“Get the fuck off me. She deserved it. I know you want her. You don’t want me!”
“That’s all she has been saying. Mike found her spewing hatred, laughing about what she’d done. The pack is gathered.”
Gage took steps toward her. He wanted to go chase after Connie, but he had to be the alpha. He had to make sure the threat was gone.
“Lock her up. Her fate will be decided by the pack.”
“Dad, just fucking kill her,” Tanner said. “You know you want to.”
“My wants do not count. She will be judged.” His grandfather had always taught him to keep his emotions in check. To not let them run free and risk his alphaship. This was one of those moments.
He tilted his head up to the sky and sent a thank you to the man looking down on him. Without his guidance, he wouldn’t have been able to make such a clear-headed decision.
Tanner took Tiffany away.
Without another thought to the pack, Gage took off, following the smell of his mate.
Halfway into the forest, the blood had stopped. There were no tracks of it, and it was gone from the air.
He heard her up ahead and he walked on, finding Connie sitting on the ground, completely naked, with her back against a fallen tree.
She looked up at him.
Her leg was healed. Not a single mark.
“You knew?” she asked.
“It was the only way to keep you safe,” he said.
He went to her, pulling her into his arms. He sat with her close, pressing his face against her neck. “Don’t ever scare me like that.”
She snorted. “Because that was all on me.”
He chuckled.
“What will happen to Tiffany?”
“The pack will decide.”
Connie cupped his face. “You really do love me?”
“With all my heart. Marry me, Connie?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t want to think about it?”
She chuckled. “There’s nothing to think about. When I’m with you, I’m the happiest woman on the planet.”
“I will make you happy, Connie, that I can promise you.”
“I have no doubt.”
He grabbed the back of her neck, kissing her head.
She spun in his arms, straddling his waist, and he felt the heat of her pussy. “I want you, Gage.”
He was already naked, so lifting her and putting her on his cock wasn’t a problem at all.
He loved her. He was never going to fail her again.
Connie was his, and that was the way it was going to stay.
Epilogue
Five years later
“Merry Christmas!”
Gage opened the door and greeted his son and his son’s mate.
“Hey, Dad,” Tanner said.
“Hello, Mr. Silver,” Eliza said.
He laughed. “Please, you can call me Gage.”
“Honey, Tanner and Eliza are here.”
Connie appeared on the stairs with their baby girl on her hip. “It’s about time you guys showed up.”
Gage stepped away from the door to pull his wife into his arms and kiss his daughter’s head.
The past five years had been surreal. By mutual vote within the pack, Tiffany was expelled for her crimes, and they demanded he mark her so other packs would know what shame she brought on. When the pack made such a decree, there was nothing he could do about it. Tiffany had been banished.
Connie had recovered from turning into the wolf to help her heal, and that Christmas, Gage had married her. The pack had been present to witness it. They didn’t go away for a honeymoon as he was the alpha, however, for three blissful days, he got Connie all to himself. Then the pack had needed him. Now three days, once a year, was what he got to spend with his woman.
Tanner had found his true soulmate, Eliza. She was a small woman, sweet, kind, with a snorting laugh, and a wicked sense of humor. Connie and his son were friends. Neither of them brought up the rejection, and in a way, they’d been able to become a family.
Even though he’d wanted to have kids immediately, Connie had wanted to spend time with him. They had four years of bliss until she finally caught, and now they had a baby girl.
“You’ve already put the tree up?” Tanner asked.
“What can I say? We love Christmas around here,” Gage said.
“Your presents are already underneath the true,” Connie said. “This little girl is feeling hungry.”
Gage closed the front door to follow his wife into the kitchen. She sat their daughter in a high chair and went to the fridge, where he had already prepared several foods for her to eat. He didn’t want her eating any processed foods.
“You don’t mind Tanner being here?” Gage asked.