Page 61

They’d argued about it enough times.

“You’re a warrior for the king now, Mack. Let’s not fucking sugarcoat this, you could die. You want to live with that regret? And leave her alone with no hope of ever being in love?”

“Even more reason not to,” he insisted. “Loving someone means being selfless. Ella could still live her life after I’m gone. But if we mate and then I die...”

“So will she. I get it. But give her the choice. If it was the other way around and she refused you, how would you feel?”

Fuck that.

He’d tie her up in his bedroom and force her to accept him. He’d... Mack felt his entire body coil, ready to fight his foe.

Was the foe him or Ella?

That was the question.

Knowing there was a possibility she might reject him, even in theory, had his pulse slamming inside his body. Ella had put up with him saying no all her life.

“I’d lose my damn mind,” he admitted.

“Then stop listening to Dad,” Michael replied. “He was human. He never had the innate instinct that we do as born vampires.”

Shit, how wrong had he been to push her away all this time?

“Answer me this. Although I know the answer,” Michael added. “Do you love her?”

Mack walked to the window and placed his hand on the frame, glancing outside. “If you know, then I don’t need to answer.”

Reflecting on the confrontation with the humans last night, and how much danger they were all in, Mack knew things were going to get much worse. Especially if Project Shadow failed.

When he returned...

“I know you, Mack. If you lost Ella, you’d lose yourself. Mated or not. So don’t be foolish.”

His brother hung up, and Mack pocketed his phone.

His mind flashed back to the moment his seed burst from him, filling Ella as his sweaty body laid over hers. She’d lifted her hips, taking as much of him as she could while he rubbed his thumb over her clit.

Seeing her fall apart as she clawed at his skin had been intoxicating.

“Hold on, baby.” He’d growled, pulling Ella’s arms around his neck. She’d been so floppy after five—yup, fucking five!—orgasms.

While she’d let go, he’d fought his wolf, fought the bond and the violent need to sink his fangs into her neck. The step that could start the bonding process.

The one that would make them mates, which was irreversible.

Would she be mad if he had and then learned he was a wolf? Assuming she survived.

Or would she hate him for eternity and reject him until they eventually went mad from the betrayal and pain, leaving this plain?

There were stories.

Not all bonds were happy.

“Mack, I want you on the team,” Brayden said, snapping him out of his thoughts and surprising the fuck out of him.

“Yes, sir.” Mack nodded, sitting up straighter in his chair.

When he returned...then they would talk.