“Who did all that?” This would be the moment Bosse remembered for all days. Of all the awful times in his old pack and surviving Krol’s prison, he had never thought to be here in this minute with a woman who loved him and almost sacrificed her life for him.
He’d never considered himself worthy of anyone like Alifair. Never saw himself as more than a monster, a killing machine.
This woman opened a cage door to free him and gave him a new life.
More than all that, she showed him the meaning of love.
“Are you even listening?” she chastised him lightly, laughing as she did.
“No. I was enthralled by the sight of you.” He hoped that would make up for being rude.
She laid her second hand over his and gripped him tighter. Her smile didn’t vanish, but it relaxed. “I keep thinking about how I found you.”
Maybe he hadn’t earned forgiveness for being distracted.
Without pausing long, she said, “And who you are now.”
Unsure of where she was going with this, he stayed quiet.
“You kept trying to push me away in that cage area, warning me to get out.”
He remembered every second. “I spoke the truth.”
“No, you didn’t speak the truth. You believed what everyone had said about you. You believed you were something they made you do.” Studying him a bit, she asked, “Would you battle and kill a shifter today if ordered to do so if you had no conflict with one?”
“No.” He shared this body and owed Titan to have a say and asked telepathically,You heard our mate, Titan. Am I speaking for both of us?
Titan spoke this time with more energy in his words.We lived that life the best we could and survived. I trust you to decide our battles again, but I will kill anyone who tries to harm our mate.
Alifair watched Bosse as he had that internal conversation. He explained what Titan had said.
“I thought you might be talking to Titan.” That seemed to tickle her.
Wise mate to learn his ways. His wolf loved to hear her say his name.
Bosse still wanted an answer to his first question. “This looks like the room in Adrian and Jaz’s home I woke up in once before on the edge of death. Jaz healed me then. Who saved us in Slovakia?”
“You’re right. That’s where we are. I got sidetracked. Easy to do when I’m looking at you alive. I’ve met Jaz and will never be able to thank her enough for both of us.” Alifair stared at their hands. “Right before you fell unconscious, you said something about shifters coming in, and there were many. I lost consciousness right after you.”
He gulped, remembering that awful moment. “I was at my lowest point because I could not protect you.”
She kissed his forehead and grunted in pain at bending over so far, then sat up again. “The shifters coming in were led by Ivo, Magdelina’s mate. He was in a rage. I heard that Adrian tried to talk to him, but Ivo ran past him to reach Magdelina. The last words I heard her say were, ‘Do not die,’ but I missed the rest. She was telling me, ‘Do not die. I feel my mate is near.’”
“Before coming back to Slovakia for you, I recall Adrian telling Jaz that no one was to share where Adrian was going to keep Ivo from showing up. They worried Ivo would just kill everything in his path. I would understand that, but that Guardian might not.”
Cocking her cute eyebrow, Alifair said, “No one can stop the power of love.”
Bosse could not argue with that.
Alifair explained, “When I was with Magdelina in Krol’s castle, she told me she could not use her power until she gave birth because the baby needed it.” Alifair stopped and said, “Not the baby, their cub.”
Bosse loved seeing her happy. “Very good.”
She winked at him. “I’m a quick learner.” Then she got back to her story. “Anyhow, while discussing her pregnancy, she said she had no worries while she had her mate nearby with his power. He would see her through the labor and make delivery easier. I thought she meant Ivo would make sure she had everything she needed, but Ivo is a powerful Gallize healer. When Jaz heard what he did for both of us, she paid him a compliment and said they should meet someday to exchange thoughts on healing. Ivo drained himself by jumping between us until he felt I would be okay so he could finish working on you.”
“I wish to meet this man and thank him myself.”
“Magdelina wants to come visit after the cub is born. She said the Guardian would make that happen. She also told me Ivo wants to thank us in person for helping his mate and cub. While he healed me, the message Magdelina had asked me to carry to him passed into his mind. She said he had tears of appreciation. Speaking of the Gallize boss, I haven’t met that man.”
