Derek
Derek did not know what to do with all the emotions coursing through him. His former Alpha had been a brutal asshole and he’d never known it. "I'm just stunned. He was like a second father to me. And I never questioned any of his decisions.”
"You were only eighteen when he died. It wasn't your job to know his business at that point."
“It's everyone's job to not let those kinds of injustices happen. Even if he wouldn't allow you into the pack, he should've offered you all protection." He bowed his head alongside her. “I'm glad the fucker is killed now. I know I shouldn't say that, because he was Roman’s father. But Jesus. Was this the kind of attitude Roman was raised with?"
He had to assume so since Roman had struggled so much with dating a bear shifter female. They all had. Roman’s father had tried to subtly poison them against anyone who was different. He understood the secret had to be protected, but hell, Kyra’s mother had borne a half wolf shifter child, and she was mated to a wolf shifter – she was hardly going to betray them. The circumstances mattered. He was having a hard time adjusting his worldview to fit what he now knew. He would get there eventually, but it was going to take a minute.
“Okay, so tell me the rest of what happened," he said. He felt like he owed Kyra that much.
She resumed her tale, telling him how Victor found her after she’d been in the woods for several days, all alone. How she'd been scared of Victor at first, but had no way to defend herself, having used the only potion she had. And she told him how Victor had deceived her by telling her he was different from that other coven, when in reality they had planned it all along.
He honestly felt sick to his stomach. His gut twisted. After what she'd been through, it was amazing that she hadn’t tried to kill them on sight. But there was no easy solution. He loved her, but what she had done was nearly impossible to get past. He completely understood that it made sense. But he didn't see how there was a way forward for them.
She finally finished her story. "Please forgive me,” she said. “I know that's too much to ask but I'll ask it anyway."
He picked up both of her small hands and held onto them. “I'll work on forgiving you. And I'm pretty sure I'll get there, because everything you did makes sense. But you still put my pack in danger. So even if I forgive you, I don't see a future for us."
She nodded as a tear slipped down her cheek. She took a deep gasping breath. “I understand that. I wouldn't expect anything else. When I think about what I almost did, and how I almost handed your pack members over to the vampires to become hybrids, I just can't believe it.”
She stood up quickly, jerking away from him and ran into the woods. He heard the sound of her retching. He wanted to go after her, but she appeared a few minutes later and washed her mouth and hands in the stream.
She sat back down on the log. “When I think about Eliza, and all her bright youthful energy, and how I was willing to betray her, I can’t –” She gasped and covered her mouth. She looked up at him with puffy, red eyes. “I'm no better than Victor. I was willing to use an innocent child, dozens of them, to get revenge on a man who is no longer alive.”
He had no idea how he would feel if the two of them weren’t bonded. He could feel how genuine all of her emotions were. Doubting her sincerity was impossible. He could feel how much guilt she truly felt.
“It's true that your decisions were very flawed,” he said. “But you were also brainwashed from the time you were ten years old. That's why we're not locking you up with the vampires." He wouldn’t have allowed it, even if someone had tried.
"Maybe I should be locked up with them, maybe that's the right decision,” she said.
“No,” he said. “No one from our pack wanted that. And they didn't even know the whole story, they only knew the bare bones.” But that was something amazing that had happened in the pack. When he’d told his brothers that he believed that she was truly sorry, they’d accepted it for the most part.
When he’d explained that he felt her remorse through their bond, they’d believed him.
He hadn’t expected that at first. But a mate bond was highly regarded for wolf shifters. And honestly, moving to Anchorage had brought their pack closer. Once Roman made the decision to move, the younger members began to really respect him, and in the city, they had to learn to rely on each other. Even the most worldly members had begun to value their pack more than they had. And once Roman opened his mind enough to claim his bear shifter mate, then the pack had grown even closer.
They’d banished the closed-minded, hateful shifters, the ones who couldn't see past genetics. All of those lessons had paved the way for them to be able to accept Kyra and her story, no matter how unpleasant it was for them.
He sighed. He hated that she was suffering, but there wasn’t much he could do. “So if you want to go with the vampires you can, but they're going to be magically bound to stay in one area, and they’ll be permanently guarded.”
She shuddered and he felt her revulsion. “No. I never want to see them again. Ever.” She put her hand on his arm. “You know they killed Jesse too. I’m so sorry.”
He nodded. “I know. Thank you for saying so.” His phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket. It was Roman, and Derek was needed back inside the gate. “I have to go. We’re about to escort the vampires to their new home.”
“Please be careful,” she said. She wiped her eyes and tried to smile.
“I will. You be careful too.” He touched her cheek. “Where will you go?” He moved a piece of her hair away from her face. “You know I can’t let you back on pack land.” Even though the pack had granted her leniency, he didn’t want to push them. Even though they believed him, they didn’t have the bond with her; they couldn’t feel how genuinely sorry she was.
“I know. I wouldn’t try.”
“Please keep in touch with me. Let me know how you’re doing.” It broke his heart to let her go. But as he’d told her, there was no way forward at that point. He couldn’t ask his pack to allow her to ever step foot on their land again. They had been awfully magnanimous about hearing her story.
“I will,” she said.
Then she was gone.