Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“But I will tell you this.” She looked me in the eye. “She was no match for him. I’m sure that is why the bond wasn’t completed. I met her.”
“You did?”
“Mordecai was concerned for Beaumont,” she said with a sigh. “We traveled to London so my mate could check on him. I suppose I was curious. Millicent was beautiful, yes. Sweet. Very kind to her neighbors. Devoted to her spouse.”
I swallowed hard.
“Beaumont would’ve walked all over her,” Helen said flatly. “His personality is too strong for a weak mate. She also showed no signs of the mating heat. Beau was overcome but she was only concerned with the departure of her human husband. I don’t believe the Boucher brothers crossed her mind once out of sight.”
“How is that possible?” I asked in confusion. The heat had been unbearable before we’d completed the bond. Even directly afterward, I’d felt like I was coming out of my skin.
“Erik mentioned that your experience has been more acute than he’d encountered before,” Helen said, lacing her fingers in her lap. “I have a theory on that.”
I nodded when she paused.
“Because Beau walked away by his own choice,” she said slowly. “I believe your bond started out stronger than others so he wouldn’t be capable of it again.”
“So, he should’ve bonded her,” I said, pointing at her.
She side-eyed me. “Perhaps you should be thankful that your mate recognized, however unconsciously, that it wouldn’t be a successful mating bond in the ways that matter.”
“Is that even possible?”
Helen let out a small laugh. “Oh, yes. I’ve met many mates who were bonded in all ways and chose to never move beyond that. Building a life and family with someone creates a sense of intimacy, of course, but without love, what is the point?”
“Beau doesn’t love me.”
“Do you love him?”
“No.”
Helen scoffed. “If you did not care you, would not be concerned with the mate he never bonded.”
“I don’t like being second choice,” I shot back.
“You really believe that is the reason for your heartache,” she said in sympathetic surprise. “Child, you would not be jealous if you did not care for Beaumont. The opposite of love is apathy, an emotion that I’m not sure you’re capable of when it comes to my godson.”
“He’s your godson?”
“He is. He and Daniel, both. As my sons are the godsons of Erik and Matilda. It’s a custom my mate insisted on.”
“You didn’t agree with it?” I asked curiously.
“In my experience, a person’s loved ones take care of children if the parents are lost. There is no need for specific plans.”
For a moment, as her eyes grew unfocused, I wondered what her story was. She was obviously Native American. Her beautiful bone structure and sleek black hair were evidence of that. How long had she and Mordecai been together? Where was she from? When? What had she seen in her long life?
“What are the two of you doing out here?” Beau asked, sticking his head out the front door.
“Visiting,” Helen replied, looking at him over her shoulder.
“Are you warm enough?” he asked, his eyes rising to meet mine.
“I’m fine.”
“We’ll be in soon,” Helen said, shooing him back into the house. She turned to me. “He worries I will say something that upsets you.”
“He doesn’t like it when I get cold,” I countered.
“The heat should take care of that for the time being,” she joked.
I jerked in surprise. I wasn’t cold. The heat that had become a part of me was back, and it throbbed gently when Beau was close.
I let out a shuddery breath of relief.
“You and Beau are an excellent match,” Helen said, smiling gently at me. “Your soul has found his again in this life, when the time was right. Your experiences had shaped you into true equals, and perhaps most importantly, when the two of you needed each other most. It was the same for Mordecai and me. He appeared precisely when he was supposed to. Something to consider.”
She rose gracefully to her feet and went back into the house while I turned her words over in my head. Was that the secret? Had we met again in this life because that’s when we needed each other?
I thought about it as I headed back inside.
I hadn’t been in any particular need when Beau and I met. I loved my job and liked my apartment. I had friends and a social life. It wasn’t anything special, but I hadn’t been unhappy. I hadn’t been particularly happy, either, but I figured that was pretty normal. Happiness happened for me in moments. It had never been a sense of being.
Beau, though.
I carefully hung my coat in the closet, remembering the stiff way he’d stood at the receptionist’s desk the first time I saw him. The flash of anger and fear in his eyes when the heat had pulsed between us. The way he’d asked to hold me, like the words were torn from him. The stillness of his body later, when Ambrose had begun detailing the place where their brother had been tortured.