Page 42 of The Alpha's Forced Rejected Mate
“A weapon,” Luna whispered.
He held her gaze. “I thought I was protecting humanity. Ridding the world of evil. Becoming someone worthy of the power I was born with.”
Someone worthy.
The words echoed in her mind, stirring memories of their past, of moments when the young Dominic had shown kindness when no one else did.
“And?” she asked.
“And now I don’t know what I am.” The admission felt so genuine, and Luna felt a dangerous softening inside her.
Don’t.
She couldn’t afford to see him as just a vulnerable man.
“What was it like?” he asked suddenly. “Being completely alone?”
The question pierced something deep within her, something raw and unhealed. “Terrifying. Liberating.” She swallowed hard. “No one called me a pack failure anymore. No one looked at me with pity or disgust. But no one looked at me beyond my job, either.”
She hadn’t meant to reveal so much, but something about the way he was looking at her made her feel she could open up to him.
Dominic’s expression softened. “You were never a failure, Luna.”
Her chest tightened. “Don’t. Don’t say things like that now.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t change anything.” She sat up, the blanket pooling around her waist. “I spent my entire life being told that I was exactly that. A failure. That I wasn’t enough. I was mocked for not shifting. Treated like I was defective.”
The words poured out now, wounds reopening. “And you stood by and watched. You waited until I was at my lowest, until I’d lost my mother and had nothing left, and then you—” she cut herself off, unwilling to finish the thought.
Then you pushed me away.
But she didn’t say that.
Dominic sat up too, the space between them electric with tension. “Luna—”
“We should get some sleep,” she interrupted, lying back down and turning away from him. “If we’re going to convincingly play husband and wife while figuring out how many demons have infiltrated your organization, we’ll need to be rested.”
No one said anything after that. Finally, she heard him shift, felt the mattress settle as he lay back down.
“For what it’s worth,” he said quietly to her back, “I’m sorry.”
Luna squeezed her eyes shut against the burn of unexpected tears. “Sorry doesn’t erase the past.”
“No,” he agreed. “It doesn’t.”
The cabin fell silent except for the soft howl of wind outside and the steady rhythm of Dominic’s breathing. Despite her exhaustion, sleep remained elusive. Luna lay rigid, every movement, every shift, every sigh from the man beside her felt too close.
How did she end up here?
Eventually, her body’s need for rest overcame her restless thoughts and she drifted into a fitful sleep, dreams tangling with memories until she couldn’t tell which was which.
***
The first sensation Luna felt as she began to wake was warmth. Comfortable, enveloping warmth that made her want more. She hadn’t felt anything like this in a long, long time.
She shifted, pressing back against the solid heat behind her, sighing contentedly as strong arms tightened around her waist.
