I would be able to accomplish so much more than simply be a Beta of my pack.”
Gabriel stopped talking and groaned.
“I met my mate,” Gabriel said. “I promised her that I would mark her as soon as my Lycan appeared. Except it never occurred. I grew more and more frustrated. I became so f*cking mad. I spent my days intoxicated on whiskey laced with wolfsbane. I was continuously furious. She continued asking me to mark her, but I never did.”
Gabriel stopped talking and stared at my mother.
“So you don’t have a bond with her?” I questioned.
“No,” Gabriel answered as he stared at me. “I wouldn't be able to mark your mother if I did.”
Chosen mates and second mates might also mark each other. The mark wasn’t as potent as it was when it was bestowed by a fated mate, but it still possessed power.
“But you are bound to her, aren’t you, Gabriel?” my mother remarked with a tinge of bitterness in her voice.
I furrowed my eyebrows. What the hell was she talking about? How could he be linked to a lady he never marked?
“I am,” Gabriel murmured.
“How?” I questioned, narrowing my gaze at him.
“I have a child with her,” Gabriel replied, glancing at me.
My eyes expanded.
He had a child?
“I got her pregnant when I still thought that I would mark her,” Gabriel confessed. “I left her when my child was 2 years old.”
My eyes expanded even more. The little respect I had for Gabriel crashed to the ground.
“I feel so f*cking guilty,” Gabriel murmured as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I haven’t seen my daughter in 15 years, and now…”
He stopped talking and took a long breath.
“You have a daughter?” I questioned, attempting to disguise my mounting wrath.
“Yes,” Gabriel nodded. “She is 17 years old. Her name is Selene.”
“And her mother is dying?” I said, straining my fists.
“Yes,” Gabriel answered. “She has cancer. She contacted me a few days ago, imploring me to take Selene in when she dies.”
“You are going to do it,” I said.
It wasn’t a question. It was a freaking order. He would do it. He wouldn't just let a 17-year-old girl alone. He had done enough harm.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Magnus,” my mother remarked, making me snarl.
“Why the hell not?” I said, furious at my mother.
“Gabriel and I aren’t that young anymore,” my mother lamented. “I’m not sure that we could handle a 17-year-old girl.”
I grumbled and stared at Gabriel.
“You are not leaving your child alone again,” I replied. “What pack is she in?”
“My old pack, Riverstone,” Gabriel remarked.
I knew about that pack. I visited it five years ago with my father. It was just a few months before Dad died, and that trip was one of my best memories with him.
“Don’t make the same mistake again, Gabriel,” I murmured as I rose. “You already left your child once. Don’t do it again.”
I stepped away from the table.
I needed to get away from them.
I was so f*cking angry with Gabriel.
How could he do that to his fated mate and his child?!
I would adore my fated partner more than anything else in the world. She would be so f*cking adored and protected.
I would never do what Gabriel did.
Never.
