“What should I do, Claire?”
“You need to explain, apologise and beg forgiveness.”
“I know. And I will. But I don’t want to upset her any further.”
Claire nodded, her phone beeping.
She pulled her cell out of her pocket then sighed. “I’m going to make a phone call, then come back. You three wait out here and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Claire walked off and began talking on her cell.
Sam and Dane sat in the plastic chairs in the hallway and I loitered around, doing laps on the linoleum.
When Claire came back, she had a grim look of determination on her face.
“Okay. Let’s go. Tayte, you’re with me.”
I followed Claire into the hospital room, my mate talking to our baby through the little incubator she was in.
I hung by the doorway, ready for the attack.
Claire moved over to her patient. “Celeste, I just spoke to Dex about the other night to confirm what Tayte said about his conversation with the bears.”
Celeste pulled her arm out of the incubator and turned to me.
I inhaled sharply, her anger slicing through my heart like claws through flesh.
“Get him out of here.”
I looked towards Claire, who took over.
“Celeste, you need to hear him out. Your whole future, and that of all the packs in the Woodlands depends on it.”
That seemed to give Celeste pause, because she drooped, her shoulders sagging as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Fine. Talk.”
“I know you heard what I said to the bears about giving you up after the baby was born. But I would never do that.”
She glared at me, her face not changing a single bit.
“I don’t believe you.”
I laughed sadly. “Well, that’s ironic, because I was lying to them, not you. How could you think, after all the love we’ve shared over the past six months that I’d ever abandon you?”
She looked away, but I could see the pain in her face.
I went down on my knees to beg.
“Sweetheart, look at me, please. I lied that night. Lied my ass off. You heard me tell them that you weren’t my mate, and you know that’s a lie. I had to buy us more time. You told me that they outnumber us two to one. My whole town will die if the bears attack as one force. I had to tell them something to give us enough time to mount a proper defence. I will never, ever give you up. Even if you and Sam and Dane vote to kick me out forever, I’ll sleep on the doorstep for the rest of my life.”
She looked at me this time, her blue eyes as dark as granite.
“I know you want the baby… you don’t want me.”
I shook my head. “You’re right about one thing, and horribly wrong about the other. Of course, I want the baby. She’s ours, she’s yours. But I want you even more. How can I prove it to you?”
I stayed on my knees, hoping she’d see how truly sorry I was.