His Daddy’s Fated Mate

6: Drunken mistake

Liam’s Thoughts

I stormed into the ensuite, the dim light barely reaching the edges of the room. The space I once shared with Jane was untouched since she died, preserved as if time itself had stopped the day she left. I locked it away, not out of fear of ghosts or memories, but because I needed to bury that part of my life along with the joy she brought me.

Since Jane’s death, everything has shifted. The man I used to be feels like a ghost, someone I can barely recognize. I should've seen it coming, but I didn't want to. I was happy. Content. Jane was everything a mate, a mother to my children, the anchor in my life. But now, I find myself unraveling.

The version of me that existed before wouldn’t have snapped at Hannah. I never would’ve thrown my anger at her, let alone made her feel like it was her fault. In the past, I would’ve apologized. I would’ve admitted my mistakes when I was too lost in my own demons to see how much I hurt others.

But now? I don’t have the patience for apologies. I don’t have the energy for kindness. Jane always knew how to calm me, how to balance the parts of me that were wild and dark.

She was older, wiser a presence that made everything easier, more manageable. But now? There’s just a void. And in that emptiness, a different version of me has emerged. One that’s sharper, colder. The man I was before I ever met her.

I let the water run, not caring that my sweatpants were still clinging to my body. Anger curled like a storm inside me. It wasn’t just anger. It was betrayal. A sharp, gnawing ache that twisted my insides.

I couldn’t understand how she could do this to me how could Hannah, my children’s best friend, someone younger than Tucker and Taylor, someone who’d been so innocent in all of this, how could she betray me like this?

My grip tightened on the showerhead, the metal creaking under my force. I wanted to break it. Wanted to destroy something to match the chaos inside me.

But I stopped myself, breathing hard. I hadn’t lost my temper in years, not since I became a family man, since Jane and I built this life together. And now, with her gone, everything had fractured.

I didn’t care about the damn bite I’d left on her. I didn’t care about the mark that told the world she belonged to me.

Even Jane’s mark had never been as deep, as possessive as the one I’d placed on Hannah’s neck. But it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. I was drunk and now I had to deal with the aftermath. I didn’t mean it.

I wasn’t thinking clearly then. I was lost in grief, drowning in it. The last thing I wanted was another mate. But fate, fate had chosen her. And now, I couldn’t unmake it.

I slammed my fist against the tile wall, watching as the shards rained down. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?” I muttered to myself, my voice breaking.

My wolf’s voice cut through the silence. Valor, as angry as I was, as frustrated. "She's your mate. Accept it."

"No. I don't want her," I hissed. "I don’t want another mate. I don’t want anyone else. Not after Jane."

Valor growled, his frustration matching mine. "You’re being a fool. You’re acting like you’re still a kid running away from what’s yours."

I wanted to scream at him, tell him he didn’t understand, but what could I say? The truth was, I was scared. Scared of what this meant. Scared of what I had done.

"She’s not going anywhere. Not back to the human world. She stays here. My house. My rules." My words came out cold, calculated, but deep down I felt like a coward for thinking them. Hannah didn’t deserve this.

I couldn’t shake the thought of her. She was too young, too innocent. She didn’t belong in this mess. And yet, here she was my mate, whether I liked it or not.

I ran my hand through my hair, exhaling sharply. My children... They didn’t need to know. They couldn’t know. Tucker and Taylor had enough on their plates with their lives. And now here I was, caught in a whirlwind of my own making.

I moved to my desk, opening the computer. I didn’t know what I was searching for. Maybe some sense of control. Maybe something to fix this. But there was nothing. Nothing except the facts. Hannah was marked. And she wasn’t leaving.

She wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was I. And now I had to figure out how to live with it.