جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 170

Nicolai The following evening’s topic of conversation is not quite so pleasant as the wedding planning. Because tonight we talk about Jaxon. We’ve put it off as long as we could. Not because either of us has been avoiding it purposely—just because there's been enough to manage that it hasn't risen to the surface yet."He should be there," Skye says. She's not looking at me when she says it. Looking at the planning notes on the table between us. "For Benji. The ceremony is going to be part of what Benji's life looks like, and Jaxon is part of what Benji's life looks like, and—it's the right thing.""I know," I admit. It’s true, but I don’t have to like it. She looks up. "You're not going to argue?""No.""Your wolf is going to argue." She pierces me with a stare that tells me her wolf is looking directly at mine. "My wolf argues about many things," I shrug. "I manage my wolf."She watches me for a moment, not entirely convinced."You're sure?"I think about what it means to have Jax

JaxonThe reception is small. Family, close allies, pack members who belong in this room. Benji is moving through the guests in the arms of various people who clearly find him more compelling than the occasion, which he accepts as his due.When he sees me across the garden he does the thing he does—the full-body lean toward someone he wants, the very clear communication of a five-month-old who has opinions about where he'd like to be.I take him and he settles against my chest with the ease of someone who has established this as a recognized home base. Grabs my collar. Investigates. I breathe him in, letting the smell of his baby shampoo and lavender scented lotion and something unique that’s all Benji, calm me in a way nothing else can. "I know," I tell him quietly. "Long day." He doesn't disagree.I just stand in the garden of Nicolai Woolf's estate with my son in my arms and watch Skye and Nicolai move through their guests. He keeps his hand at her back. She speaks to people with t

Skye The reception is everything a celebration should be and almost never is. Genuine. Warm. Forty people who belong in this garden, eating and talking and passing Benji around like the small dignitary he believes himself to be.I dance with Nicolai. It's not graceful—I'm a competent dancer but he leads with more decisiveness than I was braced for, and we spend the first thirty seconds negotiating who's actually leading, which Dimitri watches with visible amusement."You could just follow," Nicolai murmurs in my ear, his own amusement evident in his tone."I could," I agree. "I won't.""I know," he laughs, and pulls me closer anyway.I talk to Aunt Diana, who is crying in that way someone who has been hoping for something for a long time and has finally seen it happen does. "You're radiant," she says. "I know that's a thing people say, but you genuinely are.""Don't make me cry again," I chide her. "I already cried during the ceremony.""Good," she says. "That's exactly when you shoul

NicolaiThe next morning, I'm up before Skye. Probably because I never really slept to begin with. So I trudge to the kitchen in search of coffee. I have a feeling this day is going to require a lot of it. I’m not even a little surprised to find Dimitri already in the kitchen, since it’s where Dimitri appears to live when something is happening with me that he’s decided is his business too. He has coffee already made. He pours two cups without asking."I know what happened," he states matter-of-factly."Of course you do." I mumble, sighing in resignation."Mikhail saw something and told me about it." He sets a cup in front of me. "What happened in the garden. He didn't understand what he was seeing but I did."I wrap both hands around the cup to steady myself. Maybe I should be surprised Mikhail noticed the subtle cues that told him something wasn’t quite right, but I’m not. It’s why I trust him with my life."I asked her to break the bond," I say, though he already knows that part. "

JaxonAs Nicolai’s questions continue to percolate through my mind, I find I’d rather be almost anywhere else than sitting here having this conversation with him. His signature, no-holds-barred, direct approach is unwelcome when all I want is solutions that end with her. Back in my life, in my arms, in my bed. "What does it say about an Alpha who shares his mate with another Alpha? To his pack, to his allies, to his enemies?" These are questions that lead nowhere near where I want to be. "There are no good answers to those questions yet," I answer honestly."No," Nicolai agrees. "There aren't.""But we're sitting here asking them anyway." The irony I find in this situation is clear in my tone. "Yes." He deadpans. "We're sitting here anyway."Well that was profound. I’m not sure what I was expecting from the great Nicolai Woolf, but that wasn’t it. "I would rather share her than lose her." He says it like the words cost something significant. Because they do.I stare at him, dumbfou