Page 71 of Resisted

I took a few steps toward the door. “You’ve got two days, forty-eight hours.”

“That’s not—”

“Forty-eight hours, or Vince and I are letting her know the truth.” I walked away, not caring to hear his arguments. The trust he broke was still a fresh wound, and I couldn’t stand to look at him. When I was past the exit, my feet touching the dried leaves and broken sticks, I shouted one more reminder to him, then I disappeared toward home. Toward Bella. Toward my mate.

Chapter 29

SILAS

I watchedthem both walk away, and though I was angry, I was furious with myself, not them. I had lied. I’d concealed. I’d manipulated them to get what I’d wanted, what I’d thought they should want too, without a regard for what they needed. The truth was, they needed her. Not on a biological level, though I was sure they needed that too, but her. They were happier with her, more open and playful, and when you had a job like ours, a job where your mind saw blood every second your eyelids closed and your body took some brutal beatings, you needed the softness. Even if the softness was Bella.

Even knowing this, it didn’t stop my anger. It didn’t calm my soul. I had to tell her. I would tell her, and maybe I would have always told her eventually, but two days? Boyce had given me two days to spill the beans, and I knew I needed more time than that to even process how I would tell her.

I stayed in the barn long into the evening, thinking, hoping, trying to figure out how I would tell this girl that she was ours, that she’d always been ours. I needed to brace myself for rejection because sure, she flirted and it was all fun and games, but when shit got real, when she found out about her mate mark, she had the power to say no. She had the power to reject us, to destroy our souls.

When I stepped foot into the house, everything was silent, blanketed by the blackness of night, but I knew differently. Though the house was still, at least two other souls besides my own were locked away, feeling the turmoil—a turmoil caused by my decisions.

I headed straight for the shower, striping my clothes as I walked through the house, not caring where they fell. Nothing I could do until the morning anyway, and maybe my mind would think more clearly if I didn’t have a layer of grime coating every inch of my body. The spray took no time to go from tepid to scorching, and as the water damn near burned my skin, I felt my body begin to relax.

It would be okay. I was sure of it. I had fulfilled my promise to her, hadn’t I? I’d tried to find her family. That…that was enough, right? She would be satisfied with that, and she would want to stay. God, I only hoped so because at this point, her leaving? Well, it would destroy them, and I would have no one else to blame but myself

When the water turned cold, I shut it off, though I stayed leaning against the shower wall for a while longer, until the steam in the bathroom dissipated and the air chilled. Then I grabbed my towel, wrapped it around my hips, and stepped into my bedroom. I had just opened my drawer when I heard my computerbingfrom the office across the hall. Without thinking, I left what I was doing, heading straight for my office.

I assumed, this late at night, it was another assignment coming in, because with our job, sometimes they came in at odd hours. We could have days, even months of advance notice, other times, hours if we were lucky, but we had to roll with it because our top priority was protecting our people.

I jiggled the mouse, and the screen came to life, the brightness nearly blinding me. A few clicks later, my email was up, an address I didn’t recognize sat in bold. I sat slowly in my seat before clicking it, the screen moving slower than I liked as it switched from my email query to the reply. The message was simple.

Re: missing family.

I think you’ve found my missing family. I’ve searched everywhere for my child, and to see your inquiry has brought me hope. Meet at SF Pier 80, tomorrow night for a reunion.

The email wasn’t signedand gave little information, but it was something. If this was it…well, this could mean everything to her. I read the words again. Reunion? No. I would never blindly put her in that position, but I could scope it out. Do an initial meeting. Then we could plan something from there, once I talked to her about it of course.

I wasn’t sure how long I was staring at the email or how deep my trance went, but when a knock on the door broke the silence, I jumped. Fuck, how had I missed someone sneaking up on me? I turned away from the screen, spotting Bella by the door, holding my pile of bloody discarded clothing.

“There are hampers for these, you know?”

“It’s two am, smartass. I was getting there.” I stretched my arms over my head. “What are you doing up?”

“Besides being a smartass? That special talent keeps me up a lot at night.” I tried not to smile, but a smirk slipped by. “The energy felt off.”

“The energy felt off?” I repeated. What type of bullshit was that?

“Yes. Like, I could feel the agitation rolling off of you in waves. And Vince and Boyce, well, their energy is different too. It’s more…” She bit her lip as she thought of the word, and I wanted nothing more than to stand and free it from the assault. “It’s more intense. Contemplative. Sad and excited at the same time, which I know makes no sense.”

It made perfect sense. “I understand.”

She disappeared for a moment, crossing the hall into my room before coming back without my soiled clothes. “So yeah, the energy in here is keeping me up.”

“I would have picked those up myself.”

“It’s done now.” She sighed before staring at me for a long moment. “Come to bed.”

Why did her asking me to sleep sound like an offer of so much more? Wishful thinking perhaps, but damn if the offer wasn’t alluring. “I have some work to do.”

“You always have work to do.” Her statement wasn’t wrong, but this time, it was important because it was for her. If I was going to reach San Francisco in time, I would have to leave early, scope out the location, and watch for suspicious activity, before I even braved showing my face. That all took hours, and the moments were ticking by.

She stepped toward me and my heart rate instantly rocketed. “I really need to get this done.”

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