Chapter 258
LEAH
I blink my eyes open and grimace when I realize my whole body hurts.
I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. And a train. And then a steamroller.
Every muscle aches and every joint hurts and for a minute I can’t remember what happened.
And I don’t know where I am.
In some kind of office, and I’ve been left lying on a narrow cot.
Just as I sit up, the door opens and Karolina comes in.
In that second, all the memories of the past days come flooding back, and I gasp, my hand flying to my chest.
I feel so empty.
The absence of my mating bond with Aaron is like a black hole inside me.
It’s a void at the very center of my soul that’s never going to
be filled.
“Good, you’re awake.” Karolina is carrying an electrolyte drink, which she brings over and hands to me.
I take it with a murmured thanks, immediately worried about how grim she looks and the general negative vibe she’s giving off.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, but then feel stupid for asking that question.
Of course everything isn’t okay.
I’ve just been forced to reject my mate and break our mating bond, and my husband–the love of my life–is going to be
executed at the next full moon.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” Karolina says, crossing her arms and avoiding my gaze.
I squeeze the electrolyte bottle until my knuckles ache,
wanting to escape this room before I have to hear whatever it is that Karolina’s going to tell me.
But I’m frozen in place and whatever this is, I can’t escape it.
“What happened?” I ask, my stomach churning.
“Aaron didn’t survive breaking the mating bond,” Karolina
says in a no–nonsense voice, as if she doesn’t really care, or is uncomfortable about having to impart this news, and just
wants it over and done with.
And then her words really hit me.
Didn’t survive.
“He- He’s dead?” I stutter out in disbelief.
Karolina nods, expression even more closed off.
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“But he’s so strong,” I reply, totally bewildered.
With everything else going on, Aaron not surviving when we broke the mating bond never even crossed my mind.
“He had the power of three Alpha’s!” I just can’t wrap my head around how I could have survived and Aaron didn’t.
“And sometimes it’s the most powerful who fall the hardest,” Karolina says.
“No,” I whisper, a shudder of grief going through my body, painful and twisting, like I’m feeling the mating bond breaking
all over again. “This can’t be happening.”
“You should also know,” Karolina continues, as if my whole
world isn’t falling apart around me right now. “In light of these
events, the Council have decided to let you off from your part
in Tobin’s death with light punishment. You may retain the title
of Alpha in name only. The control of all four packs–Rathborn,
Roberts, Leithrow and Havelock–will remain under Council
control for the foreseeable future.”
I’m nodding as if I agree, but in that second, I can’t care about any of it.
Not when I’m now existing in a world where Aaron is no longer
alive.
“I’ve already called Rathborn mansion and told them the news,” Karolina says curtly. “Someone will be here shortly to pick you up and take you home.”
She doesn’t wait for me to say anything else, simply turns
on her heel and leaves the room, shutting the door soundly
behind her.
All I can do is sit there in frozen, silent grief.
I don’t want to move, because that’s going to make it real.
And I can’t cope with Aaron’s death being real.
I just can’t.
I don’t know how to live when Aaron isn’t by my side.
I have no idea how long I sit there, unmoving, barely breathing.
Time has ceased to have any meaning.
Eventually, however, the door opens and James steps inside.
His eyes are red–rimmed, his expression is haggard and there
are bruises beneath his eyes as if he hasn’t been sleeping.
Seeing him abruptly brings reality rushing back in.
I gulp a breath, but then I can’t breathe anymore because I’m sobbing so hard, it feels like my ribs are going to crack.
James falls to his knees in front of me and wraps his arms around me, wrapping me in a cocoon of sadness.
He’s whispering, I’m sorry over and over, but none of this is his fault, and Aaron was a brother to him in everything but blood.
This must be almost as painful for him,
Eventually, James practically lifts me to my feet. “Come on,
Leah, I’m not letting you stay here a second longer.”
I let him lead me out through the hall, but everything is a blur.
It’s not until we’re in the SUV and driving home that my mind partially shifts out of the shock of what’s happened.
“How’s Ethan?” I ask, my voice a croak.
James gives a little smile, and I wonder if he’s personally been caring for Ethan these past days, that’s partly why he looks so tired.
“He’s good. Great, actually. That’s one hell of a kid, you got there, Luna.” James cuts me an affectionate look. “He’ll be happy to have his mama back.”
I want to bitterly argue that Ethan doesn’t even know me.
But that’s not fair on either of us.
Nor to the memory of his father who did everything in his power to protect us, up until the very end when he sacrificed
his life for mine.
The grief comes over me again like a dark, drowning wave.
But somehow, I have to keep struggling through for Ethan.
It’s just me and him now, and I won’t forsake Aaron’s memory and his dedication to being a father by being any less than the perfect mother to our son.
No matter what it costs me.
