Page 107 of Alpha Ruined
“You’ve been tracking my phone, too.”
He remains unphased. “You have a habit of wandering off alone. I won’t apologize for that.”
She scowls. “That’s how you found me at the cemetery and Ellie’s cabin.”
He nods. “As I said before, your self preservation skills need work.”
“Says the man going around murdering everyone,” she mutters.
“Exactly.”
She brings a hand to her forehead, doing her best to stay calm.
“So, what happens now?” she mutters. “Do you continue to stalk me on the way home? Do you lock me in your basement forever? What’s your grand plan?”
He remains silent for a moment. “My plan was to be with you, whatever way you would have me,” he admits. “And if you refused…” the kitten yawns, showing off sharp fangs. “…if you refused, I would never be far from you.”
She absently touches the mating bite, which still burns. She flinches, and he notices.
“I’ll never regret claiming you,” he admits. “Ever. But I imagined doing it differently, when you were screaming my name in pleasure. Not to pull you out of your own head.”
With Cole’s presence in her mind, she feels safer.
As much as she doesn’t want to admit it, there’s a sense of grounding that the mating bond brings.
“I think I’m starting to understand why you did it,” shesays softly. “It’s everything else I’m not sure I can forgive you for.”
She watches him interact with the kitten, placing the orange furball on his lap. He dangles his fingers in the air and lets the animal nibble on them. The cat flops onto its back, kicking with tiny pink paws, and she can’t help but smile.
The mating bond warms between them as she sighs.
She doesn’t know if she can forgive him, but she would like to try.
CHAPTER 37
BREE
“This is great work, kid,”Carl praises her. “You managed to make a chess tournament sound interesting.”
Bree snorts. “If you say so.”
“I do say so.” Carl pushes his glasses down his nose, regarding her with knowing eyes. “Hey. Are you okay?”
“It’s the third time you’ve asked today. I’mfine.”
Bree is decidedlynotfine. She spent her final night in Green Woods in Cole’s arms, unable to sleep. The kitten stayed between them, with Cole waking up every so often to tend to it.
Cole, the same man responsible for multiple murders, spent all night tending to a helpless, fragile creature.
It shattered her heart, and she knew if she stayed a day longer, she would never leave Green Woods.
She knows he followed her back to Holden, kitten in tow. She pretended not to see the sleek dark car only a few paces behind her on the drive home, telling herselfshe wouldn’t be able to stop him from following her, anyway.
But it’s also the ache in her chest that makes it so much worse. Her mate is near her somewhere, but she hasn’t tried to reach out to him.
She hasn’t seen him since the night he killed Eugene.
Being away from him physically hurts, and it takes all her willpower to not fall to her knees and weep.