Page 5 of Sealed With A Kiss (GSC In Love #5)
Milo Mikolov
“ W hat was that about?” I stared after the handsome alpha who scented as my mate.
I was torn between my desire to chase after the deliciously handsome man fate had deemed mine and a knowledge that I needed to give him space.
I didn’t know the man; besides the surface facts, he had hair the color of dark chocolate, eyes just as deep brown, and a scent that made me want to gorge myself on brownies.
I heard in the whispers of my soul guides that the man who just fled needed space and time to himself for whatever was happening inside his mind and heart.
That didn’t stop my worry for him from rising. “Do you think he’s okay?”
“I hope so.” Rayne’s brow furrowed and he handed me the small child that my mate had left behind in his haste to leave. “Let me call my husband, Zander. He is Nikolai’s brother and can hopefully check on him and find out when he plans to return. He has to since he forgot his daughter.”
“Don’t worry, sweet baby.” I took the girl from Rayne so he could use his phone. “We will get your daddy back here.”
“Paaaa.” Willow reached out, grasping my finger and squeezing as she flashed a gummy grin. “Paapaapaapaa.”
“I know, sweetie. We will get your papa back soon.”
“That’s strange.” Rayne disconnected his call and shoved his phone back into his pocket. “Willow usually calls Nikolai ‘Dada’ not ‘Pa.’”
“Maybe she’s trying a new word in her growing vocabulary? Something tells me this little girl is going to grow up smart and strong.” I could sense the energy bubbling just under her skin. For someone so young, she held a great deal of power.
“She will. We sometimes worry that she has a bit too much magic for her age.”
As if to punctuate Rayne’s claims, a bottle that Nikolai had left sitting on the desk rose from the dark wood and levitated to the bright-eyed child. Willow giggled as she grabbed her bottle out of the air.
“I guess she was hungry.” Amazed by the little girl, I just stood there and held her as she drank. “That is incredible.”
“It truly is. But the coven has been worried that the power she holds is too much for someone so young. We just aren’t sure if a binding is needed or if we can find another way.
” Rayne glanced at Willow and winked. “And don’t fret, little one.
Uncle Zander said he had already found your daddy and will bring him back here in a short while.
For now, you can hang out with Uncle Rayne and our friend Milo. ”
Willow popped the bottle out of her mouth and shook her head. “Papa.”
“Your daddy will be here soon.” I kissed her gently on the forehead. I usually didn’t do that to children I didn’t know, but I could feel a bond between us and knew it would be okay for me to show such affection. “I have you until then.”
Willow lay her head on my chest and closed her deep-blue eyes.
“Let’s sit down over here while we wait. We can continue our conversation about the training program.” Rayne gestured to the teal couch that sat in the corner of his office.
“Can you tell me anything about Nikolai?” I knew I should focus on the job I was here to do, but knowing he was my mate, I wanted to know more about him and what may have caused his reaction to meeting me.
Rayne stared at me for a moment. “He’s your mate, isn’t he? I can’t think of any other reason he would run than if he was confronted by his fated mate.”
“He is.” I nodded and couldn’t control the laughter that bubbled out of me. “I never expected that sort of reaction from my mate when I finally found him.”
Rayne sat down and patted the cushion beside him. “Come sit and I will tell you a bit about my brother-in-law. I won’t tell you everything. That is his story to share. I can tell you enough to make you understand why he may have acted the way he has.”
With Willow tucked firmly in my arms, I joined Rayne on the couch.
“Don’t tell me all his secrets. But perhaps a bit of insight into why he would run from me.
I know he scented me. I saw the widening of his eyes and the flare of his nostrils.
Before he left, I swore I saw a fire light in those dark eyes of his.
I felt the pull of his beast reach for my seal.
Then he fled and I didn’t know if I should follow or wait for him to come back to me. ”
“I think you made the right choice by staying. Look at Willow already connecting to you.” Rayne smiled. “She is happily sleeping on you as if you have known her forever, not mere minutes.”
“It’s the bond. I already feel it snapping together between her and me. Since her father is my mate, she is mine as well.” A thought occurred to me and my head popped up, no longer staring at the slumbering pixie but at her uncle. “Will her other parent have issues with that?”
“That’s the thing that I was going to tell you.” Rayne’s mouth pulled down as a single tear escaped his left eye. “We lost her mother ten months ago, right after Willow’s birth.”
“That explains the fleeing alpha.” I closed my eyes, overcome with the despair I felt on behalf of my mate and this napping child. “I understand now.”
“This will sound strange.” Rayne’s words had my eyes reopening to focus on him.
“My oldest child, Xavier, has the gift of sight and warned Nikolai you would be coming. So, the seeds of your arrival were already planted in his brain. I think he just needed to get away from the reality of it for a moment. I hope it doesn’t ruin his chances of getting to know you. ”
“I could never walk away just because he needed time.” I bent a bit and kissed Willows’s forehead. I finally found the people who fulfilled me; how could I let that go? “I’m here and I won’t be giving up, even if it takes him years.”