Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond

I let his words sink in, my mind thinking on what he has just said.

"I don't need protecting Knox, I can protect myself. I want to build a life with you, share memories with you....not for you to only be with me to protect me. You're my mate, not my bodyguard."

"I'm both. This is your pack, this is your home. As much as it pains me, I know being without you will pain me more. I don't want to stop the alpha training program, but..."

"I don't want you to give up that up." My hands cup across his jaw line. A day old stubble tickling under my touch. The alpha training program is his pride and joy, something he has created himself, with no help, he made it happen himself. I could never expect him to give that up, not for me, not for anyone.

He takes my hands off his face, placing them down by my lap, holding them within his.

"I can't offer you a pack, my pack was destroyed. Any claim to being alpha died when the pack died. I've thought about starting a pack, starting again..."

"So you are from alpha blood? I thought you might have been...you heal like an alpha." My mind casts back to when Jaxon's wolf has torn into Knox's, the damage on a non alpha blood would have led to death.

"Yes, I was the alpha's son. All my family..."

"Not..."

"Yes, I had a younger sister."

"Oh Knox....I'm so sorry."

"It was a lifetime ago." Sadness falls upon his face until he starts to mask it again, that barrier was going back up. I didn't have much longer

"Healing has no time frame, I of all people am starting to understand that."

"Once I mark you, and believe me when I say I can't hold on much longer, I will move here. I would become a member of the Dark Phantom pack, with your family's approval." His tone was steadfast, not up for negotiation. But he had already lost too much in life, gone through more than anyone should have...and at such a young age. Could I expect him to give up on his passion for me?

"Dad has asked that we wait until after the wedding, give him a chance to lock Mum down until we start our own forever."

"I can wait." He smiles out, that sultry glint returning to the corner of his eyes.

"Really? Because I'm not sure I can.." My stomach flutters just at the thought of it, of completing the mate bond.

"You are the pack princess Red, it is only fitting that the pack celebrate with you."

"Celebrating seems like the last thing the pack needs right now." My chin sinks down slightly as I think about the attack, of how many lives we have lost. The true reason for the attack something I'm trying to not let my mind spiral into.

Sensing my guilt, his thumb hooks under my chin, tilting it back up to look him in the eyes.

"Life comes with the good and the bad, we celebrate the good, and we mourn the bad. I can't ever lose you Red, that is one thing I would never come back from." His thumb pulls my face closer to his, where his lips gently press against mine. Fragility is within this kiss, all of his layers are stripped back, his emotions seeping through the mate bond. I've never felt this side to him, to the mate bond.

"Can I ask a question?" I pull back from his kiss, my hands lacing around the back of his neck.

"Ask me anything."

"Your pack...what happened?"

"Honestly...I'm not entirely sure. I've tried to research what has happened, but it had been cleverly covered up." He shrugs out.

"Covered up?"

"Oh yes, that's why I've covered my own tracks...as far as whoever did the attack...all died that day. All members of the alpha family perished."

"Kit..." His eyes return to mine, I'm now understanding the gravity of why he asked me to call him Kit. He has no family left to call him that name and just that thought alone makes my heart tang with pain.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you? I can't make up for your past, but I promise to love you with the same fierceness, the same strength of an entire pack, an entire family...I will never leave you."noveldrama