Page 156 of Rejected By the Alpha King

“I miss him, rough edges and all,” she admitted. “With everything that happened, I haven’t really had a chance to mourn him.”

“He would have said something snarky to make you feel better.” I wish I knew what to say, as if a few words could make anything better.

“Actually, the more time we spent together, the less snarky he became. He started to patch the holes in me. Emerson made a couple of more, but I’m going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”

Damn right we were. I’d conquer the whole fucking mountain to make sure that she was okay.

I kissed her head again, and to my surprise, she lifted her face to mine. Smoothing a hand over my cheek, she offered her lips, and I accepted. At the first touch, I wanted to devour her whole. To sink myself inside her until we were one, and she knew that nothing was going to break us apart.

Instead, I pulled away, and she frowned. “I’m not going to break,” she whispered.

“No, but these walls are thin, and I’d like a little more privacy when I take you. I want to hear you scream so loud.”

“Well, that’s not helping,” she laughed as she moved off my lap. “I guess I should finish dinner so I have the strength to handle it when we are alone.”

Wordlessly, I picked up her soup and handed it to her. She’d taken two bites before there was a knock a few doors down. Muted through the walls, I heard a stranger’s voice. Instantly, I was on my feet and pressed against the outside door so I could hear better.

Finn was talking to him. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Officer Jones, and this is my partner, Officer Whalen. We’re looking for a missing woman, possibly endangered, matching the description of someone seen entering one of these rooms. Do you mind if we take a look around?”

Anna frowned. “What is it?” She whispered.

“Emerson got the police involved. He reported you as a missing person.”

72

Anna

Emerson got the human police involved? Of course he did. He couldn’t drag me out of town, but he could get the police to do it. The question was whether this search was legitimate or if Emerson had paid these two officers to drag us away.

I pressed my ear to the door.

“Missing woman? That’s horrible,” Kenzi said loudly. “It’s just me and my two sisters here. My brother and sister-in-law are next door, but she’s really not feeling well. We can let you take a peek through the adjoining door, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t disturb her.”

What was she doing? Hurriedly, I ran to the bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. I thought about pulling them all the way over my head, but that would definitely look suspicious.

The sounds were muted, and I held my breath. Jax positioned himself between the bed and the adjoining door. A moment later, it opened. “Jax,” Kenzi said in a stage whisper.

“These officers want to take a look at Sarah and make sure she’s not the missing person they’re searching for.”

“And you just let them in here?” Jax said in a hard low but hard voice. “My wife is not feeling well, officers. I can assure you that she is not missing.”

“Jax, stop being so protective. They can look at her from here.”

I moaned a little and opened my eyes. “Baby? What’s going on?” Then, as if I was seeing the officers for the first time, I gasped and jerked the blanket up further. “What’s going on?”

One of the officers cleared his throat. “Sorry to disturb you, miss. You can go back to sleep.”

Jax followed them out of the room and closed the door behind me. I knew that it wouldn’t be long before he returned, but I felt the emptiness of the room. I was alone for the first time since leaving Emerson’s pack.

I thought I was recovering, but panic rose up inside me, and I got up. The bed was in a vulnerable position. In the middle of the room. The safest place was the bathroom which had a small window I could shift and climb out of if I needed to.

Shame washed over me as I hurried to the bathroom and closed the door. What the hell was I doing? I’d survived Emerson twice now. Held my own against him. Escaped. So why did I feel the need to hide now? It wasn’t like Jax was there when I was locked away in the suite. I’d lost all hope.

“Anna? Baby? They’re gone,” Jax said in a low voice. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I called out and turned on the water of the sink so he wouldn’t think I was hiding. When I opened the door, I tried not to look as ashamed and relieved as I felt. “How did they pull it off?”

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