A Pack of Lies

8

Over dinner, I told Thaddeus everything. And he sat there listening, only commenting when he wanted something to be cleared up for him. Not once did he judge me for the choices I had made. When we were finished, we slowly walked out to his car. "I hate how hard your life has been Hope, but I am happy that you have ended up in my pack."

He slowly lifted his hand up, brushing his fingers along my jaw. "There is something about you that calls out to me and my wolf. We both want you." I felt my heart start to race inside my chest. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to lean into his touch. The heat from his hand sent sparks along my skin. "You're so beautiful," he whispered as he slowly pulled his hand away. I did nothing to stop the whimper that followed the loss of contact between us.

The low chuckle that sent shivers throughout my body told me that he had in fact heard it as well. My tongue darted out to wet my lips as I struggled to speak. A dark look flashed across Thaddeus' face, and a strong flair of desire hit me.

"I know that you found your mate, who stupidly turned around and rejected you. No man or wolf in their right mind would reject a mate such as you." The truth he felt at those words knocked the breath from my lungs. I felt hot tears sting my eyes, but I battled them away. "No one except my father knew that I had found my mate rather early in life. And as a young, naive boy, I thought life would be a garden of roses for her and I. And yet, it was the absolute opposite for me.

"She felt that she could do better than being stuck with a wolf such as myself. And within minutes of meeting her, she rejected me and left as if she was just returning an item that she found she no longer had any need of." The pain in his voice had me reaching across the table without any thought and took his hand in mine, giving it a light squeeze. A smile blossomed across his face, chasing the memory of pain from his eyes.

"For the longest time I thought that I would never be able to find any kind of happiness in my life again. I settled on living for my pack- for their protection and their safety...their happiness. The pack is what kept me alive for years after losing my mate. And then one day, this beautiful spitfire of a laoch drove onto my territory and stepped out of her truck, and right into my heart." As my eyes connected with my alpha's, I could breathe. The emotions that I could see swirling in the depts made me feel incredible.

"As I got to know this incredible woman, it didn't take me long to figure out that someone had hurt her terribly. That knowledge made me want to find out just who had exactly hurt her and tear them apart. I knew the pain that she was going through, and I wanted with everything in me to take that from her. And as time passed, I found myself falling for her." Thaddus took a deep breath as he reached for my other hand. Placing a soft kiss on my fingers, he smiled up at me. "I am so deeply in love with you Hope. My heart is now and forever yours. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you make me the luckiest wolf in the world and become my mate?"

I could hear the love and anxiety in his voice. How could a man like Thaddus love me the way he does? The way that I had only prayed and hoped that Jeb would come to love me in time when I first realized that he didn't wait for me and chose my half-sister instead? Giving a hard shake to get rid of those hurtful memories, I let my eyes meet those of the man I had come to love just as much, but never expected... never dared to dream that he might one day return my feelings as well.

Thaddus almost felt his heart stop beating when Hope shook her head. But the look in her eyes gave him hope. He had never once imagined that he would ever find someone to love again after his mate had so thoroughly rejected him all those years ago. He knew that he had closed himself off to love, to even think about finding it again. He had lived only for his pack, but even he knew that in the long run, it would have been just a half life for him. Especially once he got to know Hope. Any wolf or man for that matter would be beyond lucky to have her as their partner and he knew that.

He smiled as he saw her wet her lips before she spoke. "I would be honored to be your mate, Thaddus Wright. I could feel myself falling in love with you after I started to get to know you, but I hid that away. I never once thought in my wildest dreams that you would ever return the feelings that I have for you." Thaddus couldn't stop the smile that threatened to split his face in half. She had just made everything he had every been through wroth it. She was worth anything he had to go through to get to this moment. Reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket, he removed a small ring and quickly slide it on her finger. "I love you Hope McNuff."

"And I love you, Thaddus Wright. I cannot wait to see what our future holds together." He couldn't wait another second. He leaned across the table and kissed the woman he loved as if he was dying. And when she returned the kiss with just as much passion, he knew that he had made the best decision of his life. 

                                                                         The End