Page 39 of Nightmare Island

The fuck! I’m not sure if I should be grateful or angry at him.

“Zeus, Gaia, anybody listening… if you have any mercy at all, please split open the ground and swallow me whole right now.” I peek through my fingers at the still-solid floor. “No? Thanks for nothing.”

A thought strikes me, and I groan again.

“Oh gods, what if that’s why he thinks we’re mates? Did I let him bite me?” I quickly run my hands over my body but feel no fresh marks. I pause.

The sound of footsteps in the hallway makes me snap my mouth shut. If Ghost heard any of that… well, maybe he’d be kind enough to just kill me quickly instead of letting me die of embarrassment.

As the footsteps pass by without stopping, I sink back into the pillows with a sigh. The ceiling, unsurprisingly, offers no comfort.

With more footsteps approaching, I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep. Apparently, I’ve reverted to childhood logic where if I can’t see him, he can’t see me.

“I can tell you’re faking,” his amused response reaches me.

Without opening my eyes, I respond, “No, you can’t.”

His laugh makes my eyes fly open of their own accord. He’s standing there with a tray of food, and even with the mask, I can tell he’s smirking.

He sets the tray down beside me. “Now eat your breakfast, sweetheart. You’ll need your strength for all the catching up we’re going to be doing.”

I throw a pillow at him. He catches it effortlessly, the bastard.

“I hate you,” I inform him primly.

“No, you don’t.”

The worst part is, he’s right. I don’t loathe him at all. And that might be the scariest thing about this whole situation.

Chapter

Ten

GHOST

She scared the fuck out of me last night.

Not that I’d admit it to anyone, but finding her in Wreckage, seeing that zombie coming after her, watching her struggle with the savage fall—my heart hasn’t stopped racing since. If this is what having a fated mate feels like, I won’t have to worry about anyone taking me out. My damn heart might do the job.

She’s only been with us less than a week, and I’m already growing damn infatuated with her, crazy obsessed.

Here I am, watching her sleep again after she dozed off with a belly full of breakfast. Even now, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath, I can’t shake this overwhelming urge to protect her. To keep her close. It’s foreign to me—I’m not used to feeling this… vulnerable.

When her eyes finally flutter open, she fixes me with that defiant stare I’m starting to look forward to.

“You’re not going to give up, are you?” she croaks.

I shake my head, fighting a smile behind my mask. “Come on. You need some fresh air. I’m taking you outdoors.”

I retrieve clothes for her from a chest of drawers—one of the Omega’s donated some things. When I turn back, she’s sitting up straighter, chin lifted in that stubborn way of hers.

“Turn around,” she commands, as if she’s the Alpha here.

It’s amusing enough that I comply, though I can’t resist glancing back when I hear her grunt with effort.

“Don’t look!” she snaps.

“It’s nothing I didn’t see the other night,” I remind her. “And with all those sounds, you need my help.”

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