Page 78 of Crystal Luna
“It seems so.”
“Where do you believe she lives?”
“Just outside of the village in a small cabin.”
Fuck. That was the true reason she’d been so upset. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to know exactly who she was. Otherwise they’d be using her name.
“She must have been here too not long ago, I sensed her on the porch,” one of them said.
Heath hated how he couldn’t tell them apart. “Yes, she came to speak to me last night.”
“About us?”
Technically, yes. But he wasn’t about to tell them that. He wanted a genuine reaction to them meeting her. “She didn’t mention anything about sensing a bond to you.” He carefully pulled at Velora’s mind, not wanting her to feel his true emotions. “I’ve asked her to meet me here.”
Though all the signs pointed to them being her mate, Heath hoped he was wrong. Velora deserved better than them and if he’d done anything right the last few years, he hoped she knew that.
A tension fuelled silence filled the room while they waited. All the while Heath prayed to the goddess that Velora wouldn’t become their luna. She’d never spoken in detail, but he’d seen what they’d done to her. It had taken years for her to heal from their trauma. She deserved so much better.
Velora didn’t approach through the village, so the twins couldn’t see her out of the window from their angle. As she entered the house and approached the office, Heath braced himself for the incoming storm.
One of the twins leapt to his feet when he sensed the proximity of his mate, but the other seemed more patient. He only turned his body towards the door and watched with curious eyes.
Heath could sense Velora’s racing heart as she stepped into the office. This was a version of her he was no longer used to. Her head was bowed, shoulders slumped as her gaze fixed to the floor.
Both twins froze, eyes widening and faces paling. Velora didn’t move. Her heart raced so fast that Heath thought she would faint.
The one standing spoke first. “Vel…” Unable to finish, his brother took over.
“We thought you were dead.”
“I hoped you would,” she said with a shaky voice. She’d lost every bit of confidence she’d gained over the last three years. It was as if Heath had travelled back in time to when she’d appeared at his borders.
The one standing reached for her hand, but she quickly snatched it away. “Vel, I’m not going to hurt you.” But she didn’t move.
Wanting to get a hold of the situation, Heath tucked his personal feelings aside. “Seems like we need no introductions. Why don’t we talk about how to proceed?”
The standing one whipped his head around to Heath. “We’re taking her home.”
“I didn’t doubt that, but my pack would love to wish her farewell and she still has to organise a few things. Velora can’t just leave immediately.”
“That’s not what my brother meant to say,” the other assured, seeming to be the voice of reason. Maybe he was used to cleaning up his brother’s messes.
“No,” Velora sobbed, that one simple word meaning so much more.
Heath sighed and stood from his seat, walking past the short-fused alpha. He stopped in front of Velora, trying to sweep his own emotions aside and think reasonably. She was luna—she had to go with them. There was no way she could stay.
“Look at me,” he said softly.
She usually wasn’t the one to ignore him but in that moment, she took her time. She inhaled a few deep breaths before slowly lifting her gaze to his.
“You are luna now and that means you have to go with them. If I could, I would ask them to join you here. But they can’t abandon their pack. People depend on them just as much as they depend on you.”
“You promised me,” she sobbed, tears filling her eyes. “I’ll always have a safe haven. You said I could stay as long as I wanted.”
He wanted to reach out and touch her, to brush away those tears threatening to fall. She was breaking his heart, though not as much as he was breaking hers. He had promised her and she trusted him to take care of her.
“You will always have a place here.”