Chapter 480

Mark watches Pippa carefully, still completely at a loss regarding what to do or say to calm her down, to let her know that it’s all right. Because she’s right – completely right. None of this is simple. She is, by all accounts, married to another man and newly the mother of his child.

But despite all of that, besides her slim little chest heaving with anger, Mark notes that…Pippa doesn’t leave the alcove.

And it’s not because he’s keeping her here by force.

Be cool, be cool, his wolf cautions, even has he fails to take that advice himself and darts anxiously back and forth in Mark’s soul.

Mark exhales slowly and holds Pippa’s gaze. “Your situation is even more complex than you’re painting it,” he says, doing his damn best to stay calm.

Pippa stiffens, her shoulders straightening as she glares at him. “By which you mean?”

He raises an eyebrow at her. “You’re leaving out the fact that your Alpha is mated to someone else as well. Happily so, by all accounts.”

Pippa inhales deeply through her nose, her eyes flaring as she glares at Mark.

His wolf howls in his soul, anguished, wondering if it was the wrong thing to say.

But damn it, what the hell is the right thing to say in a situation like this?

“Elias will never leave me,” Pippa says, her voice tight, lifting the baby higher in her arms. Mark’s eyes move for a moment to little Bianca, seeing that she’s calming somehow, his heart gladdening for it. Because that little baby – she’s not even his child, and he feels…such a tie to her. His mate’s little girl – of course she’s precious to him.

“I’m not really…concerned with Elias right now,” Mark says quietly, sighing as he runs his hand through his hair. “Pippa, can we just…talk? Normally? I mean, you’re so resistant to this, but I’m not going away.”

“I wish you would!” she snaps.

“What, so you can hang out alone in the alcove?” Mark asks, sarcastic, waving around to it. But then he drops his hand, a little ashamed at himself for snapping like that.

Pippa just glares at him, so Mark carries on.

“Pippa, you are my mate,” he says, sighing, shaking his head at her, pressing a hand to his heart. “I know that you feel it too. Can we just…calm down? Take a minute to get to know each other?”

“Is that seriously what you want to do, Mark?” she snaps, taking a step towards him, her mouth pulling down at the corners. “You want to just take some time to get to know each other?”

“Well, yeah?” Mark says, wary, knowing that this is a trap but not understanding it yet.

“And how would you suggest we do that?” she snaps, glaring hard.

“Um, we could…hang out?” he says, awkward, curling in on himself a little as he realizes that he has…absolutely no answer to that question and feeling like an absolute idiot. “We could…have dinner? Talk?”

A rough little laugh breaks from Pippa’s mouth. “My entire life is falling apart, and you want to hang out?”

He grimaces, not getting it, but knowing that this is bad. “Um, yes?”

“And what does one do when they hang out?”

Mark sighs. “I don’t know, Pippa. We could…get some pizza? Just…relax? And talk?”

“I am a Luna and a mother,” Pippa snaps, advancing on him again, cradling her baby close. “I am fighting to adjust to the loss of my family and my position in society so that I can give my little girl a better life. And while I am happy to make that sacrifice for her, I am struggling at every turn to understand who I am in this world! Not to mention that my Alpha has fallen in love with another man – an act that would result in his death in our home nation. And that might very well result in me being abandoned and alone here –“

“Pippa, we would never let you be abandoned, of course we’d always support you –“

“My life is falling apart!” she shouts, breaking in, desperate, her voice cracking. “And I am trying to hold it together with the bare edges of my nails! I have all the responsibilities of a grown woman, Mark Sinclair – I am the mother to an infant child, I have my Alpha’s household to establish and run, and you want to…hang out!?”

Mark groans a little, hanging his head, seeing her point.

Because even if he and Pippa are the same age…their lives are completely different. And his suggestion that she act like any other nineteen-year-old girl and just hang out with him – grab some pizza, watch a movie, chat about their interests – utterly neglects to take into consideration who she is and what she needs.

“You’re a boy, Mark,” Pippa says, soft and sad. He raises his head enough to see her looking down at her baby, tears clinging to her lashes, threatening to fall. “I – I already have one child, I don’t need another. I’m sorry – I’m being cruel but…” she takes a deep breath and raises her eyes to his, her mouth trembling a little. “I don’t accept this bond, Mark. I – I can’t. It’s too hard – I have an Alpha I very much like, and he…I need to concentrate on that relationship before it all collapses before me. I’m sorry. I…I’m very sorry to cause you pain, but no.”

She turns sharply, moving swiftly out of the alcove and back down the hall towards her room, her head tucked low as she goes.

Mark watches her until he can’t see her anymore, his heart aching to see her go, his wolf howling for her to come back. But even as his wolf howls and nips and scratches him internally, urging him to go after her, Mark keeps his place.

After all, he knows better than to press a lady when she says no.

And it’s not that he’s given up…he just…needs time to think. After all, not accepting the bond is not precisely the same as a rejection, is it? Even if it is not a fantastic start.

No, Mark sighs, thinking that even if it pains him, it may be best to just give Pippa what she needs and asks for right now, even if that is for him to step away and give her space. Because she is his mate, and what she needs is now, incontrovertibly, his top priority.

Mark’s wolf grumbles, discontent as he pushes up from the wall and begins to walk away in the other direction, his head hanging low. But he clenches a fist as he goes, ready, for the first time, for some big changes in his life.

I groan a little, nuzzling closer to Jackson’s bare skin, wanting desperately to go back to sleep. Because I’m tired – and I was having just the best dream, which was mostly just a rehashing of what happened after Jackson laid me back on that couch in the little dining room, and slipped his hands down over my hips…

I smile, remembering it, sighing happily and turning my face over on his chest, wanting to go back to all of that…

But my eyes fly open when I realize that my wolf is standing very still in my soul.

Just…staring.

At it.

What, she whispers, her eyes wide. What…the hell is that…

I gasp, sitting up straight, instantly awake and starting to pant with fear because…

Because what the hell is that!? That…that new blue line in my soul…leading off to…

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

It’s…it’s a fucking bond…

My mind begins to race as my wolf tosses her nose back and howls in fear, turning hastily away from the new bond, her feet scrabbling for purchase in my soul as she sprints away from it – sprints far away – getting as far as she can as fast as possible –

Because how the fuck did this happen!?

I smack my hand across my mouth, horrified. A new bond, a new…mate!? Fucking – how!?

My mind instantly flashes through memories –

Jesse waking up in the middle of the night wreathed in shadows –

Because Midnight found him in the night, but he couldn’t see her, but it developed –

A bond, a mating bond became apparent between them even if he hadn’t seen her yet –

My head spins around, looking frantically –

But Jackson is still beneath me, thankfully sleeping peacefully through my panic. I slam down on the bond between us, not wanting him to wake, because this is going to kill him –

And Marigold, there, in her little tiny bed in the corner – my little girl – I sob against my hand, because I –

I can’t handle this –

So many changes, so fast! And now another fucking bond – another fucking mate!? And a shadowed one, like Midnight!?

What the hell is my grandmother trying to do to me here!?