Page 31 of Alpha's Runaway Mate

Dominic wiped blood from his nose, his lips curling in a sneer. “You think this is going to make her take you back?”

Oh, he was biting off more than he could chew at this point. I lunged forward, ready to hit him again, but Lyra stepped in between us, her eyes blazing with fury.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she shouted, shoving me back with surprising force. “You don’t get to act like this. Not with him.”

“What on earth is that even supposed to mean?” I spat out.

Ignoring me, she grabbed a napkin and moved to press it against Dominic’s bleeding nose. “You should leave, Kaine,” she said, not sparing me a glance. “You’ve caused enough harm for one night.”

For a second, I hesitated, watching as she nursed Dominic’s broken nose with so much care and tenderness. His smug expression had faded into something darker, like a silent satisfaction that infuriated me even more.

Anger bubbled inside of me, and without a word, I turned and left.

Chapter Thirteen — Lyra’s POV

“Thank you, Maddy.”

I paid her and proceeded to carry Leo to the house as he slept soundly on my shoulders. I’d gotten home later than intended because I spent some time tending to Dominic after Kaine broke his nose. Once Dominic was cleaned up, I confronted him about his outburst. That’s when he admitted he had feelings for me, and that he was attracted to me. He said they were feelings he’d been harboring since the day we went hunting together. He apologized for snapping like that, and for the way I found out. He told me he hadn’t meant to tell me like that, but the situation got the better of him.

I was at a loss for words. Dominic quickly reassured me that he wasn’t expecting an answer—not now, not ever. He knew he couldn’t compete with the years of love and history Kaine and I shared. Still, he didn’t want his confession to make things awkward between us. “We’re friends,” he said firmly. “This doesn’t have to change that.”

Part of me felt flattered, but the rest of me dreaded the tension brewing between Kaine and Dominic. With everything else weighing on me, the last thing I needed was to be caught in the middle of their conflict. My life was complicated enough without adding this to the chaos.

Climbing my front steps, I carefully adjusted Leo’s head before crouching to retrieve the key from under the doormat. Once inside, I headed straight for Leo’s room and gently laid him in bed. For a moment, I stood there, watching the peaceful riseand fall of his chest. A flash of how I’d seen him yesterday invaded my mind, but I immediately forced it away, hoping that whatever had happened yesterday wouldn’t repeat itself. Leaning in, I kissed his forehead, then turned off the lights and slipped out of the room quietly.

My shoulders fell, and a sigh of exhaustion escaped me when I was behind Leo’s door. It had been such a long day. All I wanted was a shower and my bed. I entered my room and the sight of my rumpled sheets plunged my thoughts back to last night. My room still smelled of him. I wanted to reminisce about last night, to relive how good Kaine’s hand felt on my skin, how his mouth felt around my nipples, and how completely I was consumed by him being inside of me. But Dominic’s words gnawed at me, and all I could think about was how stupid I was to jump back into bed with Kaine.

I shook my head hard, trying hard to push those thoughts out, as I yanked the sheets off the bed. Fresh sheets, a shower —that’s all I needed. The cool water sliding down my skin helped clear my mind. I spent longer than usual, basking in the soothing feel of the shower, and afterward, slipped into a night dress. I was just about to go crawl into bed when the knock on the front door startled me.

It was late. Too late for anyone to be showing up. My stomach churned with unease as I made my way to the front door. I hesitated, glancing at Leo’s door, but the knock came again, louder this time, more insistent.

When I opened the door, my breath caught in my throat. Kaine stood there, his eyes dark and stormy, his chest rising and falling with labored breaths, like he had been running.

“What are you doing here?” I kept my voice low, mindful of Leo sleeping just a room away.

He didn’t answer.

“Kaine—”

Without invitation, he stepped inside, cutting me off. I huffed, closed the door behind me, and turned around to see those blue eyes peer at me as though a silent war was raging within them. He still didn’t speak.

“Kaine, it’s late, and—”

He interrupted me with his movement, stepping closer. “Do you enjoy watching me suffer?”

I blinked, taken aback by the question as well as the raw edge in his voice. “What?”

“Do you—” he ran a hand through his hair, heaving a sigh as if he was barely keeping it together. “Do you want me to suffer? Is that what this is?”

I couldn’t be more confused. “What are you talking about?” Even though my pulse quickened under the intensity of his gaze, I tried to sound firm, to stand my ground as I crossed my arms over my chest. I needed him to see that I wasn’t ready to entertain any more drama tonight. “Look, I’m exhausted, and if you are going to keep speaking in words that I cannot understand—”

He moved toward me in a quick motion, so quickly I barely had time to react. My back hit the front door and I was trapped between him and the door, his presence overwhelming. My entire body tensed from how close he was to me. Kaine’sexpression was a mix of frustration, anger and something—something I couldn’t quite name.

“I’ve circled the entire block,” he said, his voice rough. “Trying to get the image of you and Dominic out of my head. But I can’t. I can’t think straight. I can’t feel anything but this…this anger.”

I swallowed hard, trying to avert his gaze and ignore his intoxicating scent of cedarwood and whiskey. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“That’s the thing, Lyra.” His voice cracked, his eyes locking onto mine. “I can’t control the way I feel. I can’t control the fact that every damn thing you say and do wrecks me. I’ve tried—believe me, I’ve tried to give you space, to let you rebuild trust. But every second you’re back in Crescent Valley, I’m losing my mind a little more. Patience has always been my forte—but with you, I can’t…” His voice dropped, desperate. “I can’t take it anymore.”

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