His Proposal

For several seconds, I thought I had misunderstood him.

Marry him?

I stared at Kael, waiting for a hint of amusement to appear on his face, but he remained completely serious. He stood beside the table with his hands resting at his sides, looking at me as though he had just offered a reasonable solution to an ordinary problem.

I slowly put down my cup.

“You cannot be serious.”

“I am.”

“Kael, I told you less than an hour ago that I wouldn’t marry you simply because I’m pregnant.”

“I remember.”

“And now you’re asking me to marry you?”

“I’m proposing a possible arrangement, Sera. I’m not asking you to agree this second.”

I let out a short, disbelieving laugh and pushed my chair back. The sound wasn’t particularly pleasant, but I couldn’t help it. Seven years of marriage had ended in betrayal, and I had barely begun to understand what my life would look like without Adrian. Now his older half-brother was standing in my hotel room, offering me another marriage as though I could simply replace one husband with another.

“Do you hear yourself?” I asked. “I just escaped a marriage that made me feel like I had to earn the right to have an opinion. I am not going to walk straight into another one because the man asking happens to be an Alpha with more money than he knows what to do with.”

Kael’s expression tightened, but he didn’t raise his voice.

“I don’t want you to feel that way with me.”

“Wanting something doesn’t guarantee you’ll make it happen.”

“I know.”

His answer caught me off guard. I had expected him to defend his intentions, remind me of the bond between us, or point out that he could offer me a comfortable life. Instead, he accepted my objection without trying to make it sound unreasonable.

That didn’t mean I was ready to trust him.

I walked to the window and folded my arms, looking down at the street below. People moved between cars and shops, carrying on with their ordinary lives. None of them knew that my future might have changed again in the space of a few minutes.

“Why marriage?” I asked. “You said you wanted to protect me and the baby. There are other ways to do that.”

“Yes, there are.”

“Then why choose the one that puts us in a marriage before we even know each other?”

Kael was quiet for a moment.

“Because your situation with Adrian isn’t going to disappear simply because you’ve left him. You’re still legally married, and he may use that connection to pressure you into returning. Once the pregnancy becomes known, the conflict could become worse. My family will also have questions about you and our bond, and people will make assumptions whether we explain ourselves or not.”

I turned to face him.

“So your answer is to give everyone another marriage to talk about?”

“My answer is to give you a choice that could offer some protection while you decide what you want.”

“By marrying you.”

“By entering an arrangement with clear terms. If you agree to it.”

I studied him carefully. He was right about one thing: leaving Adrian hadn’t ended my problems. I would need a lawyer to help me navigate the divorce, and there was no guarantee Adrian would accept my decision without making things difficult. The pregnancy would add another layer to everything, especially when the time came to tell our families.

But I couldn’t ignore the danger of accepting a solution simply because I was frightened.

That was how I had ended up in my first marriage, convincing myself that love meant sacrifice and that the sacrifices would eventually be worth it.

“What would your family think?” I asked.

“That I’m marrying my mate.”

“And what would they think of me? The woman who was married to your younger brother until a few days ago?”

“They’ll have opinions. Some will be unkind.”

“At least you’re honest about that.”

“I’m not going to pretend this will be easy.”

I returned to my chair but didn’t sit down.

“And what happens when people start asking questions? What happens when they expect me to behave like your wife, attend family functions, and follow whatever traditions your pack has? What happens when your grandmother decides I’m not suitable for you?”

“My family doesn’t get to decide whether you’re suitable for me.”

“That sounds good in this room, Kael. I need to know whether you’ll still believe it when you’re standing in front of them.”

He considered that before answering.

“Then we’ll deal with it when it happens. I won’t promise that everyone will accept you, but I can promise that I won’t ask you to change who you are just to make them comfortable.”

I wanted to believe him. The problem was that I had wanted to believe Adrian, too.

For years, I had mistaken confidence for reliability. Adrian always sounded certain when he told me that everything would work out, and I had trusted his certainty even when his actions told a different story. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again simply because Kael’s promises were more appealing.

“Marriage is not a small decision,” I said. “And it isn’t something I can agree to because I’m carrying your child.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? Because I need you to understand that I’m not offering you love. I barely know you. I don’t know what you’re like when you’re angry, what you expect from a partner, or whether you can live with someone who disagrees with you without trying to get the final word.”

One corner of his mouth moved, although he didn’t quite smile.

“I suspect you won’t have any trouble disagreeing with me.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“No,” he admitted. “It isn’t.”

For the first time since he had made the proposal, I felt some of the pressure ease. He wasn’t pretending to have every answer, and he wasn’t asking me to ignore the questions simply because we were connected by a mate bond.

I finally sat down.

“Suppose I did consider it. What would make this different from my marriage to Adrian?”

Kael pulled out the chair opposite mine and sat, keeping his attention on me.

“You would have your own money, your own work, and the freedom to make decisions about your life. I wouldn’t expect you to give up your career plans or become dependent on me. You would have a say in anything that affected you or the baby.”

“And if I want to leave?”

His gaze held mine.

“Then we discuss how to end the arrangement properly. I won’t use our bond or the marriage to force you to stay with me.”

I searched his face for hesitation. I found none, although I knew that making a promise and keeping it were two different things.

“What about the baby?” I asked. “Would you expect me to live with you because you think it’s better for the child?”

“I would want to be involved in our child’s life. I’d want to attend appointments, help make decisions, and be there as the baby grows. But I won’t pretend that being the father means I get to make every decision about you.”

His words settled between us.

I had spent so long imagining motherhood as something I might experience someday, under circumstances I could barely picture. Now the possibility was real, and I had to think about the kind of environment I wanted my child to grow up in. I wanted stability, but not at the cost of my freedom. I wanted a father who showed up, but I also wanted to remain a person outside the role of someone’s wife or mother.

Kael’s proposal might offer some of those things.

It could also become another cage if I accepted it for the wrong reasons.

“I won’t agree today,” I told him.

“I didn’t expect you to.”

“And I’m not promising that I’ll agree tomorrow, either.”

“Understood.”

I took a breath and looked directly at him.

“If this is going to be a serious conversation, I need to know exactly what you’re asking me to do. I won’t sign anything based on vague promises, and I won’t let you decide the rules after we’re married.”

“That’s fair.”

I hesitated, aware that the next question could change the direction of everything between us.

Kael had offered protection, stability, and a way to deal with the complications surrounding Adrian. But I still didn’t know whether he wanted a practical arrangement, a chance to keep his mate close, or something more personal that he wasn’t ready to admit.

I wasn’t going to accept a proposal without understanding what it would cost me.

I leaned forward, meeting his gaze.

“Tell me something, Kael. If I agreed to marry you, what exactly would you expect from me?”