I looked up at him, stunned by her admission.
“I know that pain,” Natasha added, sniffling. “I live with that same pain every single day, but there’s nothing I can do for it. You can.”
It was impossible not to feel Natasha’s anguish. I couldn’t imagine the daily agony of losing your mate.
Nikolai sighed, his head dropping. “There’s much you don’t know.” His eyes lifted and darted to me for a beat. “So much that has happened. We aren’t the people who met years ago.”
“Tell me you don’t feel bonded to her, even if by nothing but pain.” Natasha reached out and grabbed his hand. “There’s a reason you kept me as your wife even after you bonded. You wanted to protect your heart, and I understand that. It’s why I married you after Marcus died. It’s why I try to lose myself in the touch of a different person most nights. But they’re all poor substitutions for what I’ll never have again, and I’ve accepted that. I won’t let you accept the same miserable fate when you can have better.”
He looked away, his throat working as he held back whatever he wanted to say.
He was right; Mom had been through so much that she might not want anything to do with him.
“Can a broken bond be fixed?” I asked hesitantly.
Natasha’s piercing gaze met mine. “No one knows. No one has tried that I know of. But I believe that the way your parent’s bond broke wasn’t the usual way, was it?”
I shook my head slowly.
It had been brutally, cruelly severed. They never had a chance at a happy ending thanks to Long Mesa.
She drew in a shaky breath. “Nikolai Dashkov, you are my best friend. I know you married me to help me raise Dimitri because it's what you felt you owed Marcus. Those first years, I couldn’t have done it without you. I could barely breathe, let alone raise a child. You took Dimitri on as your own.”
“He is my son,” Nikolai gritted out. “He is as much my child as Skye is.”
I clenched my hands into fists, resisting the urge to reach out and touch him, hug him. To do something to alleviate the pain that twisted his face and hunched his shoulders like a physical load he had to bear.
“He is,” she agreed wholeheartedly. “And I’m grateful every day that Marcus and I had you as a friend to help raise him. But he’s not a child, and I’m not broken anymore. The only thing stopping you now is you.”
She stepped forward, lifting to her tiptoes and kissing his cheek. “I want you to be happy. Out of everyone I know, you deserve it most.”
He let out a soft breath and closed his eyes, a single tear sliding down one cheek.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Natasha rocked back and wiped her eyes. “We’re leaving in a few hours. I believe you had plans to spend that time with your daughter before we delivered her back to her mate, didn’t you?”
His gray eyes met mine. “Yes. If she’s willing.”
I held my hand out, blinking back my own tears. “I’d love that.”
Spending the next few hours with my father, learning about his pack and meeting the people in it was a surprisingly perfect way to end a trip that started under the worst circumstances.
By the time we were heading to the airport, I knew it wouldn’t be my last time with these people in this place at my father’s side. It couldn’t be.
31
Skye
I stood up from the plastic chair tucked against the edge of the hangar, ready to start pacing again when Tate grabbed my arm. I looked down to see her glaring up at me.
“If you start that pacing shit, I’m going to tie you to a chair,” she threatened.
I slowly sat back down, but I couldn’t help when my knees started bouncing from nervous energy.
“It’s taking forever,” I muttered, looking around the hangar as people hurried back and forth to ready the plane for takeoff.
Nikolai and Dimitri had disappeared behind one of the doors a few minutes ago, but there were plenty of people around working to ready the large plane for our departure.
“Actually, this is going much faster than usual,” Alexei remarked from where he was leaning against a wall to my left.
I had asked him to sit, but he declined. Judging by the way he was watching Tate and I like a watchdog, I had a feeling Nikolai or Dimitri told him to keep an eye on us.
“There’s only three helicopters,” Tate pointed out. “They can only carry so many people at a time.”
She was right. The first helicopters had brought all of us along with a few more people and luggage back to the minuscule airport we would depart from.
After spending the day with Nikolai in Narodnaya, I was fairly in love with the small town. We’d had brunch at a small bistro and he’d taken me into a few shops that specialized in delicate items like hand painted china and blown glass that were made in town and shipped out to cities where they sold for insane amounts of money.
By the time he finished taking me on a tour of the estate he lived in, which Tate joined us for, I was more than ready to leave for the airport. I was hours away from seeing Remy, my mom, and my pack. I was anxious and my wolf was starting to drive me crazy.
Natasha had been the one who convinced me to pack a bag of the things in my room, which Nikolai adamantly said was my room. I was welcome to visit anytime I wanted, and no one else would ever use it except me.
It was a touching gesture, and maybe once things settled down, Remy and I could come here. I didn’t hate the idea of visiting the family I had found here.
Natasha selected some clothes and a few pieces of jewelry, even when I tried to tell her no. I hadn’t planned on taking anything back with me.
The clothes I was okay with, but I could only imagine the price tag attached to some of those family heirlooms.
I had no idea when I would have time to wear a diamond bracelet, let alone where I would be wearing it, but Natasha insisted I take it, going so far as to clip it around my wrist.
I glanced down at the bracelet with a sigh. At least it wasn’t the same bracelet I had come to this pack with.
“There,” Alexei said, pointing to the horizon. “Those are the last helicopters.”
Finally.
He smiled down at me. “We will leave soon.”
“Define soon,” Tate demanded before I could.
“Within the hour,” he replied.
The side door opened and Nikolai came out, followed by Dimitri.
Now I stood up and headed for them.
“Ready to go, love?” Nikolai asked me with a smile.
“More than ready,” I answered.
“I’m starting to think you didn’t enjoy your time here,” Dimitri said with a smirk.
“I might have if I’d known I was taking the trip,” I retorted lightly, still a tiny bit annoyed that he had essentially kidnapped me.
He made a face. “Most girls love surprises.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “I’m not most girls.”
Respect shone in his eyes. “No, you aren’t, little sister.”
I groaned, rolling my eyes. “I’m barely your sister.”
He wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his side. “You love it.”