Page 13 of Hidden Pain

“Go.” Kingsley got to his feet. “I’d better get back to Lily, anyway. I’ll check in later about the run,” he said as he walked via the interconnecting door into the adjoining room.

“Thank you,” Hunter responded. He was pissed. His ex-wife was becoming a big problem. He’d seen her a few times since he’d discovered her true nature and sent her packing. He didn’t love her—theirs had been a marriage of convenience, and it was no longer convenient to have her representing his pack. He followed Christian down the stairs toward the formal greeting room of the mansion. When they arrived there, he nodded for his beta to leave him and entered the classically decorated room.

Ebony sat reclined on a chair. Hunter had no idea what he’d seen in her. She was all fake: dyed hair, fake nails, and make-up covering every inch of her face. She had nothing of the natural beauty Lily had. He inwardly cursed himself for sleeping with Ebony a couple of times since their split. It was weakness on his part. He hoped she wasn’t here for a re-run because things had changed. He’d grown stronger. He had other ties leading him elsewhere now.

“Ebony,” he greeted the she-wolf and was stunned when she leaped to her feet and ran at him with tears streaming down her face.

“Oh, Hunter. I’m so relieved you’d see me.”

She wrapped herself around his body, sobbing into his chest. He stood there momentarily shocked. This was a side of Ebony he’d never seen before. In all the years of their marriage, he didn’t think he’d seen her cry once. She was a heartless bitch.

He pushed her away, but she clung back to him.

“It’s so horrible. I’ve got nothing,” she cried into his chest, the fabric of his shirt dampening from her tears. Ebony was his ex-wife, and he should surely feel something for the crying woman in his arms, but he found it more of an annoyance. This time he pushed her away harder.

“What’s happened?” He moved away from her, leaving her standing in the middle of the room, mascara streaks all over her face.

“Please.” She got down on her knees before him, bowing at his feet and almost worshiping them. “I’ll change. You have to take me back. Please, Hunter.”

“What?” he spat out, staring down at her.

“I’ll be whatever sort of wife you want me to be.”

He shook his head. The scene before him was bordering on absurd.

“No.” He put his hands on the top of his head and pulled on the ends of his hair. He really didn’t need this right now.

“You slept with me after I left,” Ebony protested.

“It was the wrong thing to do. I apologize.” Hunter felt the guilt of what he’d done slam into him. He’d given her the wrong idea. His dick had guided him, not his brain. “I’m sorry, Ebony, but I don’t love you. I can’t build a relationship around that and to continue sleeping with you would be wrong.” He softened his attitude a little and got down to his knees in front of her.

She clung to him again.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll be the quiet wife. I’ll stay hidden away. Please, I’ll give you children. You need them for the future of the pack. As many as you want. Breed with me, Hunter.Please.”

He shook his head.

“No. It’s over between us. We’ll never sleep together again.”

Ebony collapsed into a heap on the floor. Her breath hitched and wretched sobs wracked her body.

“I’ve got nowhere else to go,” she finally managed to tell him.

“I don’t understand?” Hunter placed his hand on her back and stroked it. He didn’t love the woman in front of him; in fact, half the time he detested her, but the tender side of the wolf within him hated seeing another person hurting.

“My pack threw me out. I brought disgrace to them by being sent back a failure. I’ve no home anymore. I’ve nothing except one suitcase with all my belongings in it.”

“I’ll talk to them. Tell them it’s not shameful. We just didn’t connect,” Hunter offered.

“It won’t work. I’m tainted. Nobody wants me, not even my own father. He can’t do anything with me, because I’m no longer pure, and I’m divorced.” Ebony let out a long, loud wail. “I’ve really got nowhere to go, Hunter.Please, help me.”

Hunter swallowed the lump forming in his throat. Despite his feelings toward her, he hated seeing her this broken and dejected. It was his fault for asking her to leave and not sending her back with an explanation. He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply. What he was about to do was crazy and would probably be his undoing, but he couldn’t cast her out into nothing. Not with the threat shifters now faced, following the discovery of their existence by humans.

“You can stay here.” As soon as the words left his lips, he knew he’d end up regretting it.

“I can?” Ebony sat bolt upright, a massive smile on her face. “You really mean that?”

“Yes.”

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