Free Her Forbidden Alpha by Tabitha Conall Page B

each other, they closed the door and sat down at the small wooden table in the middle of the room. “How can I help you?” Warner said.
    “You’ve no doubt heard about everything going on,” Darius said. “Me finding my mate, the General at our doorstep…” Warner was nodding vigorously, so Darius continued. “I want to know if there’s any way to break the mating.”
    Warner sat back in his chair, almost as though retreating from the idea. “You don’t want your mate?”
    Darius clenched his jaw. Of course he wanted her. “She’s the General’s daughter. If we give her back, we might be able to avert a war.”
    Warner gazed at him. “You’re willing to give up your mate for us.”
    Darius closed his eyes a moment, pushing back the urge to growl. When he finally had himself in control, he opened them again. “Yes.”
    After a moment, Warner said, “You honor us with such a sacrifice.”
    Killion jerked a little, and Darius wondered for the first time if his unmated sister and brother had any idea what they were asking him to do. Warner, on the other hand, had been mated for decades. Darius wanted that too.
    “Are you sure you want this?” Warner said. “It will be like cutting your heart from your chest.”
    Killion jerked again. “If you could just break the mating, then he won’t feel that way.”
    “Is that what you think?” Warner took a breath. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. But I’ve known wolves who lost their mates one way or another. Every one of them went mad.” He stood. “I’ll talk to the other Elders, see if there’s some magic in the old tomes. Can you wait or do you want to return?”
    Killion started to answer, but Darius spoke over him. “We’ll wait.” If he left here, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make himself return.
    After Warner left the room, an uncomfortable silence filled it. Darius had never felt like this with Killion before, but now he realized that he’d crossed a threshold his siblings had yet to cross. It created a gulf between them.
    It also made him wonder how many of the wolves thought like Warner rather than Killion and Jennalynn. Now that he thought about the council members who’d vocally urged him to give up Aislinn, every one of them had been unmated. Maybe the mated wolves knew how impossible it would be.
    He wasn’t just the pack’s leader. He was their emotional anchor. When he grew enraged, the pack also grew enraged. That was one of the reasons he’d spent so much time meditating and learning to control his emotions before he took over the pack. When he felt calm, the pack felt calm. When he yearned for peace, the pack yearned for peace.
    It wasn’t so simple of course. His emotions didn’t override the emotions of the individuals in his pack. But he did influence them. And what that meant was that right now, when he felt such despair, the pack also felt despair tinging their every move.
    What good would his army be if they were weighed down by despair?
    At length, Warner came back into the room and closed the door. He sat across from them and clasped his hands on the table. “I have bad news. There’s no way to break the mating.”
    “None?” Killion said. “But—”
    ”None. Worse, to deny the mating would be catastrophic. I mentioned before that every wolf I’ve known who lost their mate also lost their mind. Apparently it’s been that way throughout our history. Not a single wolf who lost their mate has remained sane for long.”

    Chapter 8
    Darius’ mind spun. This is what he’d wanted. Now no one could tell him to give Aislinn up.
    Warner leaned forward. “You might have noticed that when, at the end of their lives, a werewolf’s mate dies before them, the wolf soon follows. It’s a mercy, apparently. Something built into us. But when we lose our mates young and our bodies aren’t ready to stop, it’s our minds that go.”
    “Darius wouldn’t go mad,” Killion said. “He’s the strongest among