You Wouldn't Dare (Khaos Trilogy Book 1), стр. 70
“Do you really mean that?” I asked softly, my eyes shining bright with tears. He raised my hand to his lips and placed kisses along my knuckles.
“Of course I do. Please don’t doubt me when it comes to our baby. I will be there for you in whatever way you want me to be. I promise.” I gave him a hesitant smile and asked the question that was burning in my mind.
“Will you still feel the same way if I don’t mate with you?”
“I can’t pretend I’ll be happy about it but yes, I will still feel the same. Just know that there will never be another male in your life, I can’t have someone else raising my child.”
“That’s not your decision to make.”
“No, you’re right. It’s an incredibly selfish thing for me to say, but it’s true. I can’t watch you with someone else. The mate bond will always be between us. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if you fell for someone in this pack, but I also couldn’t live if you were to leave and take our child with you.”
“Khaos--”
“No, Violet. I know I’m being unreasonable, and I swore that I wouldn’t do this, that I would do things by your rulebook. If you want to see someone else, I can’t say I’ll be happy or that I’ll even understand, But I won’t stand in your way. I will have to make them stay on the side-lines, though. You can see him when the baby spends their nights with me – I’ll go along with your custody agreement so long as you promise to stay in this pack.”
“None of that will be necessary. I don’t want anyone else, Khaos,” I admitted with a sigh. He waved his hand as though to brush the conversation away.
“Let’s just agree to cross that bridge when it comes to it. The most important thing is proving myself to you, so you let me be a part of your lives.” He placed a hand over my stomach, his face shining with hope.
“I’d never deny you your right to be a father. I’ve made a lot of mistakes as far as this relationship is concerned, but from the moment I heard the news, I knew that you would be a good father. You have nothing to prove to me.” He pulled me down into his lap, cradling me close to his chest.
“I need to do this right, Violet. I can’t make the same mistakes my parents did, I need to end my tragic lineage once and for all. No child deserves to bear that burden. I want to bring joy and happiness to this family for a change, I can’t have my child growing up hating me.”
I caressed his cheek, my thumb grazing over his lower lip. “You’re nothing like them, Khaos, please never think like that. Our baby will love you as much as you love them, I promise.”
“I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to mess up and do all the wrong things.”
“That makes two of us, buddy.” He kissed the palm of my hand, his teeth lightly grazing the sensitive skin.
“We’ll get through it together,” he assured me, “we’ll find a style and rhythm that works for us both.”
“Do you promise?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck and tucked my head under his chin.
“I promise.”
I sighed, “we still need to talk about Logan and our separation this week. The baby doesn’t mean a magic wand has been waved and we have erased the past.”
“I know, sweetheart. I know. But for now, can we leave it? Nothing is going to be resolved straight away, and everything is still too tense. It’s going to take time. You know why I did what I did, and I’m sorry, but I won’t apologise for acting like a wolf. I thought someone was stealing my mate from me and there is not a wolf in the world that wouldn’t have acted similarly.”
“I know that, but--”
“There can be no buts about it. Don’t make me apologise for being true to what I am.”
“Okay,” I sighed again, “so what about this week?”
“What about it? We had a break. Everyone deserves a break. Heck, there are people in this very pack that live in separate houses despite being mates. We don’t have to check ourselves into little boxes of what’s normal and what’s not. This is our relationship, no one else’s. We will decide what works for us and what doesn’t. If that means we take breaks from each other, then so be it. So long as we know that we belong to each other, that we stay faithful and true, always returning to each other in the end, what does it matter?”
I remained silent, contemplating what he just said.
He was absolutely right.
Why did I feel as though I always had something to prove? Those ridiculous romance books had schooled me from a young age, warping my innocent, naïve mind into what was expected of a relationship. It mortified me that people knew what Khaos and I had gone through, that they didn’t see us as picture perfect, a couple to look up to.
What did it matter what