Page 105 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned, sat up, lay back down, tried to read, and stared at the ceiling, but nothing worked. My mind refused to turn off. Regret, worry, indecision, and sadness kept me awake until the early hours of the morning.

When I finally did drift off around three in the morning, it was only to slide into a nightmare. The imagery was broken and strange, making no sense. Little vignettes of imagery. A wolf with Kyle’s human face chased me through the forest. Ashton punching holes in the wall. Cole sobbing over my dead and bloody body. Ashton and Cole wrestling on the ground, trying to choke each other. Me, standing alone in a dark room with someone whispering.

When I woke the next morning, it felt like I hadn’t slept at all. My mind was fuzzy, my limbs heavy with fatigue. Shuffling from my room, I made my way down the hall to make coffee. I came upshort as I found Ashton sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for me.

“Ash? Why are you up so early?”

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he said, his eyes red-rimmed and shining with tears.

“Oh, baby. It’s okay,” I said.

He stood and allowed me to hug him, and my heart warmed when he put his arms around me. He towered over me, but he would always be my baby, and I held him like he was. We stood like that for several minutes, consoling each other. Ashton didn’t sob, but I felt a few tears slip down his cheeks to drip on my shoulder.

“I really liked having a dad,” he murmured.

I pulled away quickly and took his face in my hands so he had to look in my eyes. “Youdo have a dad. Cole is your father. Us leaving doesn’t change that, and it doesn’t change how he feels about you. He and I don’t have to be together for you to have him in your life. That I can promise you. One day, God willing, you’ll come back here and take over as alpha of this pack.”

“Do we have to leave?” he asked, and the miserable, plaintive tone in his voice almost shattered me.

“We do, Ashton. Things are dangerous. That Kyle person from the other day at the restaurant is dead-set on making things bad for us. If I do nothing else with my life, I’m going to make sure you are safe. And that’s final.”

He nodded reluctantly. “I know. I could sense it on him. He’s a bad man.”

“Yes. Do you understand why we need to get out of town?”

“I guess,” he said. He glanced at the door. “I should apologize to Cole. I shouldn’t have said all that stuff to him.”

“He understood,” I said, though I wasn’t exactly sure about that. “But if you want to see him one more time before we go to apologize, I think that would be good. He’d like that. Do you want to go this afternoon?”

He sighed. “Maybe. I was supposed to go play ball with Braylen and the guys after lunch. I guess I can text him and cancel.”

There was a sadness in his face that I was afraid would become depression if I didn’t stop it. He’d spent years having a hard time making friends. The few he had back before we’d moved to Harbor Mills might as well be on a different planet. Now, just when he’d made new friends, I was uprooting him again. Ashton deserved a chance to have fun and not worry about things for a few hours. Plus, it might be good for him to get some energy out before seeing Cole again.

“We’re not leaving for a couple days,” I said. “Go play ball with the guys. We’ll see Cole before we leave. Enjoy the time with your friends while you can.”

He smiled weakly. “Okay, but I think I’d rather talk to Cole now. If we’ll be here a few more days, I can hang out with Braylen and the others before we go.”

“Whatever you want to do, Ashton. I’m behind you all the way. Do you want a ride?”

He grinned, shy and mischievous. “I’d kinda like to shift and run there. Is that okay?”

“Sure, baby,” I said with a nod.

How much more could I put the kid through? He was strong—much stronger than me—but everyone had their breaking point.

26

COLE

Aweird haze had fallen over me as I drove away from Avery’s place. I couldn’t get the scene out of my head. Her determination to end things with me, the anger and hurt in Ashton’s eyes, the awful truths she’d said that I didn’t want to hear. It had been like a nightmare I couldn’t claw my way out of. The fact that she’d known everything already had blindsided me.

Grumbling under my breath, I drove to Trent’s place. Best friend or not, he had some fucking explaining to do. He had no right to go behind my back and tell Avery everything. It would have been better if she’d left angry rather than scared for her life. Both scenarios were bad, but to me, one was better than the other. And that should have been my decision to make.

When I finally pulled into Trent’s driveway, my anger had escalated. It wasn’treallyabout Trent. Everything was snowballing, but I couldn’t stop the pain from taking over.

Trent must have seen me pull up because he was on the porch when I got out of the truck.

“I know why you’re here,” Trent said.

---