Miles’s Redemption

Chapter 7

Kareena couldn’t have picked a better place to get away than being at Miles’s cottage. Plus, she thought Leif and Jaden were great. It was obvious they were very much in love from the way they looked at each other. And they were constantly touching in some way.

“It’s really nice here,” Kareena said as she walked down the sandy shore, holding Miles’s hand.

“I’m glad you like it. I’ll have to take you here again sometime.”

“So you want me to stick around for a while then.”

Miles tugged Kareena to a stop and pulled her around so she stood facing him. He cupped her face in his hands and gently caressed her cheekbones with his thumbs. His face grew serious.

“I want it to be longer than just ‘awhile’,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll let you go any time soon.”

Kareena gulped. She’d known her feelings for Miles had been headed this way, but she’d never been too sure how he felt about her. Hearing him say he wanted her to stay with him made her heart beat a little faster.

“You want me to stay with you?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“Yes. If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve fallen for you. I haven’t always done the right thing in my life, but being with you is one of the best things that have happened to me. You make me feels things that at one time I thought I’d lost forever. That the wrong turn I’d taken made it so I’d never have what I have with you. I love you, Kareena.”

Kareena wasn’t a crier, but unshed tears burned the back of her eyes. She swallowed, fighting not to lose it. She reached up and placed her hands over Miles’s. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to trust another man enough to fall in love again after what my ex did to me, but you have shown me I can.” She took a deep breath. “I love you too.” She paused.

“Just don’t make me regret it.”

“I would never hurt you. You own my heart, and always will.” Miles claimed her lips in a kiss that was so sweet and tender it had Kareena fighting back tears again.

He finally pulled away. “Let’s go back to the cottage. Maybe we can sneak upstairs before Jaden and Leif come back.”

Kareena smiled. “I’ll race you back.”

She took off running, not waiting for Miles’s response. She heard him take after her, but he let her keep the lead. It wasn’t until they reached the sliding back doors of the cottage that he closed the distance between them and caught her around the waist. They barreled into the house.

Kareena drew up short when she spotted Jaden and Leif in the living room, kissing.

The couple broke apart. She felt her mouth drop open at the sight of their eyes mutedly glowing. There was no mistaking what she saw. It slowly faded as she stared at them.

“Their eyes. They glowed,” Kareena said as she tried to back up. All she managed to do was press even closer to Miles, who stood behind her.

“It’s all right, Kareena,” he said. “That’s normal.”

She tore herself out of Miles’s embrace and looked from him to the couple and back to him again. “Normal for what? Not once in all the time I’ve worked at the hospital have I ever seen anyone’s eyes do that.”

Miles sighed. “It’s normal for werewolves, which the three of us are.”

“Werewolves? You honestly can’t expect me to believe that.”

“It’s true. I planned to tell you later today.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Very.”

Kareena found herself frozen in place as Miles’s body blurred and shimmered while it took on another form. One minute the man she’d come to love stood in front of her, and the next, a white wolf had taken his place. Her gaze shot over to Jaden and Leif just in time to see Leif change into a wolf as well.

Jaden gave her a small smile. “I’d shift as well, but I can’t because of the baby.”

Kareena kept frantically shifting her gaze between the two wolves. She felt herself panic as she breathed too fast, and her heart raced. This was not happening. Werewolves weren’t supposed to exist. And she shouldn’t be in a room with three of them.

The white wolf took a couple of steps closer to Kareena, and that was enough to unfreeze her. She turned to get ready to bolt outside, but ended up going nowhere when Jaden just suddenly appeared in front of her. For being pregnant, she could move very fast. The other woman took hold of Kareena’s upper arms. Kareena tried to wrench away, but Jaden was much stronger than she looked, and Kareena couldn’t break free.

“Calm down,” Jaden said. “I know this is a lot to accept. It might be scary, but my dad would never do anything to hurt you. You’re his mate.”

“Your dad? That’s impossible. Miles isn’t that much older than you. He can’t be your father.”

“Werewolves live a very long time. I’m in my twenties, but my dad has seen many, many more years than that.”

Kareena was used to working under stressful situations in the ER. She’d been trained to never panic, to stay calm and do what needed to be done. But nothing could have prepared her for this. How did she get over the fact that the man she’d just proclaimed to love had turned out to be a creature that should be found only in fiction, not real life?

Her gaze was drawn to the wolf Leif had turned into as its body blurred and he became a man once more. He took a few steps toward her, holding his hands up in a gesture to pacify her.

“It’ll be all right, Kareena. Miles is still in there. We keep our human intelligence once we shift and understand every word spoken to us. As a wolf, Miles still loves you as much as he does while in his human form. As Jaden said, he would never do anything to harm you. You are his mate. Your souls joined when the mating bond formed between you.”

Kareena wanted to move away, but there was nowhere to go. Jaden still stood in front of her, Miles the wolf was close to her one side, and Leif was converging on her other. At her back were the sliding glass doors, but having seen how fast Jaden could move, Kareena doubted she’d ever make it without one of the others catching up with her first.

“Do you realize how freaky that sounds? Souls do not join,” she said. Her voice shook ever so slightly.

“I know this is hard for you to accept,” Leif said as he came closer. “But you have to.

You’re already in our world. There’s no changing that. Once a mating bond has formed, there is no breaking it. It’s for life.”

She felt a cold nose touch her hand, and Kareena let out a surprised yelp. She tried to jump away when she saw it was the white wolf that had touched her, but once again, she was stopped. Leif used her distraction to take her gently into his arms. She struggled, even though she didn’t stand a chance of getting free.

Leif easily subdued her and wrapped one of his hands around her wrist. He turned her and forced her fingers to sink into the fur on the white wolf’s back. “Touch him, Kareena. Get to know Miles in this form.” He ran her hand up to the wolf’s head, making her scratch behind Miles’s ears, which he seemed to like since he leaned into her, pressing his furry side against her leg.

The longer Leif forced Kareena to pet Miles the less scared she felt. Miles didn’t try to bite her. He just stared at her with the same violet eyes he had as a human. His gaze seemed to plead with her to get over her fear. Eventually, Leif released her, and she petted the wolf all on her own.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kareena saw Leif and Jaden leave the room. After they were gone, the white wolf’s body blurred and shimmered, and Miles was once more himself. Even though her heart tried to beat out of her chest, she held her ground. She decided freaking out wouldn’t get her anywhere. Instead, she focused on all the unanswered questions about everything she’d seen.

Miles reached out and ran the back of his fingers along her cheek. Kareena jumped but didn’t jerk away. He must have taken that as a good sign because he stepped closer and cupped her face.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I don’t really know. A part of me still wants to run out of here screaming.”

“I know, but I’m glad you aren’t.” He gently kissed her forehead. “Let’s sit on the couch and I’ll try to answer all the questions I’m sure you have.”

He released her and went and sat in the middle of the couch, which gave Kareena only one choice, to sit beside him. She did and waited for Miles to begin. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess.

“I guess I should start with some of the things Jaden and Leif already told you. Yes, Jaden is my daughter, and I am old enough to be her father. I’m nine hundred and ninety-

eight years old. Werewolves live to the age of three thousand. You are my mate. I knew the instant I smelled your scent in the restaurant and it set off my mating urge. The first time we made love, the mating bond formed between us, our souls becoming one. Now we won’t be able to stand to be apart for long periods of time or we’ll suffer through separation anxiety. I’ve never experienced it, but no one wants to experience it.” He met and held her gaze. “I do love you, Kareena. You are still one of the best things that have ever happened to me. It ranks up there with me finding out about Jaden almost two years ago.”

“You didn’t know her before that?”

He shook his head. “No. Jaden’s mother left me without telling me she was pregnant.

She was mortal like you.”

“Did she leave because you were a werewolf?”

“No.” Miles sighed. “She’d come to accept that. It was the path I’d chosen for my life that she couldn’t condone. As I told you before, I’ve done some dark things. When I’d met Jaden’s mother, for a time, I pulled myself back to what I had once been. It didn’t last for long. I let my ambitions get in the way. She died when my daughter was young.”

“Was she your mate?”

“No, but I did love her. I just didn’t love her the way she deserved.” He paused then said, “In my past, I’ve done some pretty despicable things. Having Jaden in my life has shown me I was on a path of destruction. And now I have you to love, to protect.”

Sitting beside Miles, listening to him talk, Kareena became numb. She was having a hard time getting over the fact he was a werewolf and almost a thousand years old. Then it hit her. He’d said his kind lived up to three thousand years. He’d even called her a mortal. She’d die first. He’d stay young-looking and live on for another two thousand years without her.

Kareena wrapped her arms around her middle as the full impact of it sorted itself out in her head. “This can’t work.”

Miles turned to face her. “What won’t?”

“Us. Unless you can turn me into a werewolf, which I’m not sure I’d want anyway.

It’s not as if we can have a happily ever after together. My lifespan is nothing compared to yours.”

“There is no way for me to turn you. You have to be born a werewolf. We’ll still have lots of years to be with one another. I’d rather have that than nothing at all. You are my mate. There will be no one else for me. Ever.”

“Will you feel that way when I’m old?”

He cupped her face and looked intently into her eyes. “Of course I will. My feelings for you will never change.”

Jaden stepped back into the room. “Dad, I need—” She looked down at her feet then her gaze flew to their faces. “I think my water just broke.” She moaned and placed a hand on her stomach.

Seeing the puddle at Jaden’s feet, Kareena went into automatic nurse mode. She pushed away from Miles and went to the other woman. “Are you having a contraction?”

“I think so. It feels like a really bad period cramp.”

“Yup, that’s a contraction. Just breathe through it. Since this is your first baby, I don’t think we have to worry about you delivering before we can get you to the hospital.”

Jaden shook her head. “No hospital. I have a midwife.” She turned her head toward the stairs and called for her mate. “Leif, I need you.”

Leif raced down the steps at a speed no mortal would be capable of. “What’s the matter?” He then seemed to take in the water at Jaden’s feet. “It’s time? The baby’s coming?”

“Yes. Call the midwife and tell her to meet us at the house.”

Miles came to stand at Kareena’s side and looked at Jaden as Leif took out his cell phone to make the call. “Is there anything you need me to do?” Miles asked.

“You can take my hand because here comes another one,” Jaden said on a moan and held out her right hand for Miles to take. He shifted around to his daughter’s other side and took it.

“Slow down your breathing a bit, Jaden. You don’t want to hyperventilate,” Kareena said. “I’m going to check your pulse.”

Kareena took Jaden’s left wrist and tried to shove up the wide leather cuff-like bracelet she wore so she could get to her pulse point, but it didn’t move enough. She unsnapped the dome that held it together and removed it.

A loud wolf-like growl rumbled out of Miles. Kareena’s gaze jerked to his face. His eyes were mutedly glowing as he stared at Jaden’s wrist. There was no mistaking his anger by the scowl that formed on his face.

“You lied,” he said through gritted teeth. “My own daughter lied to me.”

Kareena hadn’t a clue what had set Miles off. One minute he was very solicitous of Jaden, and the next, he was angry with her. She opened her mouth to say something that would diffuse the situation, knowing his anger wouldn’t be good for Jaden right now, but Leif took it to the next level.

With a low growl, he tore Miles away from Jaden and threw him against the closest wall. Miles sprang back on his feet, his eyes glowing and his upper lip curled in a snarl as he snapped his teeth in Leif’s direction.

“Don’t fucking do this now,” Leif said on a growl. “Jaden doesn’t need you slipping to the dark side while she’s in labor. Let’s get her home. After the baby is born, we’ll get this all out in the open. Until then, keep it together. For once, don’t be a selfish bastard. If you’ve forgotten, your new mate is watching this.”

Jaden moaned and held her hand out. “Leif.”

Her mate returned to her side and picked her up in his arms. “I have you. I’ll help you get into some dry pants then we’ll leave.” Leif walked at a fast clip as he carried Jaden away.

Alone with Miles, Kareena turned to him. His eyes still mutedly glowed, and he gazed in the direction the other couple had gone. She cleared her throat to draw his attention.

Once she had it, she said, “I don’t know what this is all about, but I don’t really care right now. Jaden is the one I have to look after until we can get her home and into the hands of her midwife. Whatever set you off, get it under wraps. Now. If you truly love your daughter, you will not put her through this when she’s in such a vulnerable state. So pull it together and get ready to leave. I’ll go get our bags.”

She walked out of the room and didn’t give Miles a second look. He’d either behave, or he’d see how tough of a nurse she could be when warranted.