Fated to the Warrior Wolf (The Hunted Omegas #3)

53. Gael

FIFTY-THREE

Gael

I drove us back to the castle in silence. Sergei had gotten the update about the IGC train wreck from someone while I was inside, so he filled the women in. I let the explanations flow over me, ignoring the gasps of surprise and the murmurs of concern as Sergei laid out the request for the breaking of the packs, the way the IGC denied our petition and booted us all from the appointment as if we were naughty children. The only saving grace was that they didn’t grant the breaking either—claiming it was a matter for pack law.

Of course, that they chose to stay out of. They’d murder my daughter but wouldn’t help squash a coup.

Bastards .

But honestly, it was hard to care if the whole damn shifter world fell down around the pack’s ears when my personal world had already burned to ash. Leigh was planning to die and leave me alone with our daughter. She’d accepted that as the only possibility.

And the worst part was, I couldn’t see any other way forward. I knew what I promised her, and I had every intention of keeping that promise, but I had no idea how. I wanted to rage at the moon, scream myself hoarse protesting it. Force it to be different, fight it into submission. But for the first time in my life? I was completely helpless. I couldn’t change the laws. Fuck, I couldn’t even get my own damn family to let me out of my political engagement. So, how was I supposed to change fate ?

Why would she believe I could change our daughter’s future?

It was the lowest I’d ever been, and my motions were robotic as I parked the SUV haphazardly in front of the castle and got out to open the door for Leigh. Sergei clocked my parking job with a raised eyebrow, but he wisely didn’t say a word. A wolf’s hearing was good enough to have picked up at least some of our conversation inside, but more than that, he could have scented the grief on me when I walked out, alone and defeated.

That’s the rest of your life, you sad motherfucker. Alone and grief-stricken. Too piss-poor weak to save your own mate .

How was I supposed to survive watching her go? Just watching her walk back into the castle ahead of me was enough to put my wolf on edge, even though we were trailing in slowly behind her. There wouldn’t be anything left of me worth having when she was gone.

But then I thought of that little kick I felt, of the tiny fighter growing inside her, and I let my eyes close, leaning my forearm against the nearest wall inside the entryway to keep myself upright. It was an uncharacteristic breakdown, but I was alone; Cristian took one look at me and quietly shut himself back into his study, and Sergei followed the girls in to report to Kane that the outing was successful.

It was going to kill me, but I had to be strong for Petal. I wasn’t sure I was man enough. When it came right down to it, I didn’t know if I could stay behind with Leigh gone.

It sounded insane, but within a few short months, Leigh had become the center of my universe. How could I keep on rotating as if nothing changed when the sun winked out in the middle of my sky?

There has to be another way .

I hung on to that thought, clutched it like a lifeline.

But was Leigh right? Was this what the Goddess intended all along? Did we have no marks, no further mate signs because this was always meant to be temporary ?

Fuck that. Fuck the Goddess’s plans. Fuck it all that gave me the gift of a mate and a child, and then ripped them away from me before we even got the chance to live.

Fuck it all to hell.

I punched the wall hard enough that the plaster cracked and my knuckles throbbed, not even bothering to lean back away from the plaster dust that rained down across my head. I didn’t give a shit.

With my eyes still closed, I sent off a furious prayer to the Goddess.

Your plan is shit, and I refuse to play this game. I won’t lose her, and fuck you if you try to take her from me. I’m going to do my damnedest to keep her, and if you don’t like it, you can float your ethereal goddess ass down here and rip her out of my cold, dead hands. Do you hear me? She’s mine, and I’m keeping her. Our child doesn’t deserve to grow up without a mother.

I wasn’t really sure she was up there listening, but if she was? Good. She should know what I thought of her shitty plans.

I shoved off the wall and stalked to Kane’s office to catch the end of the debrief, determination and fury burning like a lantern in my chest.