Page 84 of Tempted By the Alpha Outlaw

I clench my jaw, unable to look at her, squeezing her hands so, so tight.

“When I came here…it wasn’t just as a handyman looking for work,” I tell her.

A shadow crosses her features. She takes a sharp breath. “Colt, please don’t–”

“I’m a bounty hunter,” I blurt out. “The Gulf Pack hired me to find Peaches.”

Magnolia blinks, like she misheard me. Like if she just waits a second, I’ll take it back.

But I don’t. I can’t.

Her hands slip from mine, slow, deliberate, and she takes half a step back, putting space between us.

“What?” she says, her voice so quiet I almost don’t hear it.

My pulse hammers. My wolf thrashes beneath my skin, snarling at the loss of contact, at the widening gap between us. But I don’t move to close it. I don’t reach for her. I don’t deserve to.

I take a breath that barely makes it past the tightness in my throat. “I was hired to find her,” I force out. “To bring her back to the Gulf Pack.”

I force the words out. “To bring her back to the Gulf Pack.”

Magnolia’s expression flickers—confusion, disbelief, betrayal—all of it crashing over her in waves. “You—” She cuts herself off, shaking her head like she’s trying to clear it. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

I feel sick. I knew this would wreck her, and yet standing here, watching it happen, feels a thousand times worse than I ever imagined.

“I didn’t know what they were,” I say, my voice hoarse. “I thought they were just another pack. I didn’t know about what they did to omegas. I swear to you, Magnolia, the second I got here, the second I heard what they’d done to Peaches—I knew I couldn’t go through with it.”

Her breath stutters, her hands clenching in the fabric of her sleeves. I can see it in her face—she wants to believe me, wants to forgive me, even though she really, really shouldn’t. She bites her lip so hard it bleeds, and I feel every bit of that agony through the bond.

She takes another step back, arms wrapping around herself like she’s physically trying to hold herself together. Her breath is shaky, uneven.

I drag a hand through my hair, my own pulse hammering. “I sent them a message,” I say roughly. “The Gulf. Told them I was out. That I wasn’t finishing the job. That this den isn’t theirs to touch.”

Magnolia’s breath catches.

I shake my head. “I should’ve done it sooner. Should’ve burned that bridge the second I knew what they were. But I did it, Magnolia. And I’m going to Reyes tonight.” I swallow hard, my throat burning. “To tell him everything.”

Her fingers tighten against her arms, her body going rigid.

Then she says the words that destroy me completely.

“You lied to me.” Her voice is barely above a whisper, but it lands like a bullet straight through my chest.

I shake my head, desperate, but she flinches like she can feel every ounce of my guilt through the bond. Because she can.

“Maggie, I?—”

“No.” She cuts me off with a shake of her head, and I see the moment her hands start to tremble. “No, you don’t get to ‘Maggie’ me right now.”

I can feel her wolf pushing against her, a whirlwind of emotions she’s barely keeping contained. Hurt. Betrayal. Fear.

The fear slams into me the hardest.

I go rigid, my chest caving in as I see the way she looks at me now. Not just hurt. Not just betrayed. Scared.

“I’d never hurt you,” I rasp, my voice breaking.

She lets out a short, hollow laugh. “Oh, you mean besides lying to me? Besides keeping this from me while you—while you touched me?” Her voice cracks, and she presses her hand to her chest like she can physically hold back the sob rising in her throat.

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