Page 95 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Running? It took me a moment to realize that he meant my pacing. It had taken me all the way across the apartment.

“Habit,” I said restlessly. “In this space, I’m not really used to welcoming others.”

“You’re angry with me.” Locking the door, he moved to the armchair and sat heavily in it.

Ignoring his statement, I walked to the opposite window and stared out. “You sent the guards away. Is that wise?”

“Not away. I wanted some privacy, so they’re guarding a larger perimeter. Do you see that new wall cabinet?”

Curious, I walked to the new piece of furniture and opened the door. Six security monitors flared to life and showed me a quarter of a mile perimeter around the restaurant.

“What is this?”

“Security,” he said dryly.

“I can see that. Why is it here?” Was he about to kick me out of his bedroom? It wasn’t like I wanted to be there, but he’d made such a big deal about me staying there, and now he was doing this?

“When the alphas are gone, you’ll have a choice,” he said carefully. “For now, I might consider putting the maiden here. She won’t be safe with the other witches, and this building is already heavily guarded. Of course, that’s assuming I trust these guards. I have no idea the damage Bridget has done or how widespread the treachery grew.”

So not now, but in the future. A future where I apparently have the choice of staying here but not in Jax’s bed. I swallowed hard. “I doubt Dean and Bridget expected to be caught, and they wouldn’t recruit lightly. We should be able to track their movements, but I doubt we’re looking at too many others.”

“Anna?”

“Hmm?” Tearing myself away from the monitors, I walked to the little kitchenette. What other changes had he made?

“Please look at me, mate.”

The bond brightened within me, and I immediately surrounded it with my darkness. “We’re alone,” I said finally as I turned. “You don’t need to call me that.”

“It’s true.”

“And yet you’ve apparently spent all this time thinking that the bond doesn’t affect me.

Punishing me.”

“Anna…”

The annoyance had built into pain and anger, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. “You could have asked. At any point, you could have asked me how I felt. I would have told you the truth.

Told you how this mating bond cuts through the voice. Annoyingly so. How I feel you all the time. You invade my dreams. You influence my actions. You make me feel everything.”

“I know.”

Frustrated tears gathered in my eyes. “You brought me back against my will. You keep me here because I’m a null, but you also spent all this time pushing me away for the very same reason. Is this how we’re going to be, Jax? Fucking like we can’t stay away from each other any longer, but circling each other the rest of the time?”

“Anna, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry,” I snarled. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?”

“Remember that I am in an unfamiliar situation and navigating it poorly, I hope. Every point that you’ve made is correct. You deserve better. You deserve better in a mate, but I’m what you’re getting. I can learn, Anna. I’ve made so many fucking mistakes in the past. I treated you like shit for years after we first mated, and you should leave me, but I don’t think I can let you. If you walked away, I would chase you. I’d haul you back here because I need you. My wolf needs you, and I need to spend a fucking lifetime making it better. Keeping you safe. Making you feel secure. I don’t deserve another chance, but I’m asking for it. And I know I just said I wouldn’t give you a choice in the matter, but it’s okay if you just want to hate me and make my life miserable. Just be here when you do it, and one day, I’ll do this mating thing so right that you won’t feel like hating me anymore. I’m begging you.”

Begging. I truly never thought I’d see the day. I wanted to hold on to my fury. For so long, that was all I had, but not when he looked at me like that. Not when he said those words. At his apology, the fight went out of me, and I slowly walked toward him. Now that we were no longer in the presence of the other alphas, his wolf had retreated. I’d never seen Jax look so weak before. Climbing into his lap, I rested my head on his chest and placed a hand over his heart. Thankfully, it was still beating strong under my touch.

With my anger gone, I didn’t know how to talk to him. Communicating intimacy wasn’t something I was good with. It was unfair for me to expect anything different from him. “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll keep working at it,” I said lamely.

“Thank fuck,” he growled, as his arms came around me. We stayed like that for a few minutes until I couldn’t handle the silence anymore.

“Lunessa may cause problems.”

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