Chapter Thirty-Six
Caleb
Peeling back the curtain in my father’s office, I watch the fire finally die down through the window.
Tyler is pumped about the public euthanasia. I’ve never seen him so hyped up and proud.
“Woo! Did you see that shit? Dude, I mean—the way the pack responded to you—All due respect, but they never responded to your father that way. You had them shaking they were so scared!”
“We did that.”
Tyler deserves the credit after today. He did everything I asked, didn’t question me once. I’ve been doing so much on my own lately, I forgot how nice it is to delegate. Tyler has proven himself as a teammate. But could I also confide in him? Could he be a true beta? My confidant?
“Fuck. Tell me you’re feeling just as good as I am right now?”
The pain of others has been a reliable source of pleasure for me. But I can’t say I feel good. If anything, I’m even more disturbed than before.
I killed for her.
“All this time, I’ve been persecuting Jay for being a killer.”
“You killed five people today instead of incarcerating them. Which, was an option, I might add.”
Truthfully, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. After seeing what they did to Jay, there was no other outcome.
“Does that make you a killer? Or are you just someone who has killed?” he asks.
“I did what I had to do.”
“Did she not do the same thing, but in active combat?”
I find myself asking where the immature twat I grew up with went. Regardless, he makes a valid point. Maybe I don’t give Tyler enough credit. He’s really stepped up. I keep saying I’ve been by myself, but maybe my isolation is my own doing. Perhaps, I should start letting people in.
“I have to tell you something. But you can’t freak out. Or tell anyone else.”
“I’m not going to tell anybody.”
Here it goes.
I sigh. “Jay is . . . my mate.”
“She’s your what?” Tyler’s eyes bug out of his head. “Hold on.”
I let him process the news however he needs. Which typically means he is going to talk a lot with his hands.
“She’s your fated mate?” He interlocks his hands, pressing and extending his index fingers and pointing them at me as he pieces it all together.
“Yes.”
He squints one eye. “The female you had imprisoned and paraded around like a dog?”
I cringe at my past behavior but ultimately accept my actions. “Yes.”
“Jeez, man. How long have you known?”
“Since my father passed. So . . . September.”
“September?! And you’ve kept it from us this whole time?”
“I had to.” Silence lingers. Tyler finger drums on the armrest and stares off into space at the floor, taking everything in. “She didn’t kill your sister.”
He nods his acceptance and adjusts himself, sitting up straighter. “It all makes sense now why you kicked my ass when I was just following protocol.” Scratching the back of his head he tries to figure out what—of the million questions I’m sure he has—to ask next. “Does she know?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I thought she was twenty-one.”
“She says she’s twenty-one, but she doesn’t know her true age. Her wolf has, yet to recognize me.”
“Dang.” He runs a hand through his hair. “When are you going to tell her?”
I shoot a funny expression his way. “I’m not going to tell her anything.”
“So . . . are you going to wait until she’s twenty-one to find out on her own?”
“I thought I’d be mated to someone else by now, so it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Tyler fills in the blanks. “But the council wants you to mate Medein. But now, you can’t mate her. Which means, you can’t execute Jay without her death hurting you.”
“Bingo. Not to mention, the king doesn’t want me to execute her.”
“Jeez, this is a mess. So, what’re you going to do? Are you going to mate Jay?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because . . .”
I won’t tell him Jay also killed my father. I’m not quite ready to trust anyone with that information, especially after today. It could make her a target. But it doesn’t seem so easy to come up with the arguments that I once believed so passionately.
Finally, I retrieve them. “Because no one is going to want a rogue for their Luna. The pack will lose their minds. So will the council. And the crown . . . Fuck.”
“Look, I’m not saying the pack is going to like it, but after today, they won’t have a choice, but to accept it.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying . . . With the way you handled how people treated her, who would dare challenge you?”