Page 141 of Never Submit

“Is it that absurd that I’d like to share your company?”

She blinks.

“Or I can go back to my pack?—”

“No, no.” She sighs. “You can stay with me tonight. But you’ll have to sleep on the couch.”

“The couch?”

She smiles condescendingly. “Youreekof that bitch, for one thing. And for another, you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding, remember?”

“You believe in that nonsense?”

“Not exactly. But I’m keeping the tradition as mysomething old.”

I thought I’d done the right thing by coming here and talking to my fiancée. And I’m leaving more convoluted than ever. Going through with the merger will benefit the Steel Claws. But it will demolish what’s left of my heart and soul.

Chapter 32

Ren

I’m so mad I’m shaking.

He forces me out of his office, into the cold, still reeling from his intrusion, and then takes off? Like he’s got something to outrun?

Yeah, me. It’s me.

Torin left, stalking out like he’s some kind of one man show, whenhe’sthe one who needs to get his head in the game. He has no idea what’s going on. He’s willingly pulling on the blinders and for what?

His pride?

His ego?

I don’t get it and I’m not sure I ever will, but his decision impacts all of us. I know that much.

My limbs tremble, the rest of me vibrating with barely suppressed fury, and if I give in to it then I’ll erupt. If I don’t, I’ll start to cry. I’m not sure which one is worse.

The last thing I want is for him to see me cry.

Something vibrates against wood, the sound oddly strange amid the roaring in my head.

The sound comes again, close enough for me not to be able to ignore it. What in the?—

I head toward the sound rather than away, spotting a small light glowing in the shadows of one of the cabins. Anything to get my mind off of Torin and his alpha games.

But the moment I realize what I’m looking at, rationality leaves the building.

Torin had tossed his cell phone. I thought I’d seen him throwing something but chalked it up to blurry vision—definitelynotcaused by tears.

Going on instinct, I bend to grab the cell, the screen miraculously intact and still lit with the last incoming call and the picture of the person on the other end. A pretty light-haired woman whose smile falls short of her eyes.

No doubt she’s the bitch fiancée. She looks familiar, too, with her haughty eyes. My fingers tighten around the cell. I want to tear her apart. I want to damage her and rip out those horrible, glacial eyes?—

It takes me way too long to piece it together.

I know that blonde. I know the curve of her face and the sounds of ecstasy she makes when she’s doing the kind of riding I just did.

She… Andras…

---