Fate Mate

Chapter 25

Hi everyone! Here is a fun little BONUS chapter for you all!  It was originally going to be part of the larger chapter (which I plan on posting later this evening), but I thought it could stand alone!  ... Sending you all of my love! 

An hour might have passed by the time that I removed myself from Nolan's embrace. Tears and mucus blotched the front of Nolan's shirt, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, the Alpha reached out with his shirt sleeve to dab away the last remnants of wet from my cheeks.

I sniffled, "Thank you, Nolan."

One corner of his lips pulled up in a half-smile that didn't meet his eyes, "Don't thank me... I'm the one to blame for everything that's gone awry." Nolan's throat bobbed up and down, swallowing the regret that tainted his every word, "I started this mess on the night of the Summer Solstice."

My hazel eyes met his, and the sincerity of his words shook me to the core. He's apologizing? How often did the Black Lupis Alpha apologize to someone? I already knew the answer to that: Almost never.

Nolan took my silence as an invitation to continue, "On the night of the Solstice, I could have controlled myself. I should have walked away, and you would be safe... But we ran into each other-- literally-- and it caught me off guard."

"You regret meeting me?" I breathed, eyebrows furrowed. His words might have once cut me to the core, but his blue eyes pooled with tragic softness, and I understood.

"No, never!" Nolan rushed, almost as if my question had offended him. "On the night of the Summer Solstice, when I saw you, I felt... alive for the first time since Sarah."

My throat tightened, taken aback by his honest words. I remembered the night well. I remembered the electricity that coursed through my veins when our eyes first met. The little, invisible chord that somehow connected Nolan's soul with my own. And the warmth that seeped into my bones when we touched for the first time. I had felt alive, too.

He chuckled, and I knew that the memory of the Summer Solstice danced in his mind as well. "I think... I wish that we had met in another time. A time without hybrids and prophecies. I think you would have liked me."

I smiled, even as my eyes brimmed with emotion, "I like you now... Of course, you didn't make it easy."

We shared a breathy laugh, eyes connected in untapped affection for one another. Nolan--my friend and Alpha.

He ran a hand through his crown of black locks, "I'm sorry... I went about everything in the wrong way. I stole you away from your family because I was terrified of letting you out of my sight. And then I was terrified of letting you in too close, so I did everything to push you away."

"You were an ass," I agreed, not entirely teasing.

He sighed, "I know. You deserve better."

"So what changed?" I chewed on my lip, aware of the accusatory tone in my words. I hoped that he wouldn't take offense, but I needed to know the answer. Why does he suddenly want me?

Nolan understood. He rubbed at the back of his neck, and I thought I detected the slightest trace of pink on his cheeks. My question had stripped him bare. "I saw you with Dominic... The night at the Broken Valley Pack. I realized that I was losing you--that I might have already lost you."

His admission caught me momentarily off-guard. I blinked, and allowed a juvenile smirk to snake itself onto my lips, "You were jealous?"

Nolan chuckled and rolled his eyes, "That's what you picked up from this conversation?"