The Beta and His Angel (The Belesone Pack #3)

Chapter 33

Angel was quick to adapt to a life with Leo in their own cabin, with their own meadow. It was like being back in that wonderful cabin in Romania, only having all of their friends and family surrounding them. It was a kind of heaven he had never even dared dream of.

Leo had adapted to a solitary life, with no responsibility, by beginning a new job. He had spent hours with Carlton and Grene, honing his mental abilities and learning the craft of herbal medicine. For pleasure, he sat by the fire in their cabin and whittled wood, making large decorative or functional pieces for those of their pack who made orders. In that way they managed to keep themselves afloat financially.

Angel hoped to help in that endeavor by getting work of his own once his recovery was complete.

He still had nightmares and woke up shaking, covered in sweat some nights, even three months after returning home. The cabin and the meadow helped, but nothing worked like having Leo.

They would lie in bed and talk, after one of his nightmares or go outside and lie in the long grass under the stars. They would even fall asleep there, uncaring of the rest of the world. There were no fences, no doors, no blockades to keep anyone out, but there was no need for them either.

Angel felt free, for the first real time in his life.

With Leo and within the pack, he wasn't a Dubrinsky. He wasn't a victim or a prisoner or someone to be pitied. He was a worthy member of the pack. He was Angel and that was all that was expected of him. It was liberating for his soul and soothed his troubled mind.

There was no way he would ever go back. Not for any reason. Not even if some angel from above told him that he could return to his privileged life as a famed Dubrinsky, be the Alpha, have Leo and never have to suffer. Nothing would make him change the outcome of his life. He cherished every moment. And with each day, he knew that he only had one person to thank for his happiness.

Angelus.

That wonderful child who had yet to come into the world was growing more with each day. Yet Angel never had a vision of him, never felt a thread of contact. He could feel an invisible bond tying them together and it cured the last of his hellish curses from the last five years.

Feeling that bond with Angelus meant that he wanted to and often did, spend time with Katarina. In being with Katarina, he learned that he didn't have to fear himself or his abilities when with other shifters. He could be himself and not hurt anyone and not have them hurt him. It broke the last bind that held him to his mental cage.

***

Carlton stepped into the living room of the Alpha house to find Angel and Katarina talking animatedly, while Leo sat beside his mate, smiling and drifting into his thoughts. The three looked content beyond imagination.

It seemed impossible to believe that it had only been a few months ago that he had believed his nephew dead to him, lost to the world. A little over a year ago he had been without love, laughter and joy. He had lost his daughter to another man, his nephew was believed dead and he had no hope for a bright future.

Now he had his daughter back in his life, she was happy, free and sweet, just as he had always imagined her. Now Carlton had his nephew back, whole, happy and loved, with his mate by his side through thick and thin, good or bad. And now he had a son-in-law he liked and got along with, a friend and brother in Grene. He had hope that soon his Bricia would be happy in her own union. He had the reassurance that Brogan, so like a son to him, had finally found his true mate. But most importantly, he had a grandson on the way.

Not just any ordinary child, but the greatest shifter the world was ever likely to see. A boy who had risked his life and his past just to give his parents a happy future together.