Enigma

Chapter 31

Lillian was on cloud nine.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so happy. She floated through the field to Robert, who spent no little amount of time exacting his revenge by teasing her.

"So," he wiggled his eyebrows as soon as she walked out of the shed in her work clothes, with a straw hat this time. "How's Alpha?"

Lillian grinned. "He's delightful. How's Jasmine?"

Robert scowled. "You're no fun," he grumbled.

Lillian chuckled and patted him on the back while passing him by. She had been on the receiving end of so much teasing in her past, the harmful kind, that Robert's well meaning jokes were a welcome breath of fresh air.

"No really, though." Lillian crouched near him with her own basket and scissors. Lettuce was better picked up so early in the morning when the leaves were still crisp, or so Robert had taught her.

Robert sighed, his hat hiding his face from Lillian's view. "It's not easy, you know. I'm still fighting against myself. Jasmine doesn't give two cents about all my worries about dominance. The problem is me. It's more difficult to fight something within than it is to fight someone else."

Lillian hummed. She had a feeling he needed someone to vent to more than advice. Not that she could give him much. She had barely spent a couple of months here, she was by no means the best person to dish out advice about dominance and mate courtship.

And vent he did. Robert rambled on for about ten minutes while their hands were busy. It was the longest she had ever heard Robert speak. Lillian offered him a good ear.

By the end of it, Robert sat back on his heels and looked at her in silence, his gray eyes clear under the shade of his hat. "You know, you're going to make a good Alpha."

Lillian sputtered. "Pff. Yeah. No. Nope. I'll leave the Alphaness to Noah, thank you very much."

Lillian could barely manage the twins. A pack of wolves? Yeah, right.

Robert laughed. "Don't worry. You won't be asked to take over Alpha's job overnight. You'll grow into it."

Lillian pointed to Robert, then to the plants. "As your future alpha, I command you to do your job and stop talking nonsense."

Robert's laughter rang about the field.

But his words brought up an entirely different subject to the forefront of her mind, one she had not given much thought to ever since her discussion with Noah on the evening of Game Day.

Would she want to turn into a vampire? That was the only way to turn herself into an immortal and avoid breaking Noah and the twins' hearts. The twins would be okay, Lillian knew. Hopefully she could be in their life until they were grown men.

But what about Noah? Lillian knew by now that mates were for life, that very few people who lost their mates managed to form another mate bond in their lifetime. The loss was heartbreaking, Lillian could see it from the constant sadness that hovered in the corners of Jennifer's eyes whenever she was lost in thought.

And in Noah, as big and strong as he was, there lurked a deep grief and a sense of loss in the most hidden parts of his soul. She'd seen glimpses of the pain and darkness in his eyes at times. And try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to abandon him because of her aversion to immortality.

Lillian sighed and looked at the lake as she and Robert resumed work in easy silence. Who would've thought that she'd be clinging to life when only years ago she'd been on the brink of giving it up?