Page 80 of Crossed Fates

“Could you not coexist?” I wondered out loud, unsure of how the hierarchy worked here.

“Maybe. Maybe not. I wasn’t willing to find out. So I left instead.”

I pulled on a pair of borrowed jeans and a T-shirt, noting how his mom was pretty close to my size. Then I finger-combed my hair into a similar style to Alaric’s and met his gaze. “And now?” I asked.

“And now… I feel like… I feel like maybe Tyler would still be alive had I not run away twelve years ago.” The words were soft, his expression even softer. He winced upon saying them, as though he hadn’t expected to utter them out loud. “I feel like I made a mistake, Makayla.”

The confession hung between us, the air stilted with tension and sorrow.

I considered how to reply, a thousand statements filtering through my mind at once and not a single one sounding adequate enough. So I finally settled on the only truth I could give him.

“The thing about mistakes,” I started, swallowing. “Some mistakes might have consequences we can’t undo, but we can always find ways to say we’re sorry. Ways to fix those wrongs. Ways to make it up to those we hurt. Everyone makes mistakes in life, but it’s how we right those mistakes that truly defines us.”

That was a realization that had struck me when I was eighteen.

I’d missed the obvious.

People had been hurt because I hadn’t seen through a charade.

And so I spent my life righting that wrong.

Just as Alaric could spend his life fixing his mistakes, too.

“Denying the mantle because you respected your brother isn’t a fault, Alaric,” I added. “You saw him as worthy. And so you gave him a chance to lead. What happened to him might have happened with or without your decision. Hell, it could have been you who died. But the fact of the matter is, you’re still here. And I’m guessing Tyler wouldn’t trust anyone more than he’d trust you to avenge him.”

It was a wild statement, one that came from a part of me I didn’t fully understand, but I felt the truth of it as it left my lips.

Alaric is worthy.

He’s a good alpha.

And he will solve this.

He had determination written all over him. I’d witnessed it several times over the last few days. I’d also seen it when he’d taken down Vex. He didn’t beat around the bush or play alpha games. Hewasan alpha. A strong wolf with a strong will. “You’re going to find out who did this, and you’re going to make them pay.”

Because I recognized the same drive in him that I had in myself.

And one look into his eyes told me his soul understood mine just as mine understood his.

It should’ve frightened me, sent me running for the hills, but all I could do was reach for his hand to give it a squeeze. “I’m going to help you, too.”

He stared at me as I stared at him.

Then he leaned forward to press his lips to mine, not in a hungry caress but in an emotional one. Too brief and quick. Too soft and tender. Yet perfect and right and exactly what we both needed. “Thank you, Makayla,” he whispered, pulling away. “Thank you.”

I swallowed and nodded, then cleared my throat. We needed a distraction. Something other than standing in a bedroom with all this heat and emotions simmering between us. We had work to do, and none of it would get done if we continued down this path.

He seemed to agree because he cleared his throat. “We, uh, should go make some coffee.”

“Yes,” I agreed, nodding eagerly. “Coffee.”

Coffee. Coffee fixes everything.

I went straight to the kitchen, only then realizing that we had company. “Oh!” I gasped, spotting Hawk at the counter with a mug already in his hand.

“Morning,” he drawled, glancing at the clock. “Or should I say ‘afternoon’?”

“We were up late,” Alaric said, joining me in the kitchen.