“Did you tell her?” Peter asks him.
“No, she doesn’t ever need to know that, Dad.” What else could he possibly be hiding that’s worse than what he’s already told me?
“Seth, she seems like a reasonable girl. It may help put her mind at ease. But what did you do to upset the poor girl so much?”
“Dad, leave it. She doesn’t ever need to know that I can’t reject her.” I hear Seth say and I feel my heart fall to the pit of my stomach.
“You can’t reject me?” I say aloud to him and they both turn with panic-stricken faces, realizing I’d heard their conversation.
“What?” I hear my dad growl out from behind them and he looks more angry than I have ever seen.
“Randall, why don’t we talk over here. I think it may be best for the kids to talk alone.” King Peter says to my dad, turning to walk away. I leap to my feet and decide for once, to stand up for myself.
“Actually, I think it might be best to hear it from you. Since anything from Seth would only be the truth if it’s convenient.” I spit out, my voice laced with the anger I can barely contain.
“It isn’t like that, Molly. I made a very stupid decision,” Seth says.
“And then another, and another, and another. How many was it, exactly?” I spit at him and I can feel my emotions starting to spiral out of control. I stop and take a deep breath and I feel my dad come in front of me and gently place his hands on my shoulders.
“What’s going on, kiddo?” he asks me and I close my eyes, trying hard not to cry even more. I don’t know where to even start to tell my dad what Seth admitted to me earlier.
“Dad, I…” my voice cracks and I realize just how hurt I am by everything and I just can’t handle everything I’m finding out today.
“Sir,” I hear Seth speak up and I can’t imagine what he’s going to say here. “I made some mistakes that hurt Molly when I told her about them.” he tells him. What a broad explanation.
“Randall, it seems the girl overheard us talking about the fact that Seth couldn’t reject her, even if he wanted to.” Peter offers. I’m sure they can feel the concern that is emitting from my dad. “He doesn’t want to, though. I thought it might help her feel more secure but Seth thought not, thus why she didn’t know yet.” he continues.
“Why can’t you reject her?” my dad quietly growls out, his eyes never leaving me.
“It’s royal protocol. We’re selected by the Goddess to lead the wolves, we couldn’t possibly reject the mates that she has gifted us.” King Peter explains and honestly, that makes some sense.
“I was asking the boy,” my dad says and he looks like he could snap and murder someone.
“Alpha Randall, the explanation my dad gave is true. But if a royal rejects their mate, they are unable to assume the throne. Since I am an only child, that would leave the throne going to my uncle, who would ruin wolves. We suspect he may be involved in kidnapping and selling she wolves, but we don’t have any firm proof of such yet.” Seth finishes.
“Molly, kiddo, what did he do before you guys got here today?” Dad says, still looking only at me.
I look up at him and as much as I’ve tried not to, I begin to cry. My dad pulls me to his chest and envelopes me in a giant hug.
“What. did. You. do. To. her.” and I realize the voice coming from my dad is his wolf, and not his own.
Seth must also realize, because he steps towards my dad and says “Sir, I’m sorry. I made some poor choices before. I felt I should tell her about them in an effort to be honest, but it hurt her more than I realized it would.” He’s dumb, but he’s brave to admit any of this to my dad.
“And what were these poor choices?”
“I. Sir, I’m sorry. I realized 4 years ago when Rob and I were at training that Molly was my mate.” My dad snaps his head over to look at Seth, and then down at me.
“I wasn’t aware the two of you had ever met.” he says with confusion.
“We hadn’t.” Seth continues “I realized when she would send gifts for Rob. I could smell her on the things she would send. But once I knew, I didn’t do the right thing.”
“Seth. What were you thinking?” King Peter roars. “Your mate is sacred. Why didn’t you go to her immediately? What about the girls you dated? You had a girlfriend when we left to come here!” I hear him say and at that, I finally jerk away from my dad.
“You left that out of the version you told me.” I say to Seth and I can feel through the bond how terribly he feels about the whole situation, but I’m too mad to care.
“I didn’t want to hurt you any more, Molly. I’m so sorry. For everything.” he says to me, but my dad steps in between us.
“Randall, take your daughter home. I’m going to have a chat with my son. I’ll see to it that this is all sorted out.” the King says to my dad. I thought my dad was the scariest man when he was mad, but I am terrified of the anger coming from the King right now.
“Just follow this path to get back.” My dad says, gently turning me around and escorting me away. “Pete, you know that if your son was any other man in this kingdom he’d be dead, correct?”
“Of course,” he responds. “I can promise you he’ll treat her better than that in the future.”
And with that, my dad and I walk away in silence. Dad and I are nearly back to the packhouse before he says anything to me. I’m thankful for the silence, and the distance between Seth and I now. The effects of the bond really complicate your feelings when your mate is an i***t.
“Are you ok, kiddo.” he chances asking me.
“I think so”, I tell him, but I’m honestly unsure.
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