Page 39 of Red's Beast

"Corbin, why are you doing this? What is your reasoning for making me your mate? You've hated me all these years and I feel the same way toward you.”

He rolls his eyes as he stalks toward the bed. I watch as he crashes on the other side of me.

Instead of moving, I just lean down and get the tray from the foot of the bed and put it in my lap.

"Eat. I don't hate you, but I was never fond of you."

I slowly bite into the meat and moan by accident.

He quirks a brow and says, "Go on."

As Corbin edges closer to me on the bed, a wave of panic hits me like a brick. My anxiety is relieved when he abruptly pulls away at the very last moment.

“I better go. You’ve been out for two days, so I want you to rest.”

As soon as he gets up from the bed and starts heading towards the door, I feel a wave of relief wash over me. Suddenly, hepauses in his tracks and rotates his body to face me, with a mischievous smirk on his face. "One day, I'm not leaving the bedroom while you're in it. You know that, right?"

He growls low in his throat as his eyes shift into his wolf’s eyes. But then he abruptly leaves, causing a shiver to run down my spine.

“No. Never. I can’t do this. I know there is some destiny out there for me, yet I don’t know what it is. Do I really have to do this?”

Honestly, if he hadn’t abused me all these years, I’d say that Corbin isn’t a bad looking man. He’s tall, strong, with an even stronger jawline, and has a typical male shifter body. He’s pure muscle, though he might be a tad slimmer than some. Most women would die to even touch him, let alone stand by his side as his mate.

He is an alpha heir. Cream of the crop.

But not me. Never me.

But his blonde hair looks good against his clothes and he is kind of pretty to look at.

Are you seriously thinking about Corbin like that?

I dismiss my thoughts instantly and focus on the food in front of me. My wolf is right, though she never said the words. I shouldn’t think of him like that.

After I finish everything on the silver tray, I move it to the foot of the bed and quickly stand up. My energy levels are low, but I know that I need to get out of here and I don’t have much time to do it.

With quiet movements, I approach the window and then gently ease it open without making a single sound. It takes me a few seconds, but I eventually stick my leg through the opening and duck. Once I bring my other leg through, I look down at the ground off the side of the roof. Luckily, this window is over the porch’s roof, which will make this easier than when I jumped out from his other window.

I jump down to the ground and take off toward my house. Once I’m safely inside, I slam the door. “I can’t believe the nerve of that family. First, they treat me like trash all these years and now, it’s like it never happened. Are they crazy?”

As I lean my head against the shut door, the most delicious smell wafts its way toward my nose. I inhale, then pause. Something isn’t right, but I don’t know what it is. Nothing has changed in my house since I have been gone, but this smell wasn’t here before now.

I follow the scent all the way toward my bedroom. The new moon is starting to rise, casting a soft glow on my bed, which is an utter wreck. The sheets are everywhere, almost as if something rolled in my bed recently.

I collapse into them, breathing them in. I almost lose myself to the scent as I inhale again.

All mine.My wolf quickly surfaces, and nearly purrs as I breathe in another breath.

“Wait, mine?” I rise from the bed, slowly looking around my room, but she isn’t talking. “What do you mean by that? Who is mine?”

He's all mine.

I stand from the bed and hobble my way toward the door frame. My heart is hammering in my chest. “What is going on? Why do I feel weird?”

I clutch my head as pain overtakes all of my senses. My teeth lengthen as my shift begins. "What's happening?"

Nothing I do works to stop the shift I feel just beneath my skin. I have never once felt like this, so that has to be it right? I lay there helplessly as my bones break and rearrange themselves.

We must go to our mate.