Chapter 33

                                    

                                          
He'd been tense the entire evening and she couldn't help but think it was her fault. She'd jumped to conclusions, and had hurt him. She felt horrible about it, but it had happened. She couldn't help it. Isaac and Ethan were identical, and she hadn't been able to tell them apart. Maybe if she was around them more, but she'd only seen a few pictures of Isaac. And Ethan hadn't even been aware that Isaac was coming.
Ethan seemed calm, but she knew he wasn't. His hair was sticking up on end, and she'd watched him run his hands through it many, many times. She felt like they had taken a major step backwards in their relationship now. They'd barely spoken to each other since they'd gotten back home.
They were supposed to be eating, but neither one of them had touched their food. Mila just wasn't hungry. She could tell Ethan was upset, and he was making her tense. She finally set her fork down. "Ethan? I'm really sorry."
He looked up at her in surprise. "Why? You didn't do anything wrong. I can understand why you reacted the way you did."
"You seem upset still," she said softly, eyeing his tense frame.
His shoulders slumped. "We need to talk."
She didn't like that. Was he ending this? Was he going to reject her? After what had happened today, did he want out? "Okay?"
He stood. "Come into the living room. Neither one of us is going to eat."
She followed him in and sat down on the couch. He sat in a chair. She swallowed. This felt so off.
"Mila, the reason I was late coming back to the garden center today is because I was on the phone with my father. He was reminding me of some things I have to do before I let our relationship keep going. I've put it off because of all the crap you've been through over the last week and a half and I was just waiting for the perfect time to tell you. He told me there is no perfect time." He paused.
Mila bit her lip, wondering where he was going with this. She remembered him telling her there was more, but she'd sort of forgotten about that.
"There are things you don't know about me that I need to tell you. Things that may change your mind about being with me. I'm going to tell you all of them now. Then you can have some time to decide if you want to stay in this relationship, or if you want out. I will respect your decision. If you choose to reject me, I will accept it." He was studying her intently now.v
She swallowed. No wonder he was so tense. She felt like he was going to tell her something terrible. "Okay."
"The name of my pack is Regal Eclipse. My pack is the Royal pack, my Alpha the King of all werewolves."
"You have a King?" She hadn't known that and found it rather intriguing that the King of all Werewolves was living in Pennsylvania of all places. It also explained why Ethan had come in and taken over a pack. She supposed he sorta worked for the King.
"Yeah, we do. That King just happens to be my father."
Her mouth dropped open at that. "So you're like a Prince?"
He nodded.
And he was mated to a human. That made no sense to her whatsoever. But then so was his brother. She wondered what his father thought of that. "Does your father not like the fact that you're mated to a human?"
He frowned. "What? No, he doesn't care. It's not a big deal."
She found that a little hard to believe, but she was also having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that she was mated to a werewolf Prince. Ethan was a Prince. He seemed so.. normal.
"Okay, so there's that. My family has always ruled. When my father decides to step down, my sister Noelle will be the Alpha Queen. I won't rule. Ever. It's possible Noelle may pick me for a leadership position at some point, but mostly I just work as a pack liaison. We keep the peace and uphold the law."
"Is that why you took over Alamo Pack?"
"Yes. The Alpha wasn't doing his job. He's responsible for hundreds of people and they were starving. That's also part of the reason why I didn't stay the Alpha and turned it back over to someone who would be responsible enough to run it properly. It's not my job to be a pack Alpha."
That explained a lot. It seemed like his job was more important than that. She wondered if he'd done that before.
"Because Regal Eclipse is the ruling pack, we're different from the other packs. We're stronger, and.." he stopped and took a deep breath. "We're immortal."
She opened her mouth to say something and then shut it. Immortal? What did that even mean? "Like, you can't die?"
"Not as long as I remain in my pack." He was still studying him intently.
She eyed him quietly. "Do you age?"
"No."
"How old are you?" She asked.
"I'll be twenty-five in November," he said.
He was older than her but not too much. She was only eighteen, but she'd been forced to grow up quickly after her mother's death. She studied him quietly, her eyes wide as she took everything in. "So what does this mean for us? If we choose to be together?"
"Well, I can leave my pack for you. I'll lose my immortality, but we'll just live out our lives together." He gave her a small smile.
She hated that idea. It felt like he'd already given up so much for her, though it was temporary, he wasn't with his pack, or at home. She wondered what his life was like there, at home. Did he live in a palace? Would he want to give that up for her?
"Or, you can come to my pack and live with me there."
"And I would grow old and die while you stayed young?"
He nodded.
She hated that idea even more. "And if I reject you?"
She saw him flinch. He hated that idea, and so did she. She had no desire to reject him. When she'd actually considered it earlier, everything within her had screamed at her not to. Even knowing, or at least thinking she'd known that he was cheating on her, she still hadn't wanted to.
"I would get a second chance. Typically werewolves don't, but because of our immortality, we do. My grandma is my grandfather's second chance. Nick is Noelle's second chance."
So his sister hadn't been lying. "Why did your grandfather need a second chance?"
"His first mate was shot through the heart during a robbery attempt. They were traveling back to his pack. He had just found her and she wasn't immortal yet," he said quietly.
"That's horrible. Did they catch the killer?" She couldn't even imagine something like that happening.
He lifted an eyebrow. "Yeah."
She sat back, confused about what to do. What a situation he had been put into with a human mate. It didn't seem fair to him. Or to Isaac. She wondered what Riley would choose. Riley had wanted a mate so badly, she couldn't imagine that she would reject Isaac.
"There's one more option. I'm going to tell you, but you cannot tell anyone. It's a very closely guarded secret. Isaac will offer Riley the option as well. It's the one everyone takes, but I'm not telling you that to influence you."
She sat back, wondering what it was. "You make it sound like this happens frequently."
"Humans in general, no. But it tends to run in human families. And in my family, we generally mate humans. My great grandfather, my grandfather and my father all mated humans. It would be easier for me to name off those in my family who didn't."
Well now she could understand why it wasn't a big deal for him to be mated to a human. His mother was one. "So your mother is human? Are all of your siblings werewolves? Will it be difficult giving birth to werewolves?" She was thinking over all the different scenarios she had read about in the books. Then a thought occurred to her. "Can I just become a werewolf myself?"