Page 36 of A Beta Protects

He leaves, closing the door firmly behind him.

I nearly call him back until my gaze returns to the bed. It’s a double. What exactly was I going to say? Or do.

Invite him to share this bed with me?

Because the way he was looking at me before he took a step back warned me that sharing a bed—even innocently—with Dom would not stay innocent at all.

When I can no longer hear his footsteps, I cross over to stand beside the mountain of shopping bags in the corner, and I smile.

He had to have gotten the owner’s help. I knew it was suspicious when she kept getting me to try stuff on. And Dom…

Dom had just waited, arms folded, with his back to the counter for me to do extreme damage to his credit card.

This is too much.

I should thank him tomorrow and make him return it. But there are clothes in that bag that I always liked to wear, stuff I would have worn before Bryce took over my wardrobe. Clothes that remind me of the Kira Matheson I was before we eloped and I became Kira Peters.

Tricia was gently prodding me toward a pair of satin pajamas in the store. I pushed back, reminding her that this was a birthday present for someone else, and picking out pjs was a little too personal for me to do.

But as I stand over those bags, my gaze snags on purple satin.

It’s the exact shade of the pajamas she’d wanted me to try on. I pull the bag open, and digging through the other clothes, I find more nightwear. There are three more sets. One pair of shorts, another long sleeve pair of pajamas, and a camisole style dress.

I blush when I discover the lingerie at the bottom. Everything I could need. Bras and thongs and socks. Not just trainer socks, but the fuzzy kind too.

I look at the door Dom closed before he left and I wish I had kissed him.

I don’t sleep in the expensive satin. I slip out of my clothes so I’m wearing Dom’s boxer shorts and tank top. Both are soft cotton and too big. It’s not a fit made for a woman’s body, but from the moment I put them on, I loved the way they felt against my skin. And I loved knowing they belonged to Dom.

I cross the hallway to wash my face and use the bathroom. Back in Dom’s room, which has become mine, I turn out the lights and crawl under the sheets, breathing in Dom’s scent.

I’m not afraid, like I was before. I have a whole house full of people who will fight my corner. And I have Dom.

Maybe things will be okay.

Maybe I can stay.

12

DOM

Kira is the last to breakfast, and it’s clear she didn’t sleep well.

I wish I’d stayed with her. I’d wanted to stay with her. If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off her.

As she walks toward the dining table, I pull out the chair beside mine. This wasn’t the seat she was sitting in before, and this empty seat required my packmates moving, which they didn’t mind, but Kira is my mate. I don’t just want her sitting beside me. I need it.

After a brief pause, she takes the seat and I push her chair in before she can. My wolf, pleased at having his mate so close, relaxes.

Her smile is faint, but grateful.

“You want me to make you up a plate?” I point my chin at the table laden with breakfast food, ignoring my packmates’ interested stares.

She shakes her head, and her long braid swings with the motion. “I’m not hungry. I kept thinking about whether staying is the best thing I should do. You’ve given me a place to stay, and I wouldn’t want you to be rewarded by Bryce shooting you.” Her eyes dip to my side. “Again.”

“Bryce doesn’t concern me.” He took a pot shot from a distance. He wouldn’t survive coming at me head on.

My wolf’s snarl fills my head at the thought of dealing with Bryce once and for all.

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