WHY?

Dragana POV

His question caught me off guard. I did not know how to respond or what to say. The internal struggle I had with the two men was about to expose itself if I said anything, even though in reality I had no real relationship with either of them. Truth be told, I was very, very confused and conflicted. Could you love two people??? Equally? Could you be mates with two??? I did not know the answers and perhaps I was scared to probe. Perhaps it felt safe to have Art here and pine for Roman. The two of them never meeting after we left, me, never having to push myself or analyze or ever really make a decision. “We are not cowards!” Aisha came forth, agitated at all this. “Great grandfather”, she purred to him. “Perhaps I can help address something here”, she said confidently. “Please Aisha, my beautiful girl”, he said. “Dragana, you may not want to hear this, especially given the circumstances, but when I shifted at the pack several night ago, Caleb saw me”, she explained. “I was at the clearing by the spring and caught his scent and he caught mine. He knew me. He knew us”, she said cryptically.



“He knew us??? What do you mean Aisha??? What does that mean???” I asked, somehow already fearing that the answer may not be what I wanted to hear. “He recognized us. He is our mate!”, she dropped the bomb. “HE IS OUR MATE???????? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???” I did not know what to make of this!!! Roman had a mate!! How can he be our mate when he has a mate??” This is what I was afraid of, that my Tribrid nature would be taking mates from other people, that somehow because of me, others would be unhappy. This is not what I wanted; nobody would want to hurt others like that. NO!



“Roman has a mate”, I said unequivocally. “You must be mistaken Aisha, Caleb has a mate!”, I said, trying to control my voice, not wanting to hurt her feelings in the process. She sounded excited when she stated he was her mate, so I knew I had to thread carefully on this, especially given our history. Solomon decided to add to our conversation. “Roman does not have a mate – the mate bond he felt with Alice is fake – it's forged. In fact, it seems to be forged by dark magic, and I fear that the Alpha King is in a grave danger”, he dropped another bombshell right into my lap. Thanks, great-grandpa – just what I wanted to hear, I thought! “A what??? A forged bond???? Why?? Was she one of his girlfriends?? Why would anyone want to do such a thing??”, I heard my voice screech in horror.



Mate bonds were sacred. I have never heard of a forged bond in my lifetime, although I have read of some in historical books – none of which ended well. Despite my issues with Roman, he did not deserve that. And even if he was nothing to me, not my mate, which I still found hard to believe he was, nobody deserved to have that sacred bond taken from them, manipulated, or forged for other people’s goals. It was a betrayal at the highest level!!!



Solomon turned to me with his eyes locked on mine. “Dragana, this has been foretold. You are to be bound by blood to the Spieta line. Oracle had spoken of this long before your birth. There are forces at play here that are difficult to understand, but I promise, I will get you all the answers you need before you make any decisions. In fact, this is in part the reason I am leaving. I want to make sure you are happy. I will do whatever it takes for you to have the happiness, love and family you deserve”, he said, and my heart swelled up listening to him. Nobody ever talked to me like that. I did not know what I did to deserve his love and support, but I was not complaining.



However, if what Aisha said was true – it would explain so much. It would have explained the connection I felt with Roman, how somehow we always gravitated towards one another, even though he could be cruel. It would explain everything. If it was true. And I did not believe it. It could not be…. No… “What about Art??”, I heard Vasilla ask and I knew it could not be. Fate would not be so cruel as to mate me with the man who despised me and looked down on me, no matter what the prophecies said, when at the same time I had an opportunity to be loved and to love the most perfect gentleman, the man willing to sacrifice everything for me, uproot his life and give himself over to me and me only. No – the Goddess must be mistaken or the fates must be cruel. If indeed Roman was my mate – he did not deserve me! The flood of emotions and memories came to me – how he treated me as less then, how he looked down on me, how he used me and how, even in the last moments of my life in the pack, all he wanted to do is to fuck me and take advantage.



“He did come when you needed him. He kissed you and held you”, Aisha reminded me. “Sure he did. It was likely out of guilt Aisha. Caleb may have recognized you as a mate, and even if that were true, Roman did nothing. And even Caleb did nothing. If he knew you, why did he not claim you?? Why did Roman say anything?? Why did he let us leave?? If he were our mate, our true mate who loved us, why did he not love us back? WHY?”