I shrug and he comes closer. “Can I sit with you?” he asks.
“You can but I don’t want to talk.”
“No worries,” he says, as he plonks himself next to me.
We sit in silence for a while and I sigh. He knows how much I hate silences. I turn to him and he grins at me. “Right on time.”
“Fuck off,” I say lightly. “I suppose you know what happened? What I did?”
“I do. Devon explained it to me.”
“Do you hate me as well?”
“Liv, I love you. I could never hate you. What you did was a bit…dumb,” he says, “but I understand. He will too. You came clean, you told him. It would have been worse if you hadn’t said and it came out later.”
Oh, gods, I think. There is more to come out. A lot more. Fortunately, I am the only one who knows in this world and the other two who know cannot shift between worlds so it should be safe. It has to be.
I sit up suddenly and cross my legs, looking away from him. “Oh, Linc. I am such a shit person, and an even shittier wife and even shittier sire on top of that. And don’t even get me started on what a shit charge I am! How could I?” I wail at him.
He scoots forward and puts his legs on either side of me and pulls me back to him. “Maybe, but you are the best Alpha mate a Wolf could ask for,” he chuckles, and I smile through my tears.
“Thank you,” I say to him. “I didn’t think I would smile again, ever.”
“You are welcome,” he says. After a pause, he adds, “He’ll come back. He loves you.”
“Doesn’t matter now even if he did,” I say woefully.
“What do you mean?”
I hold up my right hand, flashing him my ring. “He was there. He witnessed the entire thing.”
“Oh.” Another pause. “Crap. I am surprised he didn’t thrust divorce papers under your nose already.”
“I think he would have if Devon hadn’t put him in his place for being a smug bastard,” I say dryly.
He chuckles and says, “See, you can’t be that shit of a sire if your charge comes to your defense.”
“I must be a really shit sire to have both my charges leave me in the space of a couple of months.”
“Oh, Liv, don’t think like that, please, baby. Devon came back, Cole will as well.”
“But then what? CK is not going to just overlook this. No way in Hell.”
“So, you will lose your husband, but your charge will be back.”
I frown at him over my shoulder. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“Sorry,” he mumbles. “I was just trying to look on the bright side.”
“I don’t understand how he could just give up like that. He knows what the consequences are, and he just handed me off. I think that hurts more than anything else.” I pick at the covers and sigh.
“You will get through this. I promise you.”
“I don’t want to be going through this in the first place. It all could have been avoided.”
“But it is what it is now. Come, I think you should get some sleep. I’ll stay with you until you drop off, then I’ll leave. Just in case he comes back.”
“Thank you, Linc.” I let him settle me under the covers and I close my eyes. I don’t suppose sleep will come soon but if it does, I pray I don’t end up back there.