Page 47 of Midnight Mate
I could see the anger bubbling up inside her. That alone got to me more than anything else my wolf had been drawn to. And in that moment, my resistance shattered. Something inside my chest opened, and a feeling bigger than anything I’d ever felt before came rushing in.
“East?” Cat pressed when I didn’t answer.
I blinked to clear my thoughts.
“My old man,” I finally said.
Cat’s eyes widened in horror. “God, East. Did you— I mean is he—?”
“He was already gone when I got there.”
She grabbed my wrist, her fingers searching out my pulse. Then she lifted my hand to her throat and guided my fingers to her steady heartbeat.
“What are you doing?”
“Your wolf needs comfort. I might not be like you, East. I can’t shift, and I can’t lick your wounds or let you kick my ass until they don’t hurt. But I have this. Our heartbeats. Feel that. Focus on it.”
“You think I’m going to kill him.”
“Aren’t you?” Her words were without judgment, and I fell for her just a little more.
“Would you think less of me if I did?”
“Hell, no. I’d think you’re taking justice into your hands. It’s not like some random human could take him on.”
“Sheriff Wayne took the report,” I said because I had a feeling she knew who—and what—he was.
“Good. That means they’ll at least arrest him, right?”
“Not if she doesn’t press charges.” I blew out a heavy breath and, haltingly, told her the story of my childhood. I ended with the Sheriff’s admission that this made incident number two this year. “But it doesn’t matter because she won’t let them charge him.”
“What about the pack? Will they do anything?”
“He says Tobias wants to talk to me.”
She blew out a breath. “That’s something.”
I shook my head. “Not really. My word will mean about as much as a stranger’s.”
“But you’re a werewolf,” she said, confusion knitting her brows.
“I have no sway unless I join the pack.”
“Oh.”
We fell silent, and I could see her lost in thought. My instincts said they’d drifted from my old man’s violence to her own experience earlier tonight. Watching her worry, for the first time, I considered joining the pack again—just to formally accuse the asshole who’d put his hands on her. If I’d been one of them, he’d already be banished. Or dead. And I would’ve had every right to do it myself.
“Travis isn’t going to stop,” I said quietly.
Her hand dropped from my wrist. She stepped back, forcing my hand to let go of her throat. “I can handle him.”
“He’s a wolf, Cat. A beast who’s lost control.”
“What do you suggest?” she snapped, rubbing her forehead.
Let me kill him.
“Report him to the sheriff. Let him handle it. As a cop. And a wolf.”
