Chapter 103 The bond 01

Chapter 103: Chapter 103 The bond 01

Talia’s POV

We lay in silence for a long time after the servant left.

The fire crackled in the hearth, and the room was warm. Kaelen’s arm was still around my waist, and my head was still resting on his shoulder, and neither of us had moved.

I could feel his heartbeat beneath my palm, steady and strong. His chest rose and fell with each breath, slow and relaxed.

I did not want to break the silence. But I also did not want to pretend that nothing had changed.

"Are you not going to go out?" I asked. "As usual?"

He was quiet for a moment, as his thumb traced small circles on my hip.

"I do not want to go out today," he said.

I looked up at him, and his gray eyes were soft in the firelight.

"I just want to be with you," he continued. "And spend time with you. If that is okay."

My heart skipped. "It is... okay."

He pulled me closer, and I let him. Then we talked about the bond.

About how it had pulled us together from the moment we first saw each other. About how neither of us had chosen it, but neither of us could deny it.

"I fought it," Kaelen admitted. "At first, I did not want a mate. Because I did not want someone to worry about, and someone who could be used against me."

"What changed?" I asked.

He looked at me. "You."

I froze for a minute, before speaking. "What do you mean by, ME."

"When I first laid my eyes on you, I did not feel like letting you remain in that place for a minute longer. I did not care if it had to do with the mate bond or not, I just knew that you were coming with me to Blackmoor Valley," he confessed.

I was shocked beyond words, that I could only nod, before I moved on to the next question.

We talked about the contract.

About how we still did not know who had signed it or why. And about how the mystery haunted both of us.

"The bonding stone does not lie," he said. "So I think whoever signed that contract must be someone we know, and they must have had a very good reason."

"Do you think we will ever find out?" I asked.

"I do not know. But I will not stop looking," he said.

I nodded, because I knew he would do it, and I believed him.

We talked about our fears.

Kaelen admitted he was afraid of failing the pack, of not being strong enough to protect them, and of making the same mistakes his father had made.

"I watched him fall apart after my mother died," he said. "He was never the same, and I do not want to become him."

"You will not become like your father," I said.

"How do you know?" he looked at me.

"Because you are afraid of it, and he was not," I said confidently.

He was quiet for a moment, then he kissed my forehead.

We stayed like that for a while, with his forehead resting against mine, and his breath warm on my lips. I could feel the weight of his words settling in my chest, and filling the empty spaces I did not know I had.

"Tell me more," I said.

"About what?" he asked.

"About you, and about your life before me," I said.

He was quiet for a moment.

Then he told me about his childhood, about running through the forests of Blackmoor Valley with Jax and Silas and Cain, before everything changed. He also told me about the first time he shifted, about the pain and the freedom of it.

"I was scared," he admitted. "I did not know if I could control it, but my father was there, and he showed me how."

"He sounds like he was a good father," I said with a sad voice, as I remembered my own father.

"He was. Until he was not," he said flatly.

The sadness in his voice made my chest ache. I waited, letting the silence stretch, and giving him space to continue if he wanted to.

"My mother died when I was twelve," he said finally, "from sickness. There was nothing the healers could do."

"I am sorry," I whispered.

He nodded. "My father was never the same after that. He buried himself in work, in training, and in anything that kept him from feeling the loss. He forgot how to be a father, and he forgot how to be anything but an Alpha."

"What was she like?" I asked. "Your mother?"

His gray eyes softened. "She was warm and kind. She used to hum while she worked, and her laugh filled the whole room. She was also the only one who could make my father smile."

I wanted to ask more questions about his father, but his voice carried way too much sadness, and a bit of anger at the same time, so I talked about myself instead.

I admitted I was afraid of being abandoned.

"Everyone leaves," I said. "My mother, and Piper, eventually, when she finds her mate. So everyone leaves."

"I am not leaving," he said.

"You cannot promise that," I replied.

"I can, and I am," he said firmly.

I wanted to believe him, and I wanted to trust his words. But the fear still lingered, and it was very cold and heavy in my chest.