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

Chapter 24

"Yes, I knew. But it's complicated though."

Talia could feel Ragnar's eyes on her and she hugged Matthew close. Why is it complicated? She asked Jenna through mind link.

Ragnar should explain it to you. I only know because I confronted Daniel about it. Your situation is unprecedented. Jenna glanced at her.

Tell me about it. Like I said, I need time to process all of this.

Well now we can mind link each other. Whoever thought that would happen Jenna giggled.

Talia smiled at her. I'm tired, and I'm probably not going to sleep.

The woman arrived at the pack house and got on the elevator, taking it up on to the fourth floor. They got off and headed  to their apartments.

Talia closed the door behind her and saw Charlotte waiting for her. The woman walked over and hugged her. "Want me to take him so you can get ready for bed?"

"Yes. Would it be too much to ask if you could watch him while I take a bath? I need to think," Talia asked.

"Not at all. I will get him ready for bed and rock him to sleep. You can use our bathroom if you'd like. We have a big garden tub," She reached for Matthew. "Come here, buddy."

"Caleb?" Talia asked.

"He's helping the men clean up. I'll keep him out of the bathroom." Charlotte smiled.

"Thank you Charlotte. And I truly mean that. Thank you for putting up with me," Talia hugged Charlotte again, then kissed Matthew and headed into her room to get her things.

Fifteen minutes later, she crawled into the tub and relaxed. What a day it had been. She was still floored about Ragnar, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. 'Lila, what are you thinking?'

'I understand now why we have always been drawn to him, why he was able to calm us. If we hadn't joined the pack, he would never be ours. There would be no second chance.' Lila said solemnly.

'I didn't think of it that way,' Talia mused.

'We wanted this,' Lila reminded her. 'Mate has been what we needed him to be all of this time, not knowing how long it would be until he would truly be ours.'

That was true. He had always been there for her. He'd known being around her would make the pain of loss easier on her. He'd been her friend when she'd needed it. He'd held back until yesterday when he'd known she was joining the pack, and then he'd taken her to watch the sunset.

Tears streamed down Talia's face as she thought of how difficult it must have been for him to hold himself back. She remembered when she and James had first connected they had stayed in bed for a week, ignoring the outside world.

She remembered back to their conversation yesterday, how if she found her second chance mate right away, she hoped he'd be patient with her. She hadn't realized she'd been telling her second chance mate that. And Ragnar being Ragnar would respect her wishes.

Talia sighed, sorting through her own feelings. She still missed James. She just didn't allow herself to dwell on it very much. She was afraid of spiraling back into the darkness she'd experienced during the first week after James's death.

'Mate wouldn't let us,' Lila said.

She was right. He had helped pull her out of that darkness before and she highly doubted that he'd let her fall in again.

'Did you know, Lila?' Talia asked her.

'I suspected, but I didn't want to get your hopes up. Honestly, I'd started to wonder when we heard that Regal Eclipse pack members could have second chance mates, but we were both mourning so deeply, and I knew you already felt guilty about the dreams and our relationship with him, I didn't want to add to it,' Lila admitted. 'Plus a lot of things needed to fall into place, like us being invited to join the pack. That's why I encouraged you to join.'

She sighed as her thoughts went back to the man himself. She'd been attracted to him the moment she'd met him. Now, the attraction had intensified and she already felt the need to mark him. She sighed. Mentally, she wasn't quite ready for that. She still needed to wrap her head around the fact that he was now accessible to her and truly her mate.

She stood up and dried herself off, then dressed slowly, before leaving the bathroom. Caleb and Charlotte were watching a movie in the living room, but she went to her own room.

Talia checked on Matthew who was deep asleep and then crawled into bed herself. She stared at the ceiling. She'd wanted this, wanted to have sex with him, wanted him to be her mate, and now she had it. He was hers. She sighed, knowing she could be with him now, but she wasn't. Was she ready for all of this? She had no idea.

Talia rolled over on her side. She was asleep within minutes.