Page 43 of Wanted Beta

I don’t deserve a second chance.

My decision pushed her away, and slammed the door shut on any shot we might have had at forever. There’s nothing I can do to reverse that.

Explanations won’t help.

No matter what, I still broke her heart.

I can never forgive myself for that, and I can’t expect her to do what I can’t.

I don’t know how I screwed things up this fucking badly.

When I first got out here, she was still in Sapphire Valley.

I had plenty of time to plan, but I didn’t know where to start.

Then I was working my way through the police academy. I gave that my focus because it stopped me from having to think about anything else. It felt good to put everything into something that actually worked as a distraction.

Once that was done, I went right back to thinking about what I was missing.

So, the same day that I graduated, I went out looking.

It wasn’t difficult to find her.

But it cut me up to see her again.

She seemed so damn happy.

That’s when I knew I couldn’t approach her.

More than a year has passed since we were together.

I’ve been broken that whole time, a jagged mess of rough edges that can’t be smoothed out.

She’s moved past it already, her resilient nature obvious.

She looks as good as she did when we first met, and she still feels like she’s mine.

It doesn’t matter that she’s not.

I can’t ever stop watching over her now.

She’s mine to keep safe, like I promised when I claimed her.

I shouldn’t have forgotten that. I won’t forget it a second time.

Nothing’s more important to me than keeping that promise.

It doesn’t matter that we didn’t complete our bonding.

She owns my heart, and I’ll never let her down again.

Chapter Nineteen

Beth

The sudden cool feeling on my thigh makes me stop walking. It takes about two seconds to realize it’s because I have a hole in my pocket! Gasping, I stuff my hand in there. My fingers close around the coins inside, capturing them before one slips all the way through the hole.

I yank them out, tugging the pocket inside-out at the same time.

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