Crowning Aaron by Tessa Stone

Every crown has a price. His father named it.

The Witching Glen has been sealed for a generation, and by blood, the crown inside it belongs to Aaron Blackwood.
He wants nothing to do with it. He has Mara and a life at Wintermoon worth more than any throne. Then he tears a hole in time and watches that life end: his mate bleeding out at the gates of the Glen, their unborn son dying with her. Suddenly, the one realm he swore he’d never enter holds the only magic that might save her.

His father is holding the door.
Eric abandoned him decades ago. Now the old warlock waits inside that sealed realm, patient as rot, feeding his son one careful favor at a time. Aaron tells himself the help is real. He can’t see that every gift is a hook, and the crown will cost him the man he is.

Mara sees it. She was raised in a pride that hunts, and she knows the prey when she smells it.

Saving her means taking a throne Aaron never wanted, and giving up the only way he’s ever known how to love her: with both hands closed.