I am actually dealing with this right now haha. Yj in heaven in hiding has been staunchly anti marriage and mate bonding and pups. It’s what ultimately lead to his losing everything pre-fic. So the traditional happily ever after i thought id been heading toward (and had promised followers) had to change. I could either compromise on the plot, or compromise on the characters, and ultimately I’ve chosen to compromise on the plot and find a HEA that makes sense for his characterization.

If it’s so load-bearing the plot can’t continue without this action, you may have to go back to fundamental character construction. What’s stopping them from taking this action? What about them woukd have to change for this action to make sense?

Or you can explore different choices that do make sense for your character, and see where that leads. Outline different paths, mix and match variables. You might come up with something even better than you first planned!