Page 122 of The Alpha's Protective Mate

Tommy approached me the first time he showed up and told me about a pack meeting last week. Robert had been out of the house the whole day, and when he returned, he looked shaken. Pleased, but also as if his whole world had been rocked.

Robert never told me where he’d been or what had happened. It was Tommy the contractor who told me, almost gleefully.

“I put two and two together, you see.” The man had beamed at me. “You smelled too much like him. And now, you smell just like our Alpha. He fought for you. He was going to leave the pack, but we can’t lose him, so we wanted to convince him that we will accept you. Doesn’t matter to us if you’re one of them bloodsuckers. You’re not like them.”

He fumbled with his words, but it touched me to see all these people trying to find different ways, nonverbal ways, to welcome me into their pack. Even if it is for Robert’s sake, this warm feeling in my chest isn’t going away.

I was so sure his pack would reject me. I was certain Robert knew of the imminent fight our relationship would cause, and he was probably just as shocked. But Tommy’s words made me proud of Robert. He hardly ever talks about his work, but when he does, he’s always downplaying it. Like setting up a community center with his own money so that the youngsters in the pack have a healthy outlet, or establishing committees to make sure no household within his pack goes hungry.

He doesn’t even tell me about any of these ventures. I just overhear him on the phone sometimes. He’s put his heart and soul into this pack, and it seems the members not only acknowledge all this, they also love him.

I watch Zeno try to catch Mano’s tail as she sprawls lazily by my feet, slowly blinking up at me.

I reach down and rub her tender belly, making her close her good eye and purr.

I’m happy, I realize as I listen to the contented rumbling sound. I’m happier than I have been in years. And I want to protect this happiness with everything I have. I found love in the most unlikely of places.

Robert and I haven’t visited the cave again yet, but he’s been talking about retrieving the journals to see what parts of our history were erased and should be restored. Neither of us has addressed the elephant in the room, the fact that both Lucian Whitlock and Jean Sanguinite are spitting images of ourselves. We mentioned it the night we found the cave, but that was it. I don’t know why we look so much like them. It doesn’t make sense to me.

This is why I wanted to find Angie today, but tracking her down has been next to impossible. She’s not at her usual haunts, and she doesn’t have an apartment, preferring to live in women’s shelters or under the open sky. I’ve offered her a bed at my apartment so many times, but she’s never accepted it.

I’m worried about her.

I’ve got two more hours to look for Angie because I’m supposed to meet Jazz at the animal shelter this evening. Two more hours. I’ve exhausted all the possible places where she could be.

“Well, it’s not like she could have vanished.” I stroke Mano, who has managed to climb into my lap. “She’ll show up. She always does. And this time, I’m going to force her to let me buy her a phone. This is ridiculous. She’s getting old. She needs to learn to stay put somewhere so I don’t have to worry about her all the time.”

Mano meows in agreement to my complaints.

Just then, Zeno begins to bark, and a shadow falls over me.

I look up and see Terrence standing in front of me.

My whole body stiffens, but he immediately holds up his hands, one of them containing a brown paper bag. “I come in peace.”

“What’re you doing here?” I look around anxiously before remembering that I’m not completely weak anymore.

“I brought a peace offering.” Terrence holds out the paper bag. “Macaroons. You used to love them, remember?”

I open the bag and peer inside.

My stomach turns.

It seems there are a lot of things Terrence has forgotten. I fold the top of the bag over and set it aside. “I don’t eat macaroons anymore, Terrence. It was a long time ago, so I don’t expect you to remember.”

His eyes linger on the bag. “Really? What happened?”

“Clyde sat on my stomach and forced macaroons down my throat, and I couldn’t breathe.” I curl my hands into fists behind Mano, the memory still traumatizing. My brother shoved them into my mouth, deep into my throat, and I almost suffocated. “You saved me, remember?” I look at him, not surprised that he doesn’t. His expression flickers, and I see regret in his eyes. I try to keep my tone dismissive. “It was such a long time ago. I don’t blame you for forgetting.”

Terrence sighs. “I’m sorry. It’s just…So many things have changed, Charlotte. I always thought you were angry with me for leaving and that’s why you never replied to my letters. I believed that when I came back, I would apologize for leaving you behind and fix things between us. It was hard being so far away from you and not even having a single letter from you.”

“I did write, Terrence—” I begin, but he gives me a wry smile.

“I know. I wish your father hadn’t decided to keep us apart.”

I shrug. “He probably thought I would be a distraction. He never really approved of our friendship as it was.”

Terrence sits down next to me on the bench, his voice heavy. “I’m sorry I let you down, Charlotte. I wanted to go become the kind of man you would be proud of. I know you didn’t want me to leave, but I needed to become strong so that I could protect you. I thought I was doing the right thing. But I guess all I did was push you into the arms of another man.”

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