Chapter 146
Eamon’s POV
“Yes, and then when I told him to… he…”
My voice trails off as I realize the person I’m talking to is not listening to me at all. His gaze is thoroughly distracted to something on the dance floor. Glancing around me, I realize that he is not the only one.
Nearly everyone in the room is looking outward, and those that aren’t at first and nudged and pointed in that direction.
I glance too, curious.
…Oh. Cara.
In the middle of the dance floor, Alaric and Cara are slow–dancing. Casting shy glances at each other, they seem entirely oblivious to everyone else in the room.
Everyone else in the room, however, is looking straight back at him.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I say politely to the people around me.
Sipping my glass of wine, I make my way over to one corner of the ballroom where my brothers have gathered.
To my surprise, Ryan and Aidan are both sitting politely at a table.
The twins are staring at Cara and Alaric with severe, unreadable expressions… yet they make no move to interfere with what’s happening here.
This puzzles me to no end: The twins have always seemed to oppose Alaric’s pursuit of Cara, yet tonight, they haven’t tried to stop this at all.
Ryan catches me looking at the pair first, then gently knocks his twin on the arm.
Aidan looks at Ryan with annoyance at first, but then follows Ryan’s gaze up to me.
“What’s going on with you two?” I ask them.
Aidan says: “We aren’t doing anything!”
Ryan agrees: “We are just sitting here!”
“I know,” I say. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
I motion towards the dance floor. “You aren’t going to try to stop that?”
“Why would we?” Aidan asks, playing dumb.
Ryan isn’t quite so combative. “I don’t know. Aidan and I talked about it some… We trust Cara, and have decided to let whatever is going to happen or not happen between her and Alaric happen naturally. If she picks him, she picks him. If she doesn’t, we don’t want it to have anything to do with us.”
“We’re not going to lose her over this!” Aidan adds, grumbling.
“I finally understand what Colin meant! … I know it! Stop looking at me like I’m a fool!”
As Aidan’s glance falls back onto the couple on the dance floor, Ryan continues to look at me.
“You know, brother, our sister’s love life isn’t the only one on our radar,” Ryan says. “The pack elders have even
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approached me to encourage you to find your mate and produce an heir soon.”
I’m well aware of the elders‘ wishes for me.
For years, they’ve come to me directly with their requests for my future. They must have been tired of my many, tired yet polite rejections of their well–meaning but impossible plans.
“I’ll tell you what I told them before,” I say.
“I have no intention of seeking out a mate just to produce an heir. Maybe that’s what’s expected of me, but I refuse to participate in such nonsense.
“If I meet my mate, and things happen, that’s one thing. But I will not force one to have the other.”
Glancing at Cara, I add, “Besides, I already have someone in mind to be my heir.”
Ryan sighs. “…Well, at least one of us is having a shot at love right now.”
“Stupid Love!“Aidan says. “Seeing Alaric and Cara reinforces my desire to stay single,”
“Goddess is so rude! Why would I must to be tied down to someone? Just because of fate?!”
Ryan says, “Hey! Bro! Watch your language!”
He says that, though he himself is the epitome of chaos. I imagine, when he meets his mate, she will sweep him up into a whirlwind and his entire opinion will change.
“Well, I don’t know what the future holds for me,” Ryan says.
“There’s someone out there for all of us,” I assure him.
He shrugs like he’s not sure but couldn’t care either way.
Colin, who had been quietly listening to us, laugh. “I’ll find my mate. I don’t care how far I have to go to find her. She’s out there for me.”
“Sounds like a nightmare,” Aidan says.
“Sounds like wishful thinking,” Ryan adds.
Looking at my brothers, I sigh and shake my head.
To be fated to either of them though meant those mates would have to be accustomed and attracted to that. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for each of them, and for me.
For now though, we all look back out at our sister, who still remains the highlight of the evening, even if she doesn’t realize it.
***
Alaric’s POV
The music finally stops, and it’s time to release Cara from my arms.
Everything in me is begging me to continue to hold onto her, but she’s already trying to step back.
I want her, want her affections, but not because I have to force or coerce her.
Gods, I want to embrace her, to bury my face into the crook of her neck and breathe her in.
I want to drown in her scent that I’ve missed so much.
Chapter 148
…Yet I can’t do any of that.
I can’t risk offending or frightening her. For the sake of any potential future with her, we need to do things at her pace, going slowly.
I need to rebuild her trust first, and then her love. That is not something that can be rushed
Slowly, and with great hesitation, I lower my arms, releasing Cara.
Looking up at me with wide eyes, she seems like she wants to say something. My heart leaps, but I force myself to wait to hear her out.
Her lips part. “Alaric…”
She looks a bit hesitant: “About Mia and Ethan, I think I have something to tell you…”
“Such A lovely dance, you two! ”
One of the elders says as he approaches us. “A true spectacle for all to enjoy, and a reflection of the collaboration this project hoped to achieve!”
The elder’s sudden presence surprises me.
I didn’t realize anyone had been watching Cara and I dance, but looking around now, I see that many more people than just the elders seem interested in us. In fact, the entire room is still gaping at us.
Cara, blushing slightly, takes another step backwards. It feels like a new canyon is opening up between us as she nervously looks around, taking all the people staring at her.
“Congratulations to you both! “the elder continues.
“Thank you? “I say, though I’m not totally sure what he’s congratulating us for.
Perhaps because of the success of the project?
The elder waves the other elders closer, and soon Cara and I are both bombarded with congratulations from every direction.
It’s confusing and disorientating. The elders are important members of the pack, and not to be ignored. They often are in the know more than anyone else, but they shouldn’t know more than me, the Alpha King.
Even so, they take me by surprise when one elder says, “This is wonderful! Soon, we’ll have an heir!”
“…What?” I gasp.
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Chapter 147
