Page 20 of Her Cold Brute
“Cole,” she whispers as her tears quiet, her face falling into my neck, as her hand holds tight to my shoulder.
“I’m here. I’ve got you. I’ll always have you and protect you now. You’re mine, sweetheart. All mine. I’m sorry I didn’t come after them sooner, didn’t kill them before they could hurt you. No one will ever hurt you again though, I swear. No one, not me, not anyone else,” I tell her, stroking her back until she falls into an exhausted nap.
There’s no way I’m walking her through the packhouse with tear tracks on her face. No one else will see my mate this vulnerable, but I know she needs to talk about this and if she can’t with me, that leaves only one person that can possibly help her with this.
I tuck Mora into my bed, brushing a kiss to her lips, having to force myself back when she returns the soft caress. I drop another onto her forehead then go out to the living room for my phone. It’s not even ten minute before Bryant and Nicole are at my door, a dark warning look on Bryant’s face as they look around the front room not seeing Mora.
“Mora’s in the bedroom,” I tell her mother, holding up a hand to stop Bryant from flipping out on me. “I haven’t claimed her, haven’t seduced or touched her that way yet. I found Mora out at the gazebo this morning watching the sunrise and asked her to come up to talk, to try and figure out why she kept pushing me away when I know she has feelings for me, know she feels the connection, is comforted by my scent.”
“Then why is she in the bedroom and not out here? You said Mora was upset and needed her mother,” Bryant states and I nod, dragging in a deep breath to get the words out. Words that are pure disgust in my mouth.
“Mora attempted to push me to releasing her thinking I wouldn’t want her any longer by claiming she wasn’t a virgin,” I start, pulling a protest from Bryant along with a shocked gasp from her mother. “I didn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it and demanded to know who he was. I overstepped for a moment and pulled Mora to me, to kiss her, show her that our connection was deeper than any with someone else. Her reaction…wasn’t that of a woman who’d been with a man of her own accord.”
“What are you saying?” Bryant demands, his tone deep with warning to not say anything wrong about his little girl, and I wish on the stars that I could say it was all a lie, but I can’t.
“She reacted similarly to when I first met her. Started to push me away, then fought to get free and the look on her face…it was the same as what I saw the day we met, this vacant, terrified, glazed look that said she wasn’t here with me but somewhere deep and dark in her mind. Combine that with Mark and Tyler coming after her rather than trying to help the pack in the fight…”
“No,” Nicole says, shaking her head as tears fill her eyes.
“Sammy mentioned her sudden aversion to going to the packhouse, to going to watch the sunrise alone,” I expand, and Bryant pulls his mate into his arms, holding her close as her tears flow freely.
“She never said a word about it,” Bryant says, more to himself than me but I understand completely the pain flowing through him.
“She was scared to lose you and what might happen to her if she did. I believe she was trying to push me away so I wouldn’t find out, worried I’d take it out on her if that’s what she’s seen from couples other than the two of you,” I add bringing a nod of understanding from him. “I hate what she went through, wish I could go back and keep it from happening, but it doesn’t change anything except to help me understand why she’s been pushing me away. She’s my mate and I will not let this come between us. I will give her time no matter how hard it might be to get comfortable and accustomed to my presence in her life, but I won’t give her up. I hope now that I know, and she knows I know, she’ll stop trying to cause rifts between us, but no matter how long it takes, I’m going to do whatever it takes to show her that with me is the safest place she could ever be. To help her get there though, I think she’s going to have to talk about it and if she can’t with me, you’re the only one I think she might begin to be able to, Nicole.”
“Thank you,” Nicole says, stepping out of her mate’s hold to give me a hug, pulling a grumble from Byrant that sends the remaining tears in her eyes away. “Thank you for not giving up on her. I just couldn’t understand why she refused to believe something good could happen, even with the attack at the graduation, but this…I hate that she didn’t feel like she could tell us.”
“If she had, Cole wouldn’t have ever come to get his revenge against Thomas. He’d already be dead,” Bryant says, and I nod, knowing neither of us are comforted by that.
Yes, I found Mora because of it, and if Thomas was already dead, I’d have had no reason to go there, find her. The fact that it happened to my mate is torture, especially combined with what happened at her graduation.
“I’ll go sit with her until she wakes,” Nicole says, and I nod before heading over for a drink—a powerful one. Getting drunk isn’t easy for shifters but with some extremely potent alcohol, we can at least feel the effects as it goes down and right now, that’s precisely what I need.
Chapter 11
Mora
A cold rush flows through me as I wake with a jerk, sitting up in my bed trying not to scream. It’s only the fourth nightmare I’ve had since coming here two months ago. The last month has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Waking in Cole’s bed to Mom’s worried, tearstained face had me feeling awful and angry with Cole for telling her and Dad.
That anger soon faded after Mom made me talk to her about what happened, why I didn’t tell any of them, and everything else that they or Dana had done to me I never mentioned. I knew Dad and Cole could hear every word with the door open, but it was better they hear it the first time since I didn’t think I’d manage to ever say it again.
It took me a week before I could begin to admit it in front of Cole, still terrified that somehow, he’d blame me, get angry and lash out, but all he did was hold me close and promise I’d never have to worry about someone I didn’t want touching me doing it again. Now, I’ve even managed to talk to Teresa about it, which helped as has the aromatherapy oils she gave me to use if I started feeling really scared or anxious again. They’re not as good as Cole’s scent to calm me down, but they do work.
Ryan and Sammy know the truth now as well. I didn’t tell them, but they overheard me, Mom and Dad talking about it one night when they weren’t yet asleep. They wanted to somehow bring Mark and Tyler back from the dead to kill them almost as much as Cole did.
They’ve all been gently urging me to give Cole a real chance, telling me to spend more and more time with him, and I have been. Although I’m still worried at times that he’ll snap and lash out at me when I pull away from his kisses or holds. He never does, but it’s something I can’t seem to completely put aside just yet.
I don’t know why since Cole hasn’t even raised his voice at me since that day when he figure out what happened. He’s been the sweetest, gentlest man with me. Even when I do pull back from him, all he does is pull me into his hold differently, so I don’t feel his desire so blatantly, or just press a kiss to my forehead while holding me close.
I’m falling deeper and deeper under his spell and while most of me doesn’t mind, there’s a tiny bit that’s clinging to the life preserver still.
Warmth floods me and I slip out of the bed, pulling on a comfy sweater over my leggings and long-sleeve tee I wore to bed, and move to the front door in surprise. “Cole? What are you doing here this early?” I ask, taking a second glance at the clock to confirm it really does show as five-thirty still.
“I woke up about ten minutes ago and couldn’t get back to sleep. It just felt like I needed to get to you,” he answers me, barely above a whisper. “What are you doing up, baby? You should be sleeping.”
“Bad dream,” I admit, resting my head against his chest when he pulls me to him, and I don’t argue when he picks me up, closing the door behind us, and takes us to the couch.
“Bad dreams aren’t allowed, baby, let me keep them away,” he says, stretching out his sweats covered legs onto the cushy ottoman while pulling me over his lap. He pulls a throw over my legs, and I curl up against his chest, smiling when he unzips his hoodie and my hand slips under the t-shirt he’s wearing beneath it. The feel of his skin against mine wakes something deep within me, and I let it flood me, as Cole’s hand gently soothes back me to sleep.