The Story of the Exile (The Belesone Pack #2)

Chapter 18

Carlton highly approved of Milo's reticence, in allowing Bricia into his home. He knew all about Leo's predicament, but that was neither here nor there. She simply had to be allowed inside.

He smiled as he thought of the similarities between his own sense of his mate and Milo's. At least one of them was able to be with their true mate and, in that way, they were both made happy because Katarina meant everything to him.

He found it strange to relate his life story to Milo, in its length. He had never shared such details with anyone before, and he had known that, although it should have been Katarina he was telling it to, she benefited more from the sleep. And Milo would share his experience with her anyway.

Carlton had almost laughed when Milo looked shocked to hear that Rose had fought their mating. She had refused him so adamantly, at first. She had been much stronger than him in that regard. But then, that was something he was beginning to realize was an effect of their two different pack evolutions. Not any emotional weakness of his own, as he had once thought.

He wondered, as he often had over the years, if he hadn't been better to never return to his camp all those years ago. If he had stayed and taken Rose as his mate, everything may have been different. But, he didn't have Katarina's gift for visions or prophesies. He would just have to accept reality.

He'd had nothing but good intentions back then, towards Rose and her child. Carlton hadn't wanted to become Josanna's only father, but he had wanted to heal Rose so badly. If only it had been possible.

Then, of course, the letter arrived, to tell them of Grene's escape. He often thought of all the possibilities that might have been, if that letter hadn't ever arrived. But it wasn't worth thinking about. The past was such for a reason; there was no gain spent wondering why and what if.

Carlton was disappointed as he recounted the most heartbreaking time of his life. The young Alpha showed more compassion and understanding for the grief he had experienced than his own daughter did. It was a little painful to see.

"Grene had a great distance to travel and had sent word, by letter, to his wife and daughter," he continued his story, finally, breaking away from his thoughts. "Rose was torn. We were just days from being united, but I knew her heart and I knew that her child was more important than our love," he admitted, with a heavy heart.

He could see a look in Milo's eyes that said he didn't agree. But he couldn't argue. He had made the choice that felt right, not for himself, but for Rose and Josanna. And it had turned out rather better than he planned.

"I told Rose that I would allow her to remain with Grene and no one would ever have to know that we had mated before our union," Carlton explained, before taking another drink.

Milo was watching him carefully, fully awake and engrossed in the story. "Except that Katarina came along," he corrected, making Carlton smile.

"I didn't know about her then," he admitted, though he often wished he had. "Rose insisted I stay and meet Grene, if only for my own reassurance. We met and he knew that we had mated. He told Rose to be happy and go with her true mate," Carlton explained how graceful Grene had been. He'd been so understanding of his lengthy absence from his family, empathizing with Rose, who believed he was dead. He had accepted that true mates were more important than ordinary mates.

"I told Grene that I was going to be Alpha and that my lands were not a place where little Josanna would be happy," he sighed and thought about how it might have improved her nature, if only he had known how she would turn out. "We live a simple life and I'm afraid she had already shown herself to enjoy luxuries that we don't care for back home."