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ten

ASPEN

Enzo set me on the counter, lifting my wrapped ankle onto the countertop. The surface had grown dirty with crumbs since I wiped it down a few days ago, but that was the last thing on my mind.

“You shouldn’t have taken off the boot without another scan,” he said.

“It’s healed. I’m fine.” My words were short.

“Not until the doctor agrees.”

He’d surprised me by calming down, but I hadn’t forgotten the way he threatened me in the closet.

I watched as he filled a mug halfway with whole milk and put it in the microwave after dropping what looked like a large chocolate ball in it. He pulled a few dishes out of the dishwasher and put them away while the mug heated, and I watched him move.

He was clearly still angry, though significantly less than before.

When the microwave beeped, he pulled the mug out and stirred the glass. I watched as strings of chocolate slowly combined with the milk, creating a scent that had me drooling a little.

I was only slightly surprised when he put it in my hands.

Feeding me seemed to be his default. I didn’t have a problem with that, even though it seemed strange that he cooked everything himself instead of eating his own pack’s food. Maybe it wasn’t fancy enough or something.

“You can’t just barge in on my conversations. That’s an invasion of privacy,” I said.

“Mates don’t have privacy when it comes to conversations with past lovers.”

I scowled. “We aren’t mates yet. And you don’t let me see or use your phone. You could be screwing anyone in your office, having phone sex, or dating someone long-distance for all I know.”

“I didn’t even use my phone until you showed up here, and there are no females in the pack. That’s clearly not happening,” he growled.

“I wouldn’t know. I’m trapped here, and I’ve never seen any evidence either way.”

“My phone’s code is 1010. Check it whenever you want.”

“I don’t want to check it, Enzo. I want privacy . My own room. My own space. A phone that isn’t monitored.”

“I understand your desire for freedom, Princess, but no one in this pack is free to talk about rogues and rabids. No one is free to bring human females here. The rules protect all of Crimson River.” He set his hands on my knees. Though the touch surprised me, it was far from unpleasant. “As far as having your own space, that’s not an option. You are mine. It wouldn’t be safe for you to be alone, even if my wolf would accept it.”

“Alright, I get it.”

He lifted the mug to my mouth, with my hands still around it. “Drink. You need the calories.”

“I’m not?—”

The warm, rich liquid passed through my lips, and I nearly moaned.

Wow, that was good.

I pulled it away from my mouth as soon as I could, but it took some time, and it was so delicious it managed to calm me down a little.

“You need more calories as heat approaches. Your brother told me he buys you chocolate and ice cream.”

“I buy myself chocolate and ice cream.”

“He makes sure you don’t run out.”

Fletcher probably did sneak chocolate into my cabinets and replace my stash before it could run out. It was entirely in character for him, and heat was never going to be a comfortable subject for us to discuss.

“Princess,” he said, his voice lowering. “I understand that you want independence, but I can’t give you that if I don’t know the full story here. I can’t keep you safe if I don’t know what I’m keeping you safe from. I’ve talked to Fletcher about how to take care of you, and I will talk to him again if you don’t tell me the full story. And that’s not a threat. It’s a promise. I won’t risk you. My wolf would fucking lose it, and no one in this city needs that.”

It was one of the most reasonable things he’d said to me, even if it was frustrating that he said it at all.

“You can’t ask Fletcher for the story. It haunts him more than anyone else,” I said quietly, running a hand over my greasy hair. I barely noticed the oil. “The three of us were close. Me, Fletch, and Simon. We were raised like siblings. Silas was too, but he was always quiet. Artsy. He kept to himself. He was close with Simon, too, but we weren’t close with him. Silas liked to do his own thing. Our pack was small. Just the four of us, our parents, and an aunt and uncle. I’m not giving you any of their names.”

“For now,” Enzo said.

I scoffed.

He dragged his thumb over the inside of my thigh. “Continue.”

“Don’t order me around.”

“Continue, please .”

My scowl didn’t really fade, but I went on anyway.

The sooner I got the story out, the sooner I could push it back to the far corner of my mind.

“I think I already told you I was fifteen when my first heat started. I was hanging out near the pack house. Our parents were at work. Our uncle was nearby, and my pheromones hit him first. He pinned me to a tree. I’d started feeling hot, but other than that, I had no idea what was going on. My wolf refused to take over,” I said. “I could barely feel her at all. Heat and rut both suppress your ability to shift even though your mind is possessed by them. We learned that, that night.”

I continued. “Fletcher never went far from me, so when I screamed, he came running. We were always a team. We loved our adoptive parents, but we were different from them, and we both knew it. He saw our uncle trapping me, and managed to shift his nails to claws and cut through. Even then, his dominance was insanely powerful. He tried to send our uncle to his knees with it, but he was trapped in the rut. Fletch punched him and clawed him, but blood doesn’t stop someone in that state.”

I tilted my head back against the cabinets behind me and closed my eyes. “Fletcher ripped him away from me. While Fletch killed him, I ran. My body was getting hotter. The terror was fading, and the wild, uncontrollable desperation of heat started to set in. I couldn’t go back, but something inside me pushed me to anyway. Thankfully, I didn’t.”

Enzo’s hands gripped my knees a little tighter.

I didn’t comment on it.

“Simon and Fletch were always together, even when I wasn’t with them. When Fletch ran to find me, Simon chased him. He tried to go find Silas for help when he saw Fletcher attack our uncle, but my heat grew strong enough to pull him in as I was running away. He chased me, but we were both in human form, so he didn’t catch me. Not until my legs shook too badly to keep moving, and I collapsed. He caught me. Fletcher assumed he’d attacked me too, and killed him.”

Enzo let out a slow breath.

I pressed my lips together.

The Alpha waited.

My voice was quieter when I finished the story. “I was too lost to heat to care that my best friend and my uncle were dead. I begged Fletcher to find someone to help me. It was the worst pain of my life. He dragged me halfway back to the house before Silas showed up, and when Silas did, he guarded us.”

“The pheromones were fading when our parents got back and found us. Our adopted dad felt a small amount of it, but it was fading, and weak enough that he didn’t act on it. The horror that followed as we all realized what had happened…”

I cleared my throat. “We all mourned, but they didn’t blame us. We did, and Silas did, but they didn’t. We tracked the dates after that, and the moment I started feeling hot, Fletcher, Silas, and I trekked deep into the forest and waited it out. The hatred in his eyes only minutes before the rut set in is something I’ll never forget. Over the years, he’s stopped blaming us for the most part, but I don’t think he’ll ever truly forgive us. So yeah, you heard relief when I told him he was off the hook. He never wanted me or liked being with me.”

Enzo’s gaze bore into me, but I didn’t meet his eyes.

I was afraid mine would water.

Fletcher and I didn’t talk about that day. Fletch had hated himself for what he did ever since that day. Neither of us blamed each other, but we sure as hell blamed ourselves.

Enzo finally released his hold on my knees. One of his hands slid around my face, and he ran his thumb lightly over my cheekbone. I wanted to lean into his touch so desperately that it hurt, but I didn’t let myself.

He was still the king.

He was still an asshole.

He had still attacked Silas without knowing any part of the story.

When I didn’t lean in, his free hand found my waist and pulled me across the countertop until my chest met his. He wrapped me in his arms, hugging me against him so firmly that I couldn’t stop myself from wrapping my arms around him too and squeezing.

“You were kids, Princess. What happened was fucking horrible, but it wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

With his words, something inside me seemed to crack open.

Tears tracked down my cheeks, and my body trembled with the effort of holding my emotions back.

His hand slid into my hair, his fingers tangling with the tied strands as he held me closer.

Tears dripped down my face, and I clutched the Alpha like a lifeline. I loved Fletcher, but we never talked emotions. Surviving had always been our focus. Getting through the next week, the next month, the next year.

What would it be like to focus on something else? Something like… a mate?

I didn’t know.

I shouldn’t let myself think about it, either.

Enzo was saying the right things, but everything was still a mess. He had still hurt the people who mattered to me, and he had still been an asshole.

Saying sweet things and holding me while I cried didn’t change that. Not really.

He probably had an ulterior motive of some kind.

It was just hard to believe that when he was wiping tears off my face with his thumb while he held me.

His other hand moved in a slow, soothing motion over my back until my tears stopped falling, my emotions becoming manageable again.

His grip on me didn’t ease until mine on him loosened. Then, he released me and wiped away the last of my tears.

He pulled my phone from his pocket and set it on the countertop, next to me, then disappeared into the other room.

My forehead creased.

He was just going to leave, after holding me like that?

I listened for the sound of the door opening, but it didn’t come. Instead, he walked back into the kitchen with my boot in his hand.

I sighed. “Really, Enzo?”

“Until you have the doctor’s approval, yes.”

“Putting weight on it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

He buckled it on anyway.

“I need a shower.”

“I told you I’d help you in the bath.”

“I don’t want help.”

“Does it seem like I care whether or not you want my help, Princess?”

I scowled at him.

He ruffled my already-messed-up bun. “You look perfectly fuckable. Stop worrying about your hair. We’ll leave tonight.”

“Leave tonight for what?”

“My cabin. Where we’re going for heat.”

I blinked. “It won’t start until two days from now.”

“I want you a long way from any other werewolves when it does. Until I personally understand how it affects both of us, I’m going to be cautious. We leave tonight. There’s a backpack and a duffel bag in the closet somewhere. Pack something to wear.”

“How long are we staying?”

He shrugged. “Until I’m confident no one else is going to try to take you from me.”

“So not until you force me to seal the bond during the next full moon?” I drawled. The sarcasm was half-hearted after my cry fest, but Enzo’s honey eyes brightened a little anyway.

He kissed my forehead, lowered me from the countertop back to my feet, then strode out of the room.

I ran a hand over the top of my hair. It stuck up at odd angles, having been pulled by a pair of gigantic hands.

I wasn’t going to think too much about that, either.

Even if we’d be sitting in a cabin alone together that night.

I pulled a duffel bag out of the closet and threw a few pairs of clothes in for myself. When I thought about Enzo’s dressing habits, I decided there was a good chance he wouldn’t bother packing himself any clothes, and put some in for him too.

I couldn’t handle my messed-up, greasy hair any longer, so I pulled it out of the bun and hobbled into the bathroom.

Enzo was probably going to be annoyed that I bathed without his help, but he’d survive. We were about to spend heat together, so he’d get over it.

I set my phone down in the ledge of the tub and took the boot off again. The wrap followed it.

My ankle and foot still looked bruised and disgusting when I got them entirely free, so I tried not to look.

I’d have to figure out how to wrap it again before Enzo saw it. He’d freak out if I was walking around with it looking the way it did.

I slipped into the tub and sank in as the water filled, and closed my eyes.

Someone knocked on the door, but I ignored it.

It wasn’t Enzo, obviously. And no one else would walk in without permission, so if I didn’t answer, they’d leave me alone.

Except they didn’t.

They knocked again.

And again.

My phone rang with a call from an unknown number. I ignored it.

A message came through from the same number a moment later.

Unknown

This is Clay. I’m outside your room. Enzo asked me to take you to the doctor

Me

I’m busy, and I don’t need a doctor

Clay

That’ll fly about as well as an ostrich

I sighed.

Me

Fine

I need like 10 minutes

Clay

You can have 5

I huffed, but hurried. Dunking my head under the water, I quickly washed my hair. There was nothing but a bar of soap next to the tub, so I just cleaned it with that. It would have to go right back into a bun, because it would feel dry and disgusting, but at least it wouldn’t be greasy anymore.

There was no razor or face wash, either, so I just splashed some water on my cheeks and used some soap on the rest of my body. If Enzo wasn’t going to let me buy toiletries, he was just going to have to deal with my body hair during heat.

Considering he could sprout fur and shift into a wolf, I didn’t think he would care.

I didn’t have time to hobble back to the closet, so I just dried off and pulled on the clothes I’d been wearing earlier. My phone vibrated again while I was getting dressed, and Clay knocked again, but I ignored him. He’d survive.

He was knocking yet again when I finally got to the door, drying my hair carefully with my towel.

“Oh,” he said, watching me dry it.

“Do you have any conditioner? Your brother’s soap left my hair so dry, I’m worried it’s going to snap right off.”

Clay blinked. “We have to figure out the doctor thing, first.”

“Alright.”

He looked down at my foot and grimaced. “Where’s the wrap and the boot?”

“You only gave me five minutes, and I don’t really need them.”

He muttered something that sounded like, “He’s going to kill me,” but when I closed the door, he didn’t make me go back for them.

“I’m surprised he’s letting you take me there after the way he’s been hovering over me,” I remarked, as we started slowly down the hallway. When he realized I was still limping a little, he tucked an arm around my back and pulled mine over his shoulder, taking some of my weight.

“So am I.”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. He said there was something he had to do and gave me a whole list of instructions.” Clay didn’t sound thrilled about any part of his answer.

“Does he always just leave like that?”

“Pretty much.” We turned down a hallway, and I winced at a particularly sharp pain in my ankle.

Maybe I should’ve worn the boot.

Clay hadn’t seemed to notice, so that was good.

We passed a few guys in the hallway, and surprisingly enough, none of them ignored me.

None of them greeted me, but they nodded. Or smiled. Some grimaced at my ankle. It really didn’t look great, and the bruises covered a decent chunk of my foot, too.

“Did Enzo tell everyone not to ignore me?” I whispered.

“No. He didn’t kill Jake or Charlie for talking to you, so word spread that he just doesn’t want them flirting or staring at your tits.”

Oh.

That was good, I guess.

At least no one was acting like I didn’t exist anymore.

I sucked in a breath as I stepped into the elevator with my foot at a slightly wrong angle, and pain raced through my ankle.

“If you’ve reinjured yourself by refusing to wear the boot, there’s going to be hell to pay,” Clay warned.

The warning didn’t scare me.

Enzo’s definition of hell to pay didn’t seem to apply to me any further than forcing me to eat delicious food and stay in his room. I’d become so comfortable there, I was starting to think of it as mine too.

The idea of reinjuring my ankle did scare me though, because my wolf was already annoyed that she’d been trapped for so long. She’d only settled down because heat was approaching. After it was over, she’d be back to her fiery self.

“Is the city okay, even though he’s been staying with me?” I asked, lowering my voice a little. “There haven’t been any new rabids?”

“We’ve been handling it. Our enforcers have been trying to convince him to let them help more for years, so people are actually glad he’s taking a step back.”

“Sounds like I should get hurt more often.”

He snorted. “Sure, if you want him to lose what’s left of his mind.”

It was a good point.

And I was tired of being injured, anyway.