Page 87

That was top secret.

He also didn’t want to scare his family.

Mack wanted some answers. He needed to understand why his father would feel like this about bonding. Why he’d tell one of his sons not to bond? It made no sense now he was experiencing how powerful and beautiful the connection was.

Bonding wasn’t a choice, it was nature.

His father loved their mother. That was clear. He figured there was a reason and needed to know.

Mack pushed away from the wall. “Back in a minute.”

“Yup,” Kurt said, glancing at him briefly.

He walked out of the room they’d taken possession of and out into the hallway. Then rang his father.

“Son,” Matthew Mazzini said. “Everything okay?”

“I need to know, Dad.”

“What?”

“A few days ago, I got a taste of the bond with Ella. I’m furious with myself for listening to you all these years.” He admitted roughly. “She’s everything. She’s a part of me. So why?Tell me how you could spend a second of your life regretting what you have with Mom.”

“I don’t regret it. I love your mom,” he replied.

He wasn’t telling him something.

“Dad.” Mack said firmly and heard his father sigh.

“You don’t need to know the details. I love your mother. She is my mate. We would never have had you and Michael if it wasn’t for your mom.”

“And.”

More silence and sighing.

“I was a human, Mack. You’ll never understand what that means, nor what it is to give up.”

Mack leaned a hand on the wall and glanced down at the carpet.

“Try me. I’m listening. Your fucking advice has kept me from Ella all these years. What if...what if something happens?”

He heard the pain in his voice. Being this far from home and Ella was fucking with his head.

“Then leave the army. This isn’t your fight. The king has enough warriors. Come home. Bring Ella. We will find a place to live where it’s more secluded and no one will suspect us.”

God, he was such a coward.

There was no way Mack was standing down and not doing his part for the race. As a powerful vampire, he probably would’ve volunteered if he hadn’t become a hybrid and joined the Moretti army before this.

His claws tickled the ends of his fingers, aggravated with the male he’d looked up as a child.

Then something clicked. Like a lightbulb going off, he saw the truth of his father’s life. As he’d hinted at before.

“You didn’t want to become a vampire.”

Silence.

As the truth sunk into his chest, Mack straightened and ran a hand over his short dark hair, shame filling him.