Page 25 of His White Moonlight (Dominant CEO Shifter Romance #1)

I groaned at the sound of my alarm. It’d taken hours to fall asleep after my stupid brain spun its stress-induced theory about Bennett’s mate being me, which wasn’t true.

I’d known him since he was nearly fourteen.

Sure, he denied any sibling relationship with me, but he’d also never, not once, shown any interest in me.

All his weirdness now stemmed from not claiming his mate.

Grandma had once told me a story about a guy who went insane waiting for his mate to accept him. Obviously, that guy was Bennett’s current role model.

“Are you going to turn the alarm off or sleep through it?” Bennett asked.

“I’m thinking about feeding it to you.”

“Hmm. It is almost as flat as last night's burger.”

I opened my eyes to glare at him. He was leaning against the doorjamb, watching me.

“And you’ve learned nothing.”

“Not true. I didn’t try waking you up with a different alarm, and I’m staying a healthy distance away. See? Baby steps.”

The smile he flashed at me highlighted how devastatingly good-looking he was, which was completely unacceptable.

Rather than telling him to get out, I flipped back the covers and marched to my room to get ready for the day, ignoring his soft chuckle.

It would have been great if he’d left me alone while I showered and got ready, but he didn’t. He talked to me through the door as soon as I turned off the water.

“How are your hands? Do you need help with the ointment?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Do you want me to brush your hair?”

“Nope, I can manage it today.”

Only by sheer will, though. My palms felt raw and bruised, and it hurt to use them.

I looked down at them, knowing I could use them as an excuse not to go to work. Would I be stuck home alone with Bennett, though? Better not to risk it.

Since I had the foresight to bring clothes into the bathroom with me this time, I was dressed when I opened the door and found him standing by my vanity, looking at all the things Mom had purchased for me.

He held up a mascara box.

“You haven’t used any of this?”

“No. Makeup isn’t my thing.”

Confusion flashed in his expression as he looked at the mascara.

“I thought you asked for this brand while you were at school.”

All the expensive makeup I’d asked for over the years had been used as currency: bribes for information or silence. But I wasn’t about to admit that to him.

“Put it down, Bennett, or I’m going to smash your lunch too.”

His lips twitched, but he set the makeup down and followed me out the door without asking any more questions.

Sandy was putting our plates on the table when we walked into the dining room. Eggs, hash browns, ham, sausages, tomatoes, and mushrooms…a full breakfast.

She caught my look and smiled.

“Bennett mentioned you were extra hungry last night and asked me to make something hearty.”

I shot Bennett a look. We both knew that eating his food had nothing to do with my appetite.

He pulled out my chair for me. I didn’t make any move to sit. The way he was watching me was making me nervous, and the thoughts from last night resurfaced.

What if you’re right?

“I know how to sit, Bennett. Go away.”

Frustration flashed in his expression.

“It’s called courtesy.”

“Courtesy is just another bar in the cage of obedience.”

His mask slipped into place, and he straightened away from the chair to take his seat right next to the chair he’d held out. I walked around the table to sit across from him and pulled the plate and silverware toward me.

“Is there a reason you don’t want to sit next to me?” he asked.

“It’s easy to see you this way.”

His gaze studied mine.

“What? No sniff to see if I’m telling the truth?”

“You seem…” He shook his head.

“Go ahead. Finish that thought.”

“You seem more confrontational today. Why?”

He was right. I was being confrontational and needed to stop. I needed him on my side for tonight’s conversation with Mom and Dad. But anger was safer than the other emotions I was trying to suppress—emotions tied to questions I was too afraid to ask.

“Talk to me, Wrenly. Please. I’m sorry for losing control yesterday. I want to promise it won’t happen again, but I won’t lie to you. My patience is?—”

“Not my problem,” I said. “You said you’re not my enemy. Well, I’m not yours either. So, stop taking your frustrations out on me, and we’ll get along fine. Now, less talking and more eating, or we’ll be late.”

Focusing on my food, I ignored him and followed my own advice. As soon as I finished, I stood with my plate. He stood too, his food mostly untouched, and took my plate from me.

“I’ll meet you by the car.”

His words were more subdued, and I pushed the guilt that wanted to rise off a mental cliff. Any hint of weakness and he’d revert to his bad behavior. Polite distance was better. Safer.

I ran upstairs to get my things. When I reached the garage, he was standing by the passenger door of his car. He watched my approach like he was waiting for another, “Go away, Bennett.”

“Thank you for driving,” I said instead.

Confusion and surprise broke through his mask.

“You’re welcome.”

He opened the car door for me and watched me get in, but instead of closing it, he reached in and had the seatbelt around me before I knew what he meant to do.

It was the same thing he’d done the day before, but my thoughts were different now.

Panic hit me hard when he turned his head and our faces were only inches apart.

His gaze swept over me as he inhaled and retreated.

While he walked around the car, I fought to take a calming breath and slow my racing heart.

“Don’t do that again,” I said when he opened the door.

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t like it.”

“Why?”

I turned my head to look at him. “You don’t need to figure me out, Bennett. You just need to get along with me until September.”

“September?” he asked, starting the car.

“The end of August, technically. That’s move-in day for the dorms, which you’ll hear about tonight. Mom said she was going to send you the address for our college-talk dinner.”

He pulled out of the garage and didn’t say anything until we reached the parking garage at work.

“What do you want to go to school for?”

The question shocked me so much that I turned to stare at him for a second. No one had ever asked what I wanted to do in the future.

“Interspecies social worker,” I said.

“Really? I would have thought finance. Your math grades qualify.”

“Being good at something doesn’t mean it’s your passion.”

“And interspecies social worker is your passion?”

“There are a lot of kids out there struggling to fit into families of different species. Helping them adapt and not feel so alone, different, or maybe even unwanted, calls to me a lot more than sitting in an office, searching expense lists for overspending.”

He got out, and I was quick to unbuckle before he opened the door for me. Instead of stepping back so I could get out, he leaned down to look into the car at me.

“Is that how you felt? Alone? Unwanted?”

“Seven years, Bennett. I was sent away for seven years. Who wouldn’t feel alone and unwanted?”

I wished I could smell what he was feeling because his expression gave nothing away as he looked down. But he was so still, like a predator hiding from its prey so that the prey wouldn’t startle and run away. I was afraid to move.

No more running away from me.

Before the panic could set in, he stepped back and let me out. We didn’t talk on our way up to the main lobby.

Walt was waiting at the elevator bank, along with two dozen other people waiting for their turn.

“Good morning,” he said when he saw me. He gestured to my neck. “Looks a little better today.”

“Ten hours of sleep works like magic.”

“Impressive.”

I smiled. “It was.”

Ten was unheard of for me. But since coming home, I’d been sleeping more deeply—obviously, since Bennett managed to move me—and longer.

Even though I’d been displaced and ignored, I still felt safer there at the big house than I had at school.

Hopefully, the change in my sleep meant I was putting everything that happened at school behind me.

The idea of swinging at Sophia for waking me up, just as I had done for Bennett, was worrying.

Bennett’s fingers brushed mine, interrupting my thoughts. I lifted my hand and smoothed my hair back to avoid his touch.

The elevator doors in front of Walt opened.

“Hope you have a good day,” I said.

He nodded, and I dropped my friendly smile the second the doors closed. Bennett didn’t try to touch me again.

When we reached the administrative floor, almost everyone was already at their desks, and I felt the stares of the women as Bennett walked beside me.

Whatever was going on in their minds really needed to stay there. I had enough bruises, thanks to the she-bitches circling him, and didn’t need to add to the collection.

Thankfully, Bennett shut himself in his office and closed the blinds as soon as we got there, so I didn’t have to worry about him. Unfortunately, the first woman approached a minute later.

“Is Bennett in?” she asked.

“You just saw him walk past. Unless he can teleport, he’s in.

And if you’re asking because you’re looking for permission to interrupt him, I don’t get paid enough to be his abused gatekeeper.

So do what you want. Just don’t hold me accountable for his shitty mood swings.

” I said all of it while booting up my laptop and opening the spreadsheet I’d worked on the day before.

“Oh, and if you can pass the word that I lost the privilege of eating unsupervised this week, I’d appreciate it.

I’d really like to go back to how things were. ”

I lifted my gaze to meet hers. She studied me for a long, silent moment.

“If there’s nothing that I can do for you, I’m going to get to work.”