Page 18 of Found (Mate Rejected #8)

18

MACK

I spend hours watching Aerin sleep.

One day. That’s what Franklin promised me when I made the decision to return to the Raleighs.

Not because this is the life I want. It isn’t. My life—and my future—is wrapped up in the beautiful woman currently sleeping in my arms.

But sometimes you have to do things that hurt. Things that mean those you love get to have a future they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Things that require sacrifice.

Her pert nose twitching is the first sign she’s awake, and as always, it requires brute force not to kiss every single one of the pretty freckles on her nose.

“I feel you watching me,” she says, her voice husky.

“Why did you always hate your freckles?” I ask her.

She flutters her eyes open and looks at me for several seconds without speaking. Before she’s said a word, I know she’s going to say something painful.

“It was another failing,” she says quietly.

I brush back the hair from her face. “You say that like you have a bucket full of them. You don’t.”

A faint smile drifts across her lips. “You never seem to notice my failings.”

I make my eyes wide. “Failings? What failings do you mean?”

That smile grows, and she takes my hand, squeezing it. “My freckles were something that I used to think were the reason Shane didn’t want me. I know it sounds stupid, but I thought if I was beautiful or blonde or had fewer freckles, then he would have been kinder.”

I don’t waste my time hating Shane for hurting Aerin. He’s dead. He can’t hurt her anymore.

“What do you think now?” I ask her.

“That my freckles must be growing because every time you kiss each one, there always seems to be more than the last time.”

I kiss the tip of her nose. “Is that right?”

She slides her arms around my waist. “It is. And the curious thing is whenever I look in the mirror, I’m almost positive that I have the same amount of freckles I’ve always had.”

I give her a look of mock outrage. “Are you accusing me of giving more kisses than freckles?”

She shakes before the laugh she must be trying to contain makes its way out of her. “This is the most absurd conversation I’ve ever had.”

I kiss her forehead and grin at her. “Probably. You hungry?”

I glance at the balcony window. We’ve left the curtains covered, and we’ve been in this bed long enough that it can’t still be morning.

I’m not hungry, but if Aerin is, I’ll grab her something to eat. Leaving her alone isn’t easy, and that isn’t just because I’ve missed her. I’ve hidden my anger and my fear that if I’m gone too long, the man who tried to creep into her room will come back. Those feelings are still there, no matter how hard I’ve worked to smother them.

She shakes her head. “Not really. And we have to stop eating in this bed. It’s covered in crumbs.”

I grin at her. “If Adela was here, she’d attack us with her handheld vacuum.”

Aerin laughs. “She’d do what?”

“She has a little vacuum for her couch. Have you ever eaten anything on her couch?”

Her expression is thoughtful, then she shakes her head. “When my grandparents came back with cake, we ate it at the dining table, then brought our tea back to the couch.”

I nod knowingly. “Because her kryptonite is crumbs on soft furnishings.”

She laughs so hard that she has tears in her eyes. “That is ridiculous. She does not.”

“She does. Ask her the next time you see her.”

The moment her smile fades, I wish I’d chosen my words with care.

“Are you sure everyone is okay?”

I nod. “Everyone is okay. I wouldn’t lie about that, not even to reassure you.”

I decide not to tell Aerin about Adela’s bloodthirsty words when we left Winter Lake. We’re in a room with the door closed and I haven’t heard any footsteps outside in the hallway, but no one needs to know that my reason for being here isn’t to be the Alpha they expect me to do.

It’s protecting my pack at all costs.

“When are you going to tell me about the big house for the entire pack?” she asks suddenly.

I sigh. “Who told you?”

She smiles. “No one told me. That night you fell asleep in the dining room, I couldn’t help but see what you were doing. It was either look through the notebook or wipe the drool from your open mouth.”

Laughing, I pull her deeper into my arms. “I don’t drool.”

We hold each other for several second and then Aerin sighs. “I know you probably didn’t want to tell me because you thought I wouldn’t be happy anywhere but in that house, but I don’t love the house half as much as I love you.”

I squeeze my eyes shut as my heart… hurts.

Because I know what has to come next.

“Mack?” she peels her face from my throat and as she glances up at me, I summon a smile from somewhere deep inside for her.

“I know. The farm looks like it would be perfect, and everyone is on board. Colton and Warren were taking the lead in getting more information from the realtor.”

“And you?” she asks quietly.

I might not be there.

“You look sad. What is it?”

I told myself that I’d spend the next few hours doing whatever I could to make her happy before I have to let her go. That I’d save all the bad news for much, much later.

But now I look at her and that doesn’t seem fair. Not to her.

“I’m staying here, and you are going home,” I tell her quietly.

She looks at me for several seconds, then she swallows, her eyes turning misty. “I thought it was something like that. They want you. I was just a way for them to get what they want.”

That she isn’t crying is a surprise. Her hormones have, as she has told me numerous times, been everywhere. And this is a very hard thing she has to face. But maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

Aerin is so much stronger than she thinks she is.

“This means you and Thumper are safe,” I tell her and lean in close to whisper right into her ear. “And I can find a way to rescue the omegas.”

I peel away to look at her. “And I can’t do those things while you’re here.”

Because they will use Aerin against me. One threat to hurt her and I would do whatever it took to keep her safe. I know that, and they must know that too.

She gives me a searching look. “So what happens now?”

“You agree?”

“I understand. It’s hard.” Her eyes turn misty again. “But I understand why this has to happen. That you would have tried to find another way if you could have.”

My mate is the strongest woman in the world. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She smiles at me. “So what happens now?”

“Now I want to make love with you again,” I tell her softly.

“And after?” her voice is as soft as mine.

“Say the hardest goodbye I’ve ever had to say in my life.” My eyes are burning.

Aerin grabs me then, kissing me hard.

I kiss her back just as desperately, wishing there was another way to rescue the omegas and keep her safe without staying, but knowing there isn’t.

I’d do anything to keep her safe.

Anything.

We come together with an urgency we lacked before. And even as we’re struggling to control our breathing from our climax, I’m moving inside her again, wanting to stretch out today so it lasts for an eternity. Then I might never have to let her go or say goodbye.

But controlling time is impossible.

It’s late in the evening when a knock sounds at our door and Franklin calls out. “It’s time.”

We share a shower together, more for an excuse to hold each other for a little longer than with any real desire to get clean.

Once we’ve dressed, I walk her down the hallway and out through the front door to where I parked my car.

Franklin is already waiting outside, talking to a couple of men as I walk Aerin past him. When I reach my car, I tuck my car keys into her hand.

Her eyes are full of tears as she stares up at me. “No.”

“This is what will keep you safe.”

“No, Mack. I changed my mind. I don’t agree with this.” She shakes her head again as tears slide down her cheeks. “I’m not leaving you here.”

“You are getting somewhere safe with Thumper. Not leaving me here.”

“But…”

I kiss her as if my heart isn’t breaking alongside hers.

“You said if there was anything I wanted to ask and it was mine,” she whispers, gripping the front of my shirt and holding on tight. “I want you to come with me.”

I wish I could. With every bone in my body, I wish it.

But Aerin and the baby would never be safe. Neither would my pack.

For them to have the future they deserve, I have to do this.

I kiss her forehead. “Time to go, love.”

She clings to me. “No.”

I study her. “Can we agree on one thing, love?”

After a moment, she nods. “Okay.”

“Thumper is what matters here. For thumper to be safe, you have to be safe, and that place isn’t here. You have to go, love. You know that as well as I do.”

Another tear tracks down her cheek. “I know.”

Franklin is standing somewhere behind me.

I wish I could growl at him to go away, but he won’t be the only Raleigh watching us, wanting to be sure I keep my word by helping Aerin into the car and staying when I want to leave with her.

I kiss her again. “Time to go, love.”

She moves slowly to the car, and this time, I know it’s not because she’s tired from her pregnancy. It’s because she doesn’t want to leave at all.

I help her into the car and slam the door shut.

She starts up the car, and I stand in the driveway, watching my beautiful mate drive away.

When I’ve lost sight of her, I let my smile fall away and I turn back to Franklin. “You have what you want. But if you go near Aerin ever again, I will burn this place down around you even if it means I burn too, and you will be the thing I set on fire first. Do you understand me?”

Franklin nods. “Yes, Alpha.”

I nearly choke when I hear the title.

This pack isn’t mine. It will never be mine. But if this keeps Aerin and my pack safe, then this is what I will be.

For now.

“Gather everyone. I’m calling a meeting to discuss the way things will be.”