He tried to forget her, tried to distract himself with all kinds of activities, but nothing worked. When he tried to approach other women, he just felt disgust, especially when he came near another female and smelled her scent and realized they just weren’t … Mika.
After months of torture, he finally heard her name. Just his luck, he had been in the car with the Alpha when she called. His ears perked up, and he listened in, getting all the information he needed. Waited for her to come back to The Enclave. While he had appeared confident and relaxed, in truth, he’d been a nervous wreck. Seeing her again brought back all the memories. He couldn’t even bring himself to be angry with her.
And then, all hell broke loose. God, he had been so scared when he saw the blood on her chest, he didn’t even realize the bullet had gone into him. Why the hell didn’t anyone tell him about pregnant True Mate females being invulnerable? Would have saved him a heap of trouble.
But, as scared as he had been last night, he was glad, because it proved one thing: Mika cared for him. As he lay there with the bullet lodged in his rib cage, he saw her face. Saw the concern and fear in her eyes and the words she said. Please don’t die. You can’t die, you hear me?
That was enough for him, to convince him that this whole thing of them being apart, with her raising their pup on her own, was wrong. She was his. The pup was his, and he was damned if he was just going to walk away from that.
But how was he going to get her to listen to him? He couldn’t even get near her, not when she was all the way at the Brooklyn Bridge, and he was stuck guarding the Alpha. Even now, he desperately wanted to go to her, but he had the morning shift. He had escorted the Alpha from his penthouse in The Enclave and to his office.
And now, he was standing outside said office, waiting for the Alpha to leave for his lunch meetings. He wished he could just leave this cushy job and tell Vrost to stick it where the sun don’t shine.
The door opened behind him, and he straightened his stance. He expected the Alpha to step out, but instead, it was the Beta.
“Delacroix,” Astrid began. “Lucas wants to speak with you.”
“With me?”
“Yes.” She motioned for him to step inside. “I’ll see you later.”
His brows wrinkled. “You’re not staying?”
“No, I have stuff to do.”
Puzzled, he hesitated before going in. What could the Alpha possibly want with him? Not wanting to keep him waiting, he carefully crept inside. “Primul?” he asked, using the traditional honorific for one’s Alpha. “You wanted to see me?”
As usual, Lucas Anderson sat behind his large desk. He was, perhaps, one of the few men Delacroix thought looked intimidating while wearing an expensive tailored suit as he signed documents. Power emanated from the Alpha, and even without a single word or movement, Delacroix’s wolf cowered, recognizing the pure dominant nature of the other wolf. No doubt, Lucas Anderson was a trueborn Alpha.
“Sit down.” Elegant fingers placed a gold fountain pen into its holder.
He did as he was told, choosing the seat just opposite from his desk. “What can I do for you, Alpha?”
“Let’s not mince words, Delacroix.” Eerie mismatched eyes stared into him, as if boring right into his soul. “I know everything about you. Where you came from. What you did before you came here.”
He gritted his teeth but didn’t flinch. “I’m not proud of what I did back then. If Vrost has told you about my past, then it’s probably all true.” While Nick Vrost was a bastard, he wasn’t a liar.
“So, you don’t deny it? All the stuff you did? No excuses?”
“No.” He could make excuses. Blame it all on Remy. On being scared to disobey his orders. But he knew there was always a choice. “You know what Pont Saint-Louis’s reputation is. How we make our living. You could have turned me away.”
Lucas nodded. “I know. But I was intrigued by what Nick said you could do.”
He didn’t want to think of that night. Wanted it erased from his memories. “I thought we weren’t mincing words, Alpha. So, did you call me in here to kick me out?” Going Lone Wolf now wouldn’t be so bad. He had some money tucked away from the last year. He could even give King Karim a call, and he would offer him a place back at the palace in a heartbeat. But that would mean leaving New York, and he couldn’t do that. Not now.
The Alpha threaded his fingers together and leaned forward on his desk. “What are your intentions toward Mika?”
“And this is your concern because …”
“Because I’m her Alpha. And her family.”
He didn’t conveniently forget that fact. Everyone knew she was the Alpha’s cousin. “That pup is mine. I intend to be a father to the child.”
“And Mika?”
“I intend to have her too. If she would have me.” And she will. She had to.
For a moment, he thought the Alpha would lunge at him, the way her father did last night. To his surprise, he grinned instead. “Good.” His shoulders relaxed. “Mika’s a tough nut to crack, so you’ll have a challenge ahead of you.”
He blinked, wondering if he’d heard right. “I … I don’t understand.” The Alpha was giving him his blessing to go after his cousin? Even after knowing about his past?
“You’re True Mates,” he stated. “You’re meant to be together. The sooner you both accept it, the happier you both
