Three Fated Hearts by LNC novel Chapter 84

~Kimberly~

Lincoln…..he said he had to find where Lincoln was. Where’s my baby? What happened while I was up here satisfying my urges? If something happens to Lincoln, I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself, and I’m not one to feel badly about my choices, no matter what they are.

I hastily grab my dress, peeling off Stuart’s shirt. “We need to talk.” I hurry and fix myself, grabbing my shoes so I can head to Paul’s office. I walk past Stuart, and he grabs my arm, forcing me to look at him. “I said we need to talk.”

“I can’t talk right now. Something is going on with my son.” I pull my arm out of his grasp and head to the wall door. I stop and turn back. “You may want to get out of here like Paul said.” I head through the door, putting a block up to keep Angie out of my ears. I can’t deal with her whimpering right now.

Landon and Paul look up from whatever they are looking at on his desk as I walk into the room. Now isn’t the time to be embarrassed. What happened, happened, and I need to own it. I straighten my back and hold my head high as I walk over to the desk. I stand quietly, waiting to be addressed, but nothing happened. Paul continues to talk as if I’m not in the room. “I sent some warriors to these areas,” he points to the map. “Maybe he isn’t too far.” Landon is looking between us; I’m sure there is so much that he wants to say.

“Uh, yeah. They should, uh, they should look for abandoned buildings and homes. Dad, you have to know that note is a lie. Lincoln was past all of his fated mate issues. He full accepted the bond, Tia, us sharing, everything. This isn’t Lincoln running away.” Paul places a hand on Landon’s shoulder.

“I know, son, I know. Something isn’t right, and we will figure it out. We will bring Lincoln back to you and Tia.” Lincoln nods, and I, honestly, can’t take the silence anymore. I clear my throat loudly and wait.

“I, uh, I think I will go check on Tia.” Landon gives me one last look and walks out of the office. Paul continues looking over the map, making marks and notes while ignoring me.

“Not speaking to me isn’t going to make me go away.”

“Did your ‘mate’ leave yet?” Paul spits out with an obscene amount of hate. I walk a bit closer to him.

“I guess so. I didn’t really wait around to find out.” I close the gap between us and run my hand along his back. Paul jerks away and backs up, looking at me with disgust.

“You have a lot of nerve. Don’t touch me…..ever.” He sighs and starts to pace. “What the f**k, Kim?! This is bigger than you cheating on me. You literally, had your fated mate here this entire time and said nothing. You didn’t claim him or anything. You went ahead and mated with me, let me mark you, and all the while, your fated was right here. Why didn’t you just claim him, huh?” Paul stops and looks at me, but my voice is caught in my throat. “You knew what happened with me. You knew most likely my fated mate was gone. I told you that I wouldn’t take you away from yours. I told you that I could find someone who was in the same situation as me, and we could make a go of it. You told me that your fated mate wasn’t in the picture. Well s**t Kim, that looked pretty ‘in the picture’ to me!” Paul starts to pace again. “When we went in front of the elders and asked them to bless our union, they asked if we were sure that our fated mates weren’t available. They said if we were to find them later, it could be problematic. You took the same oath as me, reassuring them that all would be well, that our pack would be okay. Does this look okay to you?” Paul stops pacing again. “Say something, dammit!”

“I……” I swallow the thickness in my throat. I close my eyes and open them. “I……Stuart is a warrior, just a warrior. I wanted more, I deserved more. You lost your mate before anything could even happen. We had dated before…..” I shrug my shoulders. “I deserved to be more than some warrior’s mate. I made a decision for my future.” Paul’s mouth drops open.

“Do you hear yourself right now? Do you hear how disgusting and shallow and……and selfish you sound right now? Your decisions impacted so many lives and all so that you had a title? All so you could be more than a warrior’s mate? Who, even, are you right now? Who is this Kimberly standing in front of me?”

“Don’t you dare…..don’t you dare look down on me like that!” I can feel the anger replacing the embarrassment. “I helped you run this pack all of these years. I gave you two sons. I was always by your side. I helped you get over your pain and kept you from loneliness. How is any of that selfish?” Paul takes a few steps back before shaking his head and turning his back on me. He starts to walk to the door, and I start to go after him.

“You disgust me.” His voice stops me dead in my tracks. “You completely disgust me. Be gone by the time I get back.” Paul walks out of the room, never looking back. I slump to the floor, not knowing what to do.