Page 9

CHAPTER NINE

CLAIRE

After Sebastian gives me his mark, I fall into a deep sleep. I’m not sure if it’s the adrenaline or the sex or something in his venom, but my body is completely spent.

And yet, I can’t seem to get enough of this male. When I’m roused in the night by the feeling of his hard, silky cock against me, I’m instantly engulfed by need.

I lose count of my orgasms, and by the time the sun rises the next morning, there’s a pleasant soreness between my legs and my mind is calm.

Dane will never threaten me again. Sebastian made sure of it. Sebastian, my mate and protector. The thought makes a smile tug at my lips.

Just yesterday, I was all alone in the world, facing the prospect of raising this baby all on my own while trying to keep it a secret from his biological father. Today, I have a mate.

Carefully disentangling myself from Sebastian, I slide out of bed and stare down at the male who saved me not once, but twice. The shades in the house must be on some kind of timer, because they’re drawn over the wall of glass. Only a few slivers of morning light shine through the gaps along the edges, illuminating thin white scars along Sebastian’s sides.

I shudder.

The terror I felt when I came downstairs to find him facing off against Dane was eclipsed only by the horror of watching him collapse in the blood-soaked snow and shift back into a man.

I saw the lacerations all over his body when his pack brothers carried him inside. No human could have survived wounds like that, and yet the deep gashes from the bear shifters’ claws look as though they’ve had months to heal.

It seems I have a lot to be grateful for.

Slipping into Sebastian’s extravagant en suite bathroom, I pause in front of the mirror to examine the little half-moon scar that’s formed in the dip between my neck and shoulder. Like Sebastian’s wounds, the mark has already healed to the point that it’s just a glistening white crescent. Running my fingers over the raised skin, I feel a surge of pride.

Of all the women in the world, Sebastian chose me .

“Us,” I whisper to the little being growing inside of me.

Warmth blooms in my chest as I tiptoe back into the room and pull on the clothes I borrowed last night. I go downstairs to check on Shadow, and my jaw drops at the views from Sebastian’s windows.

The snowy mountains are laid out in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree panoramic view. The first rays of sunshine shining through the trees make the snow coating the branches glisten, and a few quiet deer stand in the blood-flecked snow, their necks bent as they forage for food.

Even though Nick and Maddox boarded up the broken window before they left, the entire first floor is freezing. I slip into the downstairs bathroom to freshen Shadow’s water before donning Sebastian’s giant puffer jacket and boots and letting myself out the back door.

Trying to ignore the evidence of last night’s carnage, I pick my way down the hill toward the little outbuilding on the edge of the woods. It’s quieter on Sebastian’s mountaintop than any place I’ve ever been. The only sound apart from the wind in the trees is the quiet pecking of a bird against the side of the house.

The door to the outbuilding is cracked, so I push it open. Motion-sensor lights flick on when I walk inside, illuminating screens mounted on every inch of available wall space and what appears to be a state-of-the-art computer setup.

I let out a low whistle. Even though Sebastian told me what he does for a living, seeing his workspace all laid out is still impressive.

I’m startled by the sound of a door sliding shut in the distance and jump about a foot in the air. My hip bangs into the side of the desk, jiggling the ergonomic mouse.

All the screens instantly flash to life, illuminating dozens of security feeds. I recognize a few of them from rooms in Sebastian’s house. There’s even a view of his guest bathroom where I took a bath the night before. But that’s not all that’s familiar.

A sick feeling unfurls in my stomach as I stare into my own living room. There’s no mistaking the ratty couch, sad recliner, and outdated popcorn ceiling. I don’t recognize the vantage point of the camera, but it’s definitely my apartment.

My heart starts to beat wildly as I rip my gaze away. My eyes drift down to the open laptop, where my own frozen face beams up at me from the screen.

Just then, the door behind me opens wider, and I whip around to face Sebastian. He looks so happy. So . . . normal. His hair is still mussed from our lovemaking, and he’s shirtless despite the cold.

One quick glance around the room, however, and the easy grin slips.

I take a deep breath, but my chest feels as though it’s full of broken glass. I can’t believe I was so stupid.

“How long?” I ask.

“How long what?” Something about his tone tells me he knows exactly what I’m asking.

“How long have you been spying on me?” The words come out in a furious hiss, and the screens go blurry as my eyes fill with tears.

“I haven’t been spying on you.” He has the nerve to sound offended. “I had to look into you when I caught Murphy using your credit card. But I had no idea who you were.”

A little zing of panic goes through me at that revelation. I thought I’d misplaced my emergency credit card, but I figured I’d just left it in an old purse. I didn’t realize Dane had stolen it.

“I haven’t been spying on you, love. I just hacked into your laptop last night so I’d know if he returned to your flat.”

My jaw pops as I stare at the feeds. Why should I believe him when the evidence of his intrusion is staring me in the face?

“And last night when I undressed in that room?” My voice shakes with the force of my rage and devastation. It seems ridiculous, given what we were doing all night, but it still feels like a violation.

“I didn’t watch you, I swear.” Sebastian’s eyes are wide. “Please believe me.”

I shake my head. I can feel myself spiraling. “You knew all about me before we even met!”

“No.” His eyes dart to the paused video I created to try to get Kevin adopted. “Not everything.” He flashes that crooked smile — the one that would have made me weak in the knees if he’d used it just a few minutes before. “If it makes you feel any better, I thought you were a stripper.”

My throat burns with unshed tears as I try to calm my raging storm of emotions. “And what did you learn about me? ”

“You’re twenty-two years old. Your parents and your older brother were killed in a head-on collision driving back from a hockey tournament. You were fostered by Debra and Len Montgomery, though they never adopted you. Your foster parents sent you to a shrink to treat an eating disorder when you were fifteen. You didn’t go to college despite having a three point eight GPA. You also excelled in volleyball. You watch a lot of K-dramas. You have a credit score of six eighty-two — a few points lower than it was before you missed some payments on the stolen credit card. You had an irregular Pap smear two years ago, which turned out to be HPV. You went for a battery of tests at your obstetrician at the end of November — I’m guessing after you and Murphy broke up. You tested negative for any sexually transmitted infections, but you found out you were pregnant.”

I stare at Sebastian, a cold, gaping hole in my chest where there was warmth and love only moments before.

I can’t explain why it bothers me so much that he dug into my private life — stole these little personal details gleaned from my digital history.

I would have told him anything he wanted to know if he’d only asked. But instead of asking, he took these pieces of my life without my permission.

“You’re thorough, I’ll give you that,” I croak.

“I can’t help what I am, Claire,” he says in a tired voice. “We can’t all be fucking Mother Teresa.”

I wince, my bottom lip quivering as I stare up at him. When Sebastian burst into my apartment to defend me from Dane, I’d thought it was fate that had brought us together. That he saw me for me — a woman about to become a mother who was just doing her best, not the sad orphaned girl who let the darkness swallow her whole. Not the Claire who was so desperate for love that she allowed herself to be taken in by a monster like Dane.

I’d thought I could have a fresh start with Sebastian — that maybe I didn’t have to be defined by my past.

Turns out, he’d already seen everything I wanted to keep hidden. He’d already pulled apart my past, laying bare every painful and humiliating detail.

“I should go,” I say, swallowing the sob that’s threatening to burst out of me.

“No. Claire, don’t —”

He moves to follow me out of the shed, but I hold up a hand to maintain the distance between us.

“Please, don’t try to stop me,” I whisper, dragging in a breath that burns my lungs. “I just escaped one monster. I don’t want another fight.”