Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 62 - Chances

"You asked to speak with me?" Kay asked, walking into Thane's office, and he motioned for her to enter and close the door.

"Sit," he said, capping his pen and leaning back to watch her. "We have much to discuss, but before we do, I want to ask you a question, and I want your honest opinion. Whatever you say won't go beyond these walls."

She nodded, uneasy with the sternness of his expression and the shadows in his eyes. He looked in his late fifties, and since immortals age almost incrementally, she had to wonder how old he was. Akira was two thousand years old and looked like she was in her late twenties.

"This is about Marcus and Claudia. I know that Marcus is your mate and you are in love with him, while his relationship with the werewolf is one of convenience. If there is a way for the bond to be broken between them without killing them, will you consent?" he asked, and she frowned at him.

"There isn't, and I will not have her harmed or isolated," Kay said.

"Yes, I know she is your friend, and she will not be hurt. She will simply no longer be bonded to a man who isn't her mate or in love with."

"Her mate died, and you know we only have one of those," Kay said, and he frowned. "She married Marcus not only for the convenience of the liaison, but because she didn't want to be alone."

"Marcus had a mate too that died, yet life has proven that you are his true mate. Darius has three. Should that not tell you something?"

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"Nature makes sure a species survives. The odds of mates finding each other are low, so perhaps we get more than one. I had seven in my lifetime, and all are dead now."

That unsettled her.

"But the one I was the most attracted to, and who was my perfect other half, spent her entire life plotting to kill me."

"You loved Azera?"

This shocked her.

"Yes, she was my mate, and I still do."

"That is why you never put an end to her?" she asked, and he nodded slowly, stacking his fingers on the table. "Until she hurt Azera, but she was too powerful by then. I never thought she would be powerful enough to oppose me in less than fifty years after she showed her true colors."

"And she had the spear."

"Yes. She could end my life. If sacrificing myself could spare anyone, I would have let her kill me, but then she would have ruled the world."

Kay shuddered at the thought.

"Now, if you and Claudia agree, can we break the bond, and she can get a divorce like a normal person, and you can marry Marcus?" Thane asked, and she had been so disturbed by what he told her that she forgot what he suggested.

"Not if she will be alone."

"You would sacrifice your happiness for her?" Thane asked.

"No, Father, I will not. I will give her the same courtesy she gave me and do what is right."

It wasn't until she saw his expression that she realized that with fifteen other people calling him Father, she had used the word without realizing it.

Despite the past, the blood on his hands, and his part in what happened to her, it was a fact. He was her father. As hard as she fought against it, keeping what he did against him didn't change how she felt. Nor was he that man any longer.

Losing Akira had changed him drastically, and having her back even more so, but getting fifteen of his children back after all this time... This was not the stern, distant, cold, commanding man she had met at Marcus' house that night. Living in the world but removed from it as if nothing really mattered.

He mourned the five that died. There were dark shadows in his eyes, and finally allowing himself to feel his emotions wasn't something one went through and stayed the same. It didn't mean she didn't still struggle with what he allowed; it only meant that her heart and head were not always on the same page.

"Let me make myself clear. Hercules saw Claudia, and she's his mate. I've kept them apart because I didn't want to stir any trouble, but he's lost. If she feels the same, and there is something there, will you allow it? Because if it is, as I suspect, with him being more powerful than even Marcus, his mark will break the bond."

"And if it doesn't?" she asked.

"Kay. In the old days, before modern love stories rewrote the laws of nature, if a man conquered another man's lands and defeated that man in combat, he took whatever belonged to his enemy. Even his wife or mate. You can't have a woman in your bed that is still mated to another, and even a mate bond can be broken. Love, now that is another matter."

"But he is neither werewolf nor vampire."

"That is a problem we can solve," Thane said, leaning back in his chair.

"You'd change him?" she asked.

"That is a choice he made for himself."

"And if he dies?"

"Suffer, he will. Die? Unlikely."

"This is a matter you should discuss with Darius, Marcus, and Claudia."

"I will not speak with Marcus and Darius without your permission."

She didn't know how to feel about that. What did it mean? Did he value her opinion that much, or was there another reason?

"And how does Hercules feel about that?"

"He feels he owes you a debt, and if you say no, then it is no."

She needed to know if asking was Hercules' idea and his alone.

"And how do you feel about it?"

"Am I in therapy? I will do whatever you want, and that is why I am asking you and not having Hercules speak to you. There is no way I will allow him to play on your feelings and talk you into something you don't want to do."

Somehow, she thought, having that answer would have her less confused.

"Speak to the others first."

"I already spoke to Claudia, and she is amenable to spending some time around Hercules to see if the attraction is mutual. She doesn't want me talking to Darius and Marcus until she knows."

"You realize she may do this just to give Marcus and me our space?"

"That is why I told you about it, against her wishes. You will know if she is lying to you," he said, and she wiped her face.

"Is this about Hercules or me?" she asked, and he stared her right in the eye.

"Can't it be about both of you?"

"Yes, it can. I will talk to Claudia, but I am pulling the plug if she's just doing this because she has a hero complex."

"Fair enough."

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