Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 36039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
“This is absurd. I would have known about this. Is this some kind of trick?” Ben asked.
“No!” He and Ashley spoke in unison.
He reached behind him to take hold of her hand, locking their fingers together. “This is real. Ashley and I, we’re real.”
“We’ve been mates for a long time, Dad,” Ashley said.
“But how? I mean, with all due respect, I don’t think it’s even possible to keep a secret like this for long,” Leah said.
“I was a fool,” Phoenix said. “Five years ago, I walked into a bar, and there was this girl. A beautiful young woman who had just gone through her first transition. Eighteen, young, and I … I couldn’t bring myself to see how important it was to … love her.”
“She was of age.”
“To us, to our pack, but Phoenix didn’t live in a pack,” Ashley said. “He lived out in the normal world and to him, he saw age. He saw an eighteen-year-old young adult, just starting out in her life, while he was forty years old.”
“And I rejected her,” Phoenix said.
There was a chorus of shock at his words.
“I fucked up big time. I rejected her so that she would live her life. She deserves someone a million times better than me. She deserves to be happy, to fall in love, to have everything her heart desires.”
Ben glared at him. “What changed, because it doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going on?”
“I realized the error of my ways and I wanted to earn Ashley’s forgiveness. She is the love of my life, sir. I will do anything and everything for her.”
“And I—me, the one he hurt—I have completely forgiven him, and you don’t get to be angry at him,” Ashley said.
“I will do whatever it takes to earn back your trust,” Phoenix said.
Ashley growled and bent forward. She tugged on the blanket and he had no choice but to step on it. She wrapped the blanket around her body, and then stepped around him.
“Dad, he’s my mate. I love him more than anything, and sure, you can be pissed, but think about how he must have felt. He has never lived in a pack, been part of a pack. We’re all he has. We’re all he’s known, and you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. You have to. Please, for me. I’ve never asked you for anything, but I’m asking you now, forgive him. Forgive us.” She moved toward him, taking his hand, and leaning against him. “Because Phoenix has protected us. He has kept coming back to protect us, and I know, deep down, he wants to be part of the pack.”
That was the complete truth.
Ben looked at him and turned to Leah, and then behind him at the suddenly quiet pack who were ready to do this man’s bidding. He noticed Daniel was silent in the corner, not judging or saying anything.
“Did you tell them?” Ashley asked, suddenly seeing her friend.
Daniel shook his head, and came forward. “I didn’t say anything. They were already on the way over here. I swear I didn’t say anything.”
Phoenix watched and waited as Daniel moved a little closer, but kept a relatively safe distance from his mate, which he was thankful for. He didn’t want the man anywhere near his woman.
“I’m sorry,” Ashley said.
“No, you don’t need to be sorry. It’s weird but hearing him say what happened, I don’t know. It makes sense to me why you’d do what you do.”
“Friends?” Ashley asked.
“Always. I can’t stay mad at you and besides, you’ve got to help me find my mate.”
Phoenix still held her shoulder as Ashley gave Daniel a quick hug. “Thank you,” she said.
“I couldn’t stay mad at you.”
Ashley pulled away and stepped into his arms.
Daniel moved back and now it was time for the rest of the pack to make their judgement.
He waited with bated breath. Never had he wanted to be accepted more than he did in that moment.
“I have one request,” Ben said.
“Yes, sir, anything.”
“You take care of her, that is all I need.”
“Yes, sir. I will.”
Ben nodded. “Good. I think it’s time for us to leave and give these two lovebirds some privacy.”
Ashley smiled up at him.
“I’ll do more than take care of you,” he said.
“Yeah, what will you do?”
He winked at her. “You’ll see.”
Epilogue
Five Years Later
“You’ve done good, Phoenix,” Ben Simpkin said
Phoenix turned to his father-in-law and he couldn’t help but smile. It was five years in coming, but he figured that was to be expected. Ben had accepted him into the family, and he was there for all the necessary family dinners, parties, Christmases, birthdays, and every single occasion they seemed to come up with. There was always some kind of event for him to be part of. Ashley was worried that he would hate it, but Phoenix loved it, every single one of them.