Page 12 of My Ruthless Alpha

Leaving a gentle kiss against her forehead, I got up and grabbed some spare clothes from my back before heading to the bathroom down the hall.

I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stand in the shower long enough to scrub myself down, but the moment I stood beneaththat stream of hot water, I was beyond relieved for forcing myself to do it.

The pressure was perfect and exactly what I needed to soothe my aching muscles. Once I was dry and dressed, I was far too prepared for bed to think about anything else.

I hardly remembered the walk back to the guest bedroom, but my haze was broken up the moment I found several bottles of water, tea, and a fully loaded sandwich on a plate next to some fresh fruit waiting for me on the bedside table. It looked too good to resist, and I wasted no time digging in.

Eventually, I ended up in the bed next to Margo, and before I could get another thought in, I was already dozing off into a much-needed sleep.

Chapter 6 - Beau

I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to fully wrap my head around the turn of events, but either way, I wasn’t going to complain about the way fate seemed to bring us together again.

Without a doubt, Faye likely didn’t see it that way, but after the grave mistake I had made before, it almost seemed like a miracle, and I didn’t mind admitting that.

By some strange stroke of luck, she ended up finding me of all people, and in her time of need, I wasn’t going to deny her, regardless of how reluctantly she accepted my help.

Even if everything seemed to be working in my favor, I spent most of the night feeling guilty and torn about it all.

Despite having hoped for a chance like that to come around again, I couldn’t escape the fact that I rejected her and fled the pack. I did it all, and there was nothing I could do to take it back. There was nothing I could do to reverse the damage I caused and get Faye to forgive me just like that.

Between then and the present, I did a lot of growing. Perhaps even the most I ever had at any time in my life. I wasn’t the same man who somehow managed to push a budding mate bond aside to figure myself out and better understand what was happening to me. If put in that position all over again, I would never hurt her that way. But to Faye, none of that probably mattered.

The damage and pain were already caused, and she deservedly didn’t trust me. Allowing me to take her in was a major leap of faith on her behalf, and I understood why she was wary of me.

Still, knowing who I had become and being unable to prove I was different made everything feel so strange.

Somehow, she was back in my life, yet the two of us changed in our own ways, and in some sense, we were like completely new people. While parts of the Faye I once knew were certainly still there, it felt like I was meeting her for the first time.

Regardless of us starting from square one again, I could still feel that unrelenting attraction to her, and even if I tried to pretend otherwise, I was interested in her just like I had been before.

The pain of breaking our connection and choosing to discover myself instead had been nearly unbearable. It took a while for me to get past it, and even if time had eased some of the ache, there always still seemed to be a part of me missing, and I didn’t think I’d ever get it back.

But finding Faye made it feel possible. Like she was the piece that would make it all better again.

Even if I thought I was over her thanks to time and keeping busy, in truth, I didn’t think that attraction or interest ever truly left me.

She made her mark on me in more ways than one, and Faye was always bound to be impossible for me to forget.

Standing over the stove while I watched bacon cook in the big pan, I couldn’t get my mind away from Faye or her little girl. The latter made me curious. While I didn’t get the clearest look at her the night before, given how she had been draped over Faye’s shoulder, I couldn’t ignore the strange feeling that moved through me just from being near her.

I had never felt that sense of familiarity with a stranger before, and definitely not toward a small child. It was like I knew her, or at least had met her before.

The closest experience I had to something like that was when I started getting feelings for Faye—when our connection fell into place. It was almost like I had known her for my whole life and even lifetimes before that.

It was an unspoken knowing that didn’t quite make sense, which raised some questions in my mind.

As I moved the bacon around while it cooked, I found myself doing the math…but that couldn’t be right.

I would know if that was the case.

Surely, I wasn’t the only person Faye had been with…I couldn’t make assumptions like that, despite Faye not mentioning a mate or the child’s father.

Shaking it out of my head, I continued with breakfast, eventually pulling the bacon out and getting started on the rest.

After a few minutes, the loud pitter-patter of bare feet against the hardwood floor caught my attention, and glancing over my shoulder, I saw Margo running into the room with a mischievous grin.

Dressed in different clothes from the night before, she came rushing over. Her hair was half-up in one pigtail, seemingly not done yet. Then, she stopped nearby and looked up at me.

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