The Beta's Broken Mate (Book 3 Of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 25

Ragnar came to her that night in her dreams. "Mate," he whispered as he walked towards her. He wore nothing, and his eyes flashed, his body fully aroused.

But she turned her back on him and walked away, refusing to accept him.

Talia woke, startled and laid there, staring at the ceiling. Matthew whimpered, and she slipped out of the bed, and got him from his crib. She changed his diaper, then settled down in the rocker to rock him back to sleep.

She couldn't believe her dream had been so different tonight. She felt upset by it. She couldn't imagine rejecting her mate. A mate was too precious a gift to just toss away.

'Yesterday you were thinking you would like him to be our second chance,' Lila reminded her.

'You're not wrong. I think tonight, I was just in shock. I wanted it, but I never thought it was a possibility, and then suddenly it was. He's ours,' Talia mused. 'I hope he doesn't think I was rejecting him.'

Lila pushed images of the kiss back into her mind and Talia sighed as she remembered each second of it, the way his lips had felt on hers, the way his body had felt against her.

He'd been aroused as well, she realized. And why wouldn't he be? How had she missed it? She'd been so surprised that he'd kissed her, she hadn't registered anything else.

How many times had he caught glimpses of her naked and never done anything about it? She'd seen him and been completely aroused, and the attraction then couldn't have been nearly as strong for her as it was for him. But he'd hid it well. The man had amazing control.

He'd been waiting all of this time for her. It had to have been hard on him, having her so close and unable to truly claim her, to truly be her mate. He'd known the moment she'd walked into that room, at the Virginia pack. He'd comforted her then, the same as he'd done all of this time. He'd killed for her, killed her first mate's killer.

How hard had it been for him to not touch her? To go for months, being in her presence and keeping his distance? She'd felt a muted bond, and she'd wanted him, wanted to taste him, wanted to be with him. She'd contemplated having sex with him at the risk of her own heart.

But Ragnar had felt the bond fully, the tingles, the need to mate and mark her, the constant need to claim her as his. She understood now why he came back to her over and over again. He'd needed to.

She remembered the conversation she'd had with him that day in her old bedroom, the day of James's funeral when she'd all but lost herself. He'd told her to take what she needed from him, to be selfish. And she'd been selfish, never realizing what he was really offering her. Himself. She'd been so selfish.

She remembered her own words back to him. How she'd told him she didn't have anything to offer him. She wondered if he'd been hurt by her words.

Ragnar had always been what she'd needed him to be. He'd been so selfless, never taking what he'd needed. And the moment he'd been waiting for, the moment she had finally realized that he was hers, she'd turned her back and walked away from him.

Talia knew she'd hurt him. How could he not be hurt? She groaned. How must he have felt when she told him she'd gone on a date? And kissed another man? That had to have hurt too. She remembered how jealous she'd felt when he told her he'd been kissed by another woman. He'd had to have felt way worse when she'd told him she'd gone out with Noah, knowing his own mate was with another man. She was so glad nothing else had happened between them.

Now she understood why he'd felt the need to tell her about being kissed when he could have so easily kept it to himself. And he'd kissed her. She ran a hand across her own lips, and realized they were wet with tears. Tomorrow, she'd make things right with him.

Talia stood and put a sleeping Matthew back in his crib as another thought occurred to her. Ragnar had taken the time to bond with her son. While she'd been hurting, he'd helped take care of Matthew. Even now, their bond was evident as Matthew would always reach for Ragnar every time they were near him. And he always took time for her pup. He usually spent most of his meals with Matthew in his arms.

The tears were coming full force now as she realized what an amazing man she was mated to, and how much she'd fallen for him even before she'd known he was her mate. And she'd walked away. What the heck was wrong with her? She crawled in her own bed, and cried herself to sleep.

***

Rollo ran hard through the woods, wearing himself out after the disaster of a night. Not really a disaster but it hadn't gone the way they'd wanted it to either.

He finally came back to Ragnar's clothes, and handed control over. Ragnar shifted and pulled on his jeans, not bothering with his shirt. It was nice and warm still.

He headed back up to his apartment and then yanked his jeans back off when he was inside. He'd left the lamp on earlier, and his gaze went to his bed. He sighed. In a perfect world, Talia would be laying there waiting for him. But the world was far from perfect.

He took a shower to wash off the scent of smoke from the bonfire that still clung to his skin, then walked back out to his bedroom, wondering if he would even sleep tonight. Talia's scent still permeated the air from her visit yesterday, and a small part of him wondered if she would ever be in his bedroom again.

'Stop being so negative,' Rollo told him.

'Its hard not to be given what happened today,' Ragnar responded as he crawled in his bed. He grabbed his phone, hoping she'd at least messaged him and frowned when he saw two missed calls from Alpha Trent and a text.

Beta we're requesting your assistance as soon as possible. It's an emergency.

He sighed. They couldn't have had worse timing, but he had no choice but to go. He quickly called one of the pack's pilots, letting him know they were flying to Texas as soon as the plane was ready, then shot off a quick text to Trent, letting him know he was on his way. He debated for a long moment about linking Talia, but he wasn't sure if it would be welcome, and she was probably asleep, so he settled for texting her instead.

Ragnar got back out of bed and headed into his closet. He packed a bag and got dressed, then headed downstairs, stopping to grab a set of keys in the office. He headed back out into the warm night air and hit the button on the key fob, watching to see which one of the four SUVs lit up. He never knew which one's keys he grabbed until he got out there. The vehicles were identical.

The plane was almost ready when he arrived at the Pack's private landing strip, and he boarded it, greeting the pilots. "Sorry I got you all out of bed."

The both smiled at him. "All good, Beta. We're taking off in fifteen. We do not have a flight attendant for this trip."

That didn't surprise him and he really didn't care. He nodded and headed back to sit down. He shot off a text to both Daniel and Caleb, informing them of the situation and promising updates when he knew more.

Ragnar leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Who knew when he'd get the chance to sleep again, though he honestly wasn't sure if he would have even slept at home in his own bed. His mind was too conflicted. His heart ached, but he needed to push that out of his mind and focus on the situation at hand. He wished he had more information.