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"Can I walk you out?" she asked hi on the bravest smile she could muster

"I would like that," he answered with his own pain lacing his words

They walked hand in hand in silence to the edge of the forest where his tarriors had departed only a few days ago, but to Alina it felt like months For three days she had lived in a bubble surrounded by Vasile She had foolishly thought that it would not cooodbye For how long she had no clue She was afraid to turn and look at him, terrified for him to see the desperation she felt, embarrassed by her neediness

"I need you even more," he told her softly as he turned her to face hi her "You have no need to feel embarrassed, Mina You can look inside of me and see just how frantic I am to keep you with ly my wolf and I feel for you, you will run"

As she looked up at him she was surprised to see the sheen of wetness in his eyes The tears never fell, but the anguish of what he felt was clearly there She needed to be strong for theo of her own pain long enough to look into her mate and sucked in a breath as she realized just how closely he was to taking her with him, consequences be damned

"We can do this," she said with a s their skin to touch He turned his face into her pal a soft kiss to it "I a for you in two years You do what you need to in order to help our pack heal, and when it is time, ill finish this"

The wicked smile that stretched across his delicious"We will indeed finish this, beloved, and it will be sooner rather than later"

She was sure that he would kiss her, hoped beyond reason that he would pull her close to him and press his warm lips to hers, but he did not Instead he pressed theainst hi, not out loud, but he flooded her with his love through their bond causing her gut to clench against the assault When he finally pulled away, he looked into her eyes one last ti as he went She had felt the determination it had taken for hio, and she wondered if either of the would surely cause She could feel hi to keep her fro his distress For now she would let hi He was hers, and she would not let hiain ainst the vast forest stretched out before her "Never again will you suffer alone"

Vasile slowed to a trot once he ithin a et control of his emotions before anyone saw hi out of control It was seen as weak, and weakness was so was co When the pack castle came into view, for the first tiht not because he did not love it but because hisfor him Instead she was a hundredthe sa in him with every mile as he moved further and further away He stopped abruptly and threw his head back as a deep mournful howl rushed out of hi the ocean was just a pond He was barely holding hi he would be able to keep the beast fro after their mate In all truthfulness it was a tossup betould lose control first―thehowls of his pack He tried to keep his eher up wolves would have felt sorief More than likely they would think it was still over the death of his parents They had no idea that he had just left hiswas telling him he needed to keep the fact that he had found her a secret If nothing else, his father had taught him to listen to his intuition Oftentis before the man did and so he would listen He would also make sure Nicu and Ion had not said a word to anyone He was pretty sure they would not speak of it until he permitted them to, but it was better to be clear about it than make assumptions

As he entered the castle back in his human form and dressed in clothes that were left by the back entrance for wolves who needed theht to his father’s study My study he re for him He motioned for Ion to shut the door and then turned to face them All three of them dropped their eyes imht

"Alin, what do you know?" he asked his second

Alin looked up butVasile’s "Ion and Nicu filled es I dispatched the help you requested and have been waiting to see what more you would like done"

Vasile looked at Ion and Nicu pointedly

It was Ion who spoke first "We figured anything else you wanted others to know you would tell yourself"

Vasile nodded "Thank you for your discretion" He began to pace as he considered his top three wolves As far as he knew his father had trusted the him to tread carefully

"I had a se One of the younger wolves was pushing himself on females because he was determined to find his true mate His family is loyal and I do not want their nahout the pack soiling his reputation It has been dealt with and he understands the consequences if he ain" Vasile looked at Alin as he spoke What he was saying was true to an extent, and it was feasible that such an incident would need to be kept quiet He just hoped Alin accepted it as the information Ion implied they had withheld

Alin nodded "It is hard to wait for our truewolf that was desperate, but his eyes were void of emotion

Vasile dismissed them and as soon as the door closed he reached for her