Page 106 of Alpha Ruined

“Not ever wanting to have this conversation with you again.”

She swallows and closes her eyes. “You can’t mean that. You’re just going to stop killing because of me? You can’t put that burden on me. It’s too much.”

But she doesn’t move away from him. She stays near him on the bed, her heart beating rapidly.

He would stop killing for you.

What does that say about her, that she’s flattered?

That she’s honored that he would change the trajectory of his life just forher?

“The men I killed were horrible people, and I’ll happily show you evidence of that,” he adds. “It was my purpose, for a long time.” He reaches to pet the kitten as he speaks. “My life made sense. I had my law work, and I had my…other activities. I never assumed I would find my mate.”

She watches him stroke the sleeping feline’s head gently.

“And then, by some miracle, I ran into you. I followed your scent, and I saw you, and I justknew. You were goodness, bringing joy into other people’s lives by telling their story. I read your articles, by the way.”

She looks up from her shaking hands. “You did?” she asks tentatively.

“Of course, I did. It’s your work. How could I not? I was proud of you.”

His eyes dart to her lips, and she parts them softly.

“You opened up to me. You shared the deepest parts of yourself with me, and I knew the trajectory of my life hadchanged.” He searches her eyes as he swallows nervously, this throat bobbing. “I’m so in love with you that it makes me sick. It makes me wish I had a time machine just to go back and erase every kill I made, just so you wouldn’t look at me with fear. So I was worthy of being your mate.”

“But you killed Eugene,” she whispers.

He cocks his head and smirks. “He called our cat ugly. Punishable by death.”

She chokes out a laugh. “You’re crazy,” she breathes. “Absolutely insane.”

“Possibly.” His gaze darts to her mating gland, which still throbs from pain. “I wanted to mate you since the moment I saw you,” he admits. “But I only did it like this to bring you back from wherever you went in your mind. You were disappearing,” he murmurs. “It terrified me.”

“I know. I went to a dark place.”

Has she forgiven him already, she wonders? Can she look past his murders just because they’re mates?

“You can’t kill again, Cole,” she whispers. “I mean it.”

He frowns. “If anyone ever tries to harm you?—”

“Then you’ll try other methods first, like calling the police.”

He gives her an unamused look. “There are better methods than that,” he grumbles, but she raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “But if you say so.”

She nods. “Okay,” she sighs. “There’s one more thing we need to talk about,” she says, and he raises an eyebrow. “Tracking my phone and having my panties.”

He shrugs. “That’stwothings,” he counters, and she glares at him.

“You were in my room the other night, when I was?—”

“When you were touching yourself and thinking of me?” he supplies, and grins wickedly. “It was a lapse of judgment on my part, I suppose.”

“You suppose?!” she balks at him. “You hid under my bed, you pervert!”

“I did. It’s more enjoyable to be in it than under it, believe me.”

She knows they’ll eventually go back to that conversation, but there’s more to discuss with him right now.