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“You can go back to your party, Beta,” she says, not looking at me. “I promise I’m not plotting against your pack.”

She looks over her shoulder. Those light brown eyes crinkle as she smirks at me. Now, my dick wants to react. Damn, all she did was smile and I’m hard as a brick.

That reminds me. Pushing away from the tree I was leaning on, I walk toward her.

“I want to apologize for what you saw back there.”

She tilts her head back and looks up at the stars again. “No need to apologize. You are free to do what you want. There are no false pretenses in this marriage. I know you don’t want to be with me. You might as well enjoy yourself. It’s not like I ever believed you would be faithful. Men never are.”

Her words stab me in the chest. Despite how I feel about this mating, Chayton was right. Wolves are faithful to their mates. What I did was disrespectful. That thought brings something else to the forefront of my mind.

“Why were you crying in that memory?” I question. “Did someone break your heart?”

She tilts her head forward, no longer staring at the sky. She then turns to face me. For a long moment, she doesn’t respond. A wide range of emotions play across her face. It is the most emotion I’ve seen her have since she showed up here. Finally, her shoulders seem to drop, and she licks her lips.

“Yes,” she says.

“Who?”

She shakes her head. “Too many people to name.”

“Is that why you’re so sad?”

She looks away, her jaw tightening.

“My memories are not a safe place, Enzo. I’ve lived too long, and I’ve done too much. Whatever you want to know, ask. I don’t have the energy for games tonight.” She cuts her gaze back at me.

“Why are you really here?” This has been the question that has bugged me since they got here. I didn’t believe that she was running from her sister’s fiancé.

She shakes her head. “When I was young, I fell in love with a man I thought was everything I could ever want. It turns out he was the complete opposite. When I realized what he truly was, I told the union about him. He was sentenced to ground for life 300 years ago. But now he’s back. And he wants me.”

“Why didn’t you say that from the beginning? Why lie?”

A slow grin spreads over her face.

“Do you think your Alpha would have allowed me to stay if I was just running from an ex?”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to say yes, but I stop and think. Hell, we almost didn’t let her stay when we thought her defenseless little sister was being sold off and abused. If she would have come to us and said she was running from an ex-lover, Chayton wouldn’t have even second guessed telling her she couldn’t stay. He would have assumed, like me, that she’s an adult and she can handle her own problems.

I answer her honestly. “No.”

She nods.

A new concern pops into my head. “Are you in danger?”

Without even hearing her next response, I know for a fact that the moment of openness we shared is over. Her face falls back to that neutral look she’s so good at.

“I’m fine, Beta. Go back and enjoy your party. I’m heading home.” She turns her back on me and walks off into the trees, heading back to our cabin.

I don’t follow her, but I don’t go back to the party either. I watch her until I can no longer see her. For the first time, I got to see the real Michaela.

From the moment she showed up on our doorstep, she had been this unbreakable figure of strength and independence. Tonight, I got to see the real person hiding behind her persona. Don’t get me wrong, I believe Michaela is everything she portrays herself to be, but I also now know that she is a sad, lonely, broken-hearted woman. Chayton was right. I’ve spent all my time looking at her as an enemy and I’ve missed some crucial details.

“Okay goddess,” I say out loud. “I’m listening now. Let’s see where this is going.”

chapter Twenty-eight

Vampire Mate