Page 31 of The Alpha's Arranged Bride

“You said you never liked me sleeping on the floor, but I know you never liked any of it. You asked me not to go to the woods alone.” Her throat closed at his ragged tone. “Today was the last time.”

She twisted on her side and so did he, facing away from her. She sensed that giving her his back was a defense mechanism, but maybe it showed more trust than anything. The back was a vulnerable spot.

She lifted her hand to reach out to him, but stopped herself. All she wanted to do was press herself up against the hard planes of him. She wanted to pull him into a tight hug or rub his back, but after all he’d been through—his entire life and not just lately—anything she might do was going to mean nothing. It was going to fix nothing. It might even drive him away.

“Briar May came by with Sadie,” she said, unable to stop the words the same way she was to stop herself from touching him. “You weren’t home when I got back from taking the boys to school. I knew you were out in the woods, and I know what I said, but I thought you needed privacy more than you needed me there talking at you. She told me how she stuck her foot in it this morning with you, but she wouldn’t say anything else. She did tell me to tell you that she’s sorry if it was too much. I can only imagine. I can’t believe she did that. Well, on the other hand, I kind of can. We’re both pretty quiet and dutiful as the oldest daughters, but we’re also best friends.”

Her pulse ripped at her neck while she waited for what he would say.

“I pushed her to the brink, no doubt.”

She edged closer, so her breath fanned against his skin. “Agnar, that’s fine. No one’s mad, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You didn’t look well this morning. I took the boys to my parents so they could see them before school. They really like my mom and dad, although I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. I knew they wouldn’t ask me anything and I needed that. I know you hate the boys seeing you… not at your best.”

His response was curt and clipped. “I had trouble with my stomach. It was nothing, but thank you.”

“I’m such an idiot. I have no idea why I fed you all of that after you haven’t been eating. I can see how much weight you’ve lost. I knew you hadn’t been taking in more than scraps.”

“That had nothing to do with it.”

She couldn’t let the silence go on. She had something she desperately wanted to tell him, but wasn’t sure it was the right time. He was there, with her, and not on the floor. That meant something. He’d promised not to go into the woods by himself again. She didn’t want to push him too hard and drive him away just when he was there with her at all.

The words stayed locked inside her, burning her bones to the marrow.

Agnar turned and stared at her, those gray eyes biting through the dark. The dark wasn’t impenetrable, not like his house at all. The light from the hall crept under the door and through the gaps in the lightweight curtains at the windows she could see glow from lights on in her siblings’ cabins down the row.

He shocked her by running the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. “I can tell you’re bursting with something else. You might as well say it.”

She wanted to thrust herself against his thumb, take it into her mouth and bite it, suck it, force it into his mouth so he could taste her on himself. She swallowed hard instead as her body grew steadily warmer, entering fevered territory. “I asked Briar May this morning who I should call if I needed someone to make me something specialized and medical out of metal or plastic. It was more just a passing thought, asking her, but she suggested my brother. I called him, and as far as knowing people goes, he’s living out there, without a pack, and I can’t imagine all the connections he’s forced to have.”

“Forced?”

“I’m sure he’d rather be here.”

Understanding passed over his face as he shifted on the pillow, tucking his arm underneath it to prop himself up. “This is the banished brother.”

“How do you know that?” she asked sharply.

“Briar May said something about him this morning.”

Right. That made sense. Briar May refused to tell her what she’d said, and knowing her, that meant that she’d said a whole lot. “Rome. Yes. He’s—”

“I know. I know he was the one.”

She frowned and sucked in a breath. “You’d hardly want to go there, then, even though he said he knows someone who can make anything. A guy he works with at the garage. Never mind. I’ll find someone else.”

His lips pursed. “You wanted to go there?”

“I want to go together. I know it’s dangerous going out in the world and taking the boys is a risk, but I know my brother is raising a child. I’ve never met her and it’s a sad story, but Briar May says that Rome is trying to change. He was always so rough around the edges. Like he was only half here with us and always half somewhere else. He liked to be an asshole just for the sake of it. It was like he lost his whole self when his mate was killed. He went crazy and destroyed everyone responsible. It’s unheard of here, to have blood on your hands like that. My father had no choice but to banish him. Now he’s in the city, raising his mate’s daughter that she never told him about because her grandma was looking after her, but she passed. He’s trying to be better for her sake. He works at a garage, he’s part owner, and the guys there are pretty rough around the edges, but they’re friends and a sort of pack. Wolves, living in the city. I guess it’s no different than how other shifters and vampires and witches often choose society as a smokescreen. Although, I feel like it’s the most unnatural for wolves. We were made to have others. We should have family.”

She thought he’d turned away from her or thrust himself straight out of bed to be away from her after she’d discussed him and acted behind his back. He just stared at her, holding her gaze so long that she had trouble breathing. “If you want to go, I’ll take you.”

She couldn’t just stay there in bed. She had too much wild energy. Agnar was gone all day. She knew he hadn’t eaten anything. She twisted away and got out of bed. He acted like he was going to follow, but she put out a hand. “You have to be starving. You were out all day. Let me get you something.”

“I’m not. Prairie Rose, it’s fine. Stop. Please.”

“It’s no trouble.” She took her soft fluffy robe down from the hanger on the back of the door and slipped into it. “Just stay there. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

She was efficient in the kitchen despite her trembling muscles, the ache all over her body, and the heat consuming her. She had to do something. and it was either make a fool of herself back there or care for Agnar this way, by feeding him.

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