Page 111 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

“Except, she wasn’t. She was never meant to be my mate.

“I chose her anyway. I chose her and you. Not because of duty or because it was the right thing to do. No, I chose her as my mate because our love was strong and true, and there wasn’t anything else I wanted more.

I think, deep down, I didn’t want you to face the same heartbreak I did at learning the girl you loved more than anything wasn’t meant for you.

“I’m not saying I would trade any of my life with your mother for a life with a fated mate.

On the contrary, I truly can’t imagine anyone other than your mother at my side.

It wasn’t the disappointment of never experiencing the mate bond with another that plagued me.

It was the despair of thinking she would decide I wasn’t worth it since I wasn’t her mate.

It was the heartbreak of realizing what we built up for ourselves wasn’t true.

“But she chose me back. We decided the Goddess must have made a mistake because our feelings for each other, our bond as friends and as lovers, was too strong to be anything less than the bond of two souls bound together by fate.

“I regret none of my life with your mother.

How can I when it gave me you and Sebastian and Madeleine?

Your mother is my mate. Our bond may not be fated, but our bond is still true.

She is the love of my life. She is my other, better half.

She carries a piece of my soul, kept safe in her heart, and she always will.

“I know this letter is beating around the bush. I know, seeing it all laid out here on these pages, it may seem like excuses. Fuck, it probably is all excuses. But I’m not excusing any of what I’ve done or anything I didn’t do.

I’m confessing to it all. I own all of the mistakes set forth in this letter, and I am deeply sorry for each and every one of them.

And I am so very proud of you and the male, the alpha, and the father you have become.

“I love you, Wesley. I love you. I love your brother and sister. I love Haven and Sarina, and I love my beautiful grandson. I am so happy I got to meet Dylan and hold him in my arms the way I once held you before you decided you were too big and too tough for that. You and Haven will both be wonderful parents, just as you’ve both been wonderful leaders for this pack.

Dylan will be surrounded by so much love and guidance from not only you two, but the powerful friends you surround yourselves with.

“Make sure he knows his Grandpa Harrison loves him too, okay?

“Love, Dad.”

By the end of the letter, we’re all openly weeping. Before, it was varying degrees of tears and sniffles, but now, it’s a dissonant symphony of sobs.

It’s raw, and it’s beautiful, and it’s…also kind of hilarious.

I don’t know who starts it, but one moment we’re all bawling, and the next everyone is laughing. Even Maddie. We’re still crying. There are still tears flooding our faces and sobs interspersed between the laughter, but our sorrow mixes with our joy.

Wesley pockets his letter and takes Dylan from Haven before wrapping his arm around her.

“You may have noticed we didn’t give Dylan a middle name when he was born,” Haven says as our laughter fades. “We couldn’t agree on one. We scoured books and websites, trying to find the perfect middle name for him, but…” She shrugs. “Nothing felt right.”

“After everything, after the battle… Haven came to me with a suggestion. An absolutely perfect suggestion.” They smile at each other, and then Wesley props Dylan up a little higher so we can all see his fiery red curls and his tiny button nose.

Wesley stares at him with pure love and pride.

“So, in honor and in memory of our father and former alpha, Ha rrison Samuel Stone, we’d like to officially reintroduce everyone to our son, the future alpha of Crescent Lake, Dylan Samuel Kenway-Stone. ”

As he finishes speaking, he glances at Mom. She covers her mouth with her hand and nods, sobbing her heart out once more. Haven retrieves Dylan from Wesley as he strolls to me. Mom wraps both of them in a hug before cooing over Dylan.

“Did you know?” Wesley asks me. “That they weren’t fated mates?”

“Yes,” I say.

“He told you?”

“I figured it out.”

“Did anyone else know?” he asks.

“I did,” Nolan admits. His eyes linger on Cassandra, who talks quietly to Maddie while scratching Cav behind the ears. “After Kimberly rejected me, he told me. That’s why he helped me find Cassandra’s ring.”

As if on cue, Cassandra tucks her hair behind her ear, and the sun glints off the daisy-shaped ring on her left hand.

“I wish he would have told me,” Wes murmurs.

“Would it have made a difference?” Reid asks.

Wes doesn’t answer him. He doesn’t need to. We all know the answer to that question.

Nolan and Reid join their mates. As Wesley and I stand in solitary silence, a soft, unearthly breeze slips between us, and we both turn at the same time.

Selene waits nearby, in her usual white gown.

We meet her halfway. Wesley folds his arms, and I shove my hands in my pockets.

“I wanted to pay my respects,” she whispers.

Two pairs of lighter footsteps join us, and Sarina slips under my arm while Haven approaches Selene, with Dylan in her arms.

“With Zeus gone…” Haven stares at the top of Dylan’s head, playing with his hair and avoiding Selene’s eyes. “Does that mean you’re no longer forbidden from visiting the mortal realm?”

Selene caresses Dylan’s nose, then gives him her finger to grip onto. “I’m not sure,” she says to Haven. “But I don’t care. I will visit as much—or as little—as you’d like me to.”

Haven breaks into a grin and hugs Selene .

I turn us away from them, to join the others in the small clearing so the four of them can have a moment alone.

Sarina stops me before we reach them, taking my face in her hands. “How are you?” She strokes my cheek with her thumb.

“Right now, I’m okay. I’m sure there will be days when I’m not.” Just like there will be for her. I encircle her scarred wrists with my hand and kiss her palm. “And you? How are you?”

“I’m okay right now. I’m with you.”

“I’ll always be with you,” I whisper.

“?Me lo prometes?” she asks.

“ Te lo prometo ,” I promise.

I tug her into my arms and hold her tight. Her soft body melts into mine as our lips meet. I kiss everything into her—my love, my pain, my tears. I give all of them to her, and she gives the same back to me. It’s a beautiful, perfect, unspoken “I love you”.

As the sun sets, Wesley, Reid, Nolan, and I build a bonfire. We spread out blankets and unfold camp chairs, and everyone takes a seat around the flames. I pull Sarina into my lap, hook my arm around her waist, and tuck her head under my chin as she snuggles into me.

Then we tell stories. We share our memories of Dad—the easy ones and the difficult ones.

Wesley talks about the day Maddie was born, when Dad acted like he’d never had a mate in labor before, even though Mom had already given birth to both of us.

Maddie, finally talking for the first time since he died, tells about the day he agreed to be her show-and-tell in kindergarten so she could brag to all the other pups about how her dad was the coolest dad of all.

My mom tells us the story of how they met and the night they became mates.

The real version of it, not the version we grew up hearing.

Minus the more…personal and scintillating details, of course.

We talk throughout the night, taking turns sharing our memories and adding logs to the fire. The babies fall asleep, and some of us doze on and off, but no one leaves.

And as the sun rises, and the first beams of light shine over the treetops and catch on the red strands of Dylan’s hair, I can’t help but smile.