Page 31 of Hunted

“Did you plan to come here? Did you leave me for him?” Luke pointed at Dominic.

Neither Abigail nor Luke missed the slow growl that rumbled from Dominic’s chest, and Abigail wondered if Dominic was even conscious of the sound he made.

It was a dangerous sound, and Luke balled his fists as he moved away from Abigail.

“I didn’t come here on purpose,” Abigail addressed the first question as calmly as she could. “I was too injured to drive and two of his pack members found me and brought me here to his healer.”

“You were injured?” Even more confusion was evident in Luke’s voice.

His eyes were shining, glassy, and Abigail swallowed as she was reminded of how she had loved him.

“Yes. I didn’t plan on coming here. But I’m here now.” Abigail lifted her chin stubbornly, defiantly.

“Why did you leave without even giving me a chance to fight for things? You just rejected me without saying anything!” Luke persisted.

Abigail’s own confusion must have shown on her face then.

“Reject you? I left because you rejected me. You rejected me as your mate and I just… couldn’t stay.”

Abigail remembered the vicious attack by Christian and the insults he had thrown at her—seemingly having come from Luke—as he practically tried to kill her.

She didn’t mention the attack by Luke’s father, mostly because she had come to associate the attack with Luke.

Christian attacked me because of Luke, after all. Luke forced his father to do his dirty work.

Abigail had to ease away from Luke at the memory of the force of the attack.

“Abigail,” Luke took a deep breath as though saying her name knocked the air out of him. “I didn’t reject you. Why would I? You’re my mate. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Your father—” Abigail began stiffly, then stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked past Luke’s shoulder at Dominic who was smiling at her with soft encouragement. His reassurance gave her strength. When she looked back at Luke, he was frowning at her. He clearly did not like that she was as dependent on Dominic as she had become. “Your father,” she said again, “told me that you rejected me. That you had never wanted me as your mate.”

An expression that she couldn’t identify crossed over Luke’s face.

When she looked at him, at the lines of his face, at the curve of his mouth, she was reminded again of how she had loved him.

I still love him. Don’t pretend that I don’t. But then she thought about Dominic, and she took another step away from Luke.I’m going to be out of the room if I keep going at this rate.

“My father…” When he spoke, Luke’s voice was stiff with anger. His eyes were dark and narrow. “Told me that you rejected me. That you wanted a better, more worthy mate. And I assumed you came to this pack because you found one with him.” He jerked his head behind toward Dominic.

Dominic cleared his throat. “It sounds like you’ve both been lied to.”

His voice was casual, but when Abigail looked at him, the hurt on his face was bared for all to see.

He thinks I’m going to leave him. For Luke.

“I left because of what your father said.” Then she recounted everything that Christian had told her, still not mentioning the attack.

Luke’s face grew paler and paler as Abigail spoke. Eventually, as she finished, Luke exhaled heavily and staggered backward.

Dominic took a step forward, as though to catch Luke should he fall, but Luke simply leaned on a nearby wall.

“So, my father…” Luke’s voice was hoarse. “Tricked us into leaving each other.”

“I suppose he didn’t think you would come looking for me,” Abigail said softly.

“No, I don’t suppose he thought that far. Why would he do this?” Luke balled a hand into a fist and slammed it against the wall he leaned on.

A yelping growl escaped him, and he shook his hand angrily. Abigail winced at the pain he must be feeling.

---