Page 35 of Flare
They were old friends, after all. And what she needed most right now were friends and allies. People who understood exactly what Andrew was and who could help keep her safe.
If she just happened to enjoy looking at Ward’s yummy muscled forearms while they had dinner… well, that was just a bonus.
Chapter 9
Primal Rage
Spokane, Washington
Tuesday, May 12
Andrew Brunborn hurled his crystal tumbler against his living room wall, relishing the explosive shatter of glass and the amber splash of Yamazaki 18-Year-Old Single Malt across the custom wallpaper.
The whisky’s rich aroma filled the air, but did nothing to calm the savage clawing of his bear inside him.
Six days. Six goddamn days since Emily had disappeared, and their mate bond—that invisible tether connecting his bear to her—was stretched so thin it felt like barbed wire wrapped around his heart, pulling tighter with each passing hour.
He stalked through his darkened house, not bothering with lights. His bear’s night vision allowed him to navigate the sprawling rooms with ease, past the Italian leather furniture, the gleaming granite countertops, and all the other expensive trappings he’d acquired to create the perfect home for his mate.
A home she’d abandoned.
Andrew snarled, his teeth momentarily sharpening as his bear pushed closer to the surface. He forced it back down. Losing control had gotten him into this mess.
Well, that and finding out that my mate is a fucking little snoop.
He grabbed another crystal tumbler from the bar cart and splashed more whisky into it, then carried it to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the manicured yard. The light of the waning moon cast silver shadows across the patio, where he planned to host summer barbecues, showing off his beautiful wife to his business associates.
His bear whined pitifully inside him, a sound of pure misery that Andrew refused to let escape his human throat. The physical pain of separation was excruciating—like someone had hollowed out his chest cavity with a rusty spoon. He’d heard the stories of shifters separated from their mates, but Andrew had never imagined he would experience it himself.
Because matesdidn’tleave. That was the whole point of the sacred bond.
Yet Emily had fled, taking a piece of his soul with her. Because she wasn’t a shifter, just a sniveling little Ordinary.
Andrew took a long swallow of whisky, welcoming the burn. His bear growled, craving the sweet scent of Emily’s skin, the soft press of her body against his.
“She’s coming back,” he muttered to his bear, to the empty house.“Shehasto.”
His memory of returning home last Thursday after that disastrous argument stung.
The silence in the house had been his first clue. The second had been her empty closet, hangers askew as if she’d grabbed clothes in a hurry. The third had been her engagement ring, a three-carat diamond in a platinum setting, left on the living room coffee table.
No note. No explanation. Just…gone.
At first, he’d been confused rather than angry. Emily wouldn’t leave him. Shecouldn’t. His bear had chosen her, surprise-claiming her as its mate during their first passionate night together nine months ago.
The mate bond had startled him when it sprang to life in Andrew’s chest when he fucked Emily for the first time. His idiot bear had howled in triumph.
Emily hadn’t known what had happened, of course. She was just an Ordinary human. He’d planned to explain everything to her eventually, once the wedding was over and she was completely his.
If I’d broken the truth to her more gently, would she still have panicked and run like a frightened rabbit?
Andrew scowled. No,hehad done nothing wrong.Shewas the one who’d invaded his family’s private business and downloaded a bunch of confidential files.
If she hadn’t done that, Andrew wouldn’t have lost control of his bear like that. It was all her fault. And now he was the one being punished for it. It was fucking unfair!
Of course, his bear would never, not in a million years, ever actually hurt Emily. It had just been trying to establish dominance. He had to make her understand that all she had to do was submit, and everything would be okay.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. Andrew pulled it out, hoping desperately that it was Emily, finally calling to apologize for what she’d done and begging him to take her back.
