SWNOVELS Chapter 87
Chapter 87: Theo
I told Ayla what Dad said about her and her father. I told her about the bedtime story and what it meant. I told her that her dad believed she was the one that the moon goddess had promised. I hesitated to tell her about his death. I didn’t want to bring that pain back up for her again. But something told me she needed to know, and keeping it from her wouldn’t protect her.
Her legs seemed to give way beneath her. I caught her, sinking to the floor as I held her tightly. She clung to my shirt as so*s wracked through her b*dy.
“But why?” she cried, struggling to breathe against the waves of tears.
“Shh,” I soothed, rocking her in my arms. “He found out the Waar P*k were getting close. He drew their attention away from the rest of you. He couldn’t see any other way of keeping them from discovering you. All of you.”
“But why did he have to die?” she sobbed. “Why didn’t he run? Why didn’t your dad stop him?”
I lifted her from my chest, holding her face to look at me. “He didn’t know. Ayla, your father sacrificed himself to save you and Kylee. If there was another way, he would have taken it. But all that mattered to him was that you two were safe, okay? He loved you so much.”
I k*ssed her forehead and pulled her back against my chest, letting her cry. I wasn’t going to let go. She needed me. I thought about everything I had learned in the past twenty-four hours. Who Ayla was. Everything that meant. That I wasn’t her only fated mate. That Kingston knew who she was all along and never told her.
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I could live with losing her when I believed she was with someone who genuinely cared for her and would protect her. But I no longer trusted that Kingston was that person. He was using her. Whatever happened, I had to make sure she didn’t go back to him.
Her so*s slowly turned into sniffles and her breathing evened out.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, wiping at the wet spot she had made on my shirt.
I chuckled, holding her tighter. “Don’t be. I’m tempted never to wash this shirt again.”
“Gross,” she said with a soft laugh.
My fingers drifted through her hair as we sat there on the floor. Her tears had subsided, but she didn’t move to get up. And I sure as hell wasn’t about to.
“Thank you,” she said. “For telling me.”
“You deserved to know,” I replied.
Ayla pushed up suddenly. She had a distant look in her eyes, not really seeing anything.
“Ayla…”
‘Mate spoke,’ Kieran told me.
My heart ski**ed a beat. I tipped Ayla’s face up to look at me.
“Is it Dasha? She spoke to you?”
She nodded. “She asked who did it.”
“Who did what?” I asked.
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“Who killed our family,” she clarified. “Did… did your dad ever find them?”
My heart sank a little. “No,” I said. “He tried. He hoped your dad would have left something behind that would lead us to them, but he never found anything.”
“Will you help me find them?” she asked. “I just want to try. I know it’s a long shot, but I need to try.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “Whatever you need.’
“How am I going to tell Mina?” she said, her brow furrowing
“I’ll be there if you want me to be,” I insisted. “Briggs will too. No question.”
Ayla leaned against my chest again, drawing circles on my hand resting on her knee. Taking in her scent. Feeling her relax against me. Knowing she felt safe and comfortable. Every inch of my b*dy wanted to respond to my mate. It was the sweetest torture I could ever imagine.
“Ayla,” I whispered against her hair, “if you want me to go, you’re going to have to tell me. I can’t do it on my own anymore.”
She took a deep breath. “I probably should. I still don’t know how I feel about relationships. I’m probably not ready for one at all.”
“Well, I can’t exactly claim to be an expert in relationships either,” I chided. “Other than casual dates as a teenager, Kylee was my only relationship.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I chuckled at her surprise. “It’s important for Alphas to be with their fated mates. I didn’t want to commit to anyone or make any
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promises I couldn’t keep when I found my mate. Most of the girls I hung out with understood that. They never asked for more.”
“Except for Kylee, I’m guessing,” Ayla said. “What made her different?”
I winced at her question. This wasn’t the direction I meant the conversation to go. I didn’t want to talk about my time with Kylee.
“Theo, it’s okay to say something nice about my sister,” Ayla teased. “She’s not an entirely terrible person.”
”
“I guess it’s hard to remember why things were different with her after everything,” I replied, instinctively tightening my hold on Ayla. “When I first met her, I didn’t think she would be any different than the others. But then something changed. The attraction became stronger. Then we got my dad’s diagnosis and she was there for me. Or at least, I thought she was at the time. Honestly, I think I was scared I wouldn’t find my mate. Watching my parents, seeing how my mother supported and cared for my father through everything… I wanted that so badly. You know they were together at my father’s Alpha ceremony.”
Ayla nodded against my chest.
“The picture of them is still in my office,” I continued. “It was the same with my grandparents and great-grandparents. They all found their fated mates before they were twenty. I started to believe I wouldn’t find mine or didn’t have one in the first place. I didn’t know what that would mean for the pack. What that said about me.”
Ayla looked up at me. “Fated mates are never guaranteed.”
I reached up and cupped her cheek. “I should have waited. I should have been stronger.”
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She laid her head back on my shoulder, her hand going around my waist.
–
“Wanting companionship and support – wanting to be loved ― is not weakness, Theo. The world is too unpredictable. There’s wisdom in acknowledging that you need something to thrive and doing what you can to fulfill that need. You were deceived.”
“Making me the fool for trusting her.
Ayla sat up and looked me in the eye. “You are never in the wrong for giving someone the benefit of the doubt. They broke that confidence. More often than not, the consequences of trusting the wrong person are far less than not trusting the right one. When trust is broken, you can’t withhold it from everyone. You just have to learn how to better measure the risks.”
“Like trusting a loanshark to keep his end of a bargain?” I joked, getting a smile from Ayla.
“I weighed the risks,” she replied. “And I got lucky.”
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