Page 12 of Fated to Him

She nods. “Now, husband. They eloped one day when I was in school.”

“Eloped?” I blink at her, genuinely confused. Shifter-born, I’ve grown up in a pack all my life. Shifters don’t marry. We mate. Marriage is like mating. It should be an event you share with your loved ones. Shouldn’t it? “She didn’t think to tell you beforehand?”

Delilah shrugs. “She was in love, I guess.”

She doesn’t look like she believes it. “And was he in love with her?”

An amused snort almost hides the brief flash of pain I catch before she blinks it away. “Levi loved a nice, warm apartment where someone else paid the rent. He also loved that Mom didn’t push him to get a job and earn his keep.”

This Levi sounds like he needs to die. “Something happened that made you leave.”

She sighs and seems to forget she was supposed to be covering her breasts, which speaks to her state of mind as she fiddles with the ends of her hair.

Tension pulls on her shoulders, and I find myself tensing as well. I’m not going to like what she tells me. I just know it.

“At first, he seemed okay. Not awful or anything. After they eloped, I guess he decided Mom wouldn’t kick him out, and it was time to show his true colors. I’d catch him looking at me a little too long. Sometimes I’d leave the bathroom, and he’d be waiting outside to use it. I kept it locked. Just in case. Same with my bedroom door at night.”

“And your mom saw none of this?” My voice is calm. The wolf raging inside me is howling for blood.

She shakes her head, and long dark strands brush my right shoulder. “I tried to tell her. She said I was being paranoid. That it was teenage hormones making me see something that wasn’t there. I was sixteen, so she was probably right about the hormones, but I was definitely seeing something that was there.”

“And then?”

She blinks and refocuses on me. “And then, what?” she echoes.

“Something chased you out of that house. What was it?” I lose the fight with myself not to touch her. I slip a hand under her hair and cradle the nape of her neck, not just wanting to comfort her but needing to.

She doesn’t seem to notice my touch as her eyes turn distant. “I forgot to lock the bathroom door. I was in the shower when he walked right in. He said he thought Mom was in there, but she was singing in the kitchen. The kitchen is on the other side of the apartment.”

I stop breathing as I stare at her. My rage threatens to erupt. Only one thing ensures it doesn’t: the need to hold it together for Delilah.

Delilah is doing a convincing job of hiding her fear, but she was sixteen back then. She must have been terrified. My mate needed me, and I wasn’t fucking there.

“Did he touch you?” There’s a little too much growl in my voice for it to be fully human.

If she hears it, Delilah gives no sign of it. She shakes her head and focuses on the window over my shoulder. “I yelled, and Mom came running. They both laughed it off as some kind of accidental thing that could’ve happened to anyone. I packed my bag the same night and left. I couldn't stay in the house after that.”

“So you moved around working in bars and developed a tripping habit to avoid unwanted male attention?”

Her head snaps back to me, her eyes widening in surprise.

“I’m not blind. He still alive?” I ask.

She blinks, confused. “What?”

“Is the stepfather still breathing?” Because if he is, he won’t be for much longer.

She gives me a long look as if deciding what to tell me.

I’ll have Benji look into tracking him down so I can pay him a visit. Maybe I’ll let my wolf surprise Levi in the shower. See how he likes it before I tear his throat out.

Despite the death I know is glinting in my eye, she shrugs. “Don't know. I haven't been back. The last time I called Mom, she spent most of our conversation complaining about Levi not pulling his weight. I asked her why she didn’t tell him to leave if all he was doing was lying on the couch all day. She said she loved him, so she couldn’t kick him out.”

“But she was okay with letting you leave?” I bite out. “Her sixteen-year-old daughter?”

She shrugs again. “It was a long time ago. It’s all in the past now.”

Then why do I still see the pain in your eyes?

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