Page 151 of Dominion

She stopped, her blue-eyed stare slamming into him with the force of a wrecking ball.

His mind went blank. The animal tore too close to the surface for coherent thoughts to be expressed.

Her lips turned down. “See you around.” The soft murmur oozed sadness, defeat.

He’d done that to her. Ripped her down, acted like a defensive teenager. Was he still that proud, stupid kid his father had thrown out on his ass twelve years ago? Did he need to prove something to the world? To Melissa? Or was it to his father? Was he still trying to earn his approval by mating an alpha female instead of the woman he loved? Yes—loved.

Fuck that.

He was alpha. He didn’t need to prove anything to anyone. If he wanted a beautiful redhead quarter-breed, he should claim her.

But she was walking down the sidewalk, away from him. And she hadn’t looked back. Not once.

His chest seared like it had been ripped open, but he froze, letting her walk away. Out of his house and out of his life.

This was wrong. So wrong.

Melissa only heldit together because Colleen and her kids were with them. She pasted a tight smile on her face and climbed in the back seat of Ben’s shiny black SUV. Even so, both Ashley and Colleen sent her sympathetic glances.

She hadn’t fooled anyone.

“Don’t give up on him,” Colleen murmured.

Her eyebrows shot to her hairline.

The woman blushed. “I know—I don’t know either of you, but I couldn’t help overhear your fight. And I know he cares about you.”

She swallowed.Caredabout? Or liked to fuck? “What makes you think so?”

“The way his eyes follow you, wherever you go. How he both relaxes and grows more agitated when he’s near you. The look on his face when you left.”

Her breath hitched, pressure growing behind her face.

Ashley had turned around in the front passenger seat to look at her, and even Ben glanced in the rearview mirror.

“Anything I need to know?”

She rolled her eyes. Her brother-in-law sort of sucked at interpersonal relations. “Nope,” she said with finality.

Subject closed.

She and Cody weren’t right for each other. She’d known that from the moment she met him. They may be powerfully attracted to each other, but all they knew how to do was fight.

She closed her eyes and passed a hand over her face.

She just had to see him one more time and then she could walk away. Start her new life. Without him. And without her CJ Steele house.

Pain twisted in her heart, dragged down and gutted her. All her excitement for her new life without Jeremy had fled. Only emptiness remained.

Still, she had a short-term plan. Cody didn’t know it, but she’d taken the cash Ben had transferred to him for the drop to Rabago. She had it in the duffel at her feet. She wasn’t going to keep him involved any longer. She planned to find Jeremy and bring him to the meet-up. If they both showed up with the money, Rabago would have to let them walk away, clear of any obligation. If she didn’t bring Jeremy, there was a good chance he’d end up dead. She owed him this much after he’d saved her life.

She fiddled with her phone in her lap, scheduling the Uber to take her to Jeremy’s cousin’s, then back to Colorado Springs that night. Yeah, it would cost a fortune, but it was worth it to be able to definitively put all this behind her.

She’d deal with the rest of her life tomorrow.

14

Cody prowled restlessly around his place while Mark unpacked weapons.