Page 21 of The Beast's Betrayed Mate
“Your friend. The memory stick guy?” she asked.
“Well, technically I’m the memory stick guy, but yes,” Peter said.
They moved up to the sofa to have a seat. Olive could hardly believe that a few hours earlier she had been sound asleep on it, completely oblivious to all this. Would she go back if she could? Would she undo her choice to take him to the hospital?
No, she realized that she wouldn’t.
She was right where she wanted to be. Strangely enough, she felt as though she had been waiting to sit on a sofa with him since the moment she first laid eyes on him at college. She had seen him and that had been it. She had felt so drawn to him she hadn’t been able to ignore it. Of course,hehad ignoredher. Even though their eyes met enough times for her to build a stupid fantasy in her head where he was the shy one, not her, and where he was just waiting for her to make a move.
She kept the blush from creeping into her cheeks with some effort, distracting herself with another swig of the beer.
“So, you stood in your friend’s bedroom?” she asked.
“Remember how I told you that it was completely trashed. Well, one glance at my room and you know what his looked like. Claw marks and all. I must’ve blocked it out. It fucking terrified me. I didn’t know what to make of it, but then obviously I figured maybe his laptop would tell me if he’d been looking at anything that might’ve gotten him in trouble.”
“Smart,” she remarked.
“I can be,” he smiled, but it faded and soon he was looking at her somberly.
I think he turned,” he said. “I think Michael’s a wolf too.”
“Didhebite you?” she asked, eyebrows rising.
“No, no, he wasn’t there. That’s why I checked the laptop. He was long gone. Strange that he’d leave the computer behind though.”
“Unless he ran,” she offered, and Peter nodded slowly.
“Something’s very wrong,” he said. “And if Michael’s a wolf too, and the Maynard family is involved because clearly they are, then I think whatever had Michael researching them was much more than a rumor.”
“Right,” she said slowly. “So, the people who are effectively our bosses are probably involved?”
He nodded again.
She had a deep swig of the beer, swallowing in three hard gulps before she said, “Awesome.”
“They have infinite resources,” Peter remarked. “And friends in high places. They could make us disappear.”
“Why did you think I said ‘awesome’?” she asked. “Because it’s really awesome or because we’re fucking fucked?”
He smiled then, broadly, and she huffed a laugh at the situation at large.
What the fuck even was her life turning into?
“I wish I’d never met you,” she murmured. “My life would have been great if I’d never met you, you know that?”
He stared at her for a long moment, then said, “I do.”
She furrowed her brows at him, but he didn’t elaborate on how he could possibly know, or why he was agreeing with that assessment. He merely finished his beer and moved to get another one.
She wanted to press him, wanted to know exactly why he believe she was right, but she also didn’t want to push. Partly because she was afraid to hear what he might have to say. About himself. About her.
At work, he wasn’t like how he’d been at college, though. He didn’t look right through her or talk over her or ignore her. He listened, approved or disapproved of her work, kept it deeply professional even when she tried to poke him into a petty argument. He never blew up or lost his temper, never needed to be right or lord it over anyone when he was. But she’d been too caught up in her own emotional storm whenever she was around him to notice that he seemed to keep all emotions at bay. She hadn’t even realized how bland her impression of him at work was.
It was why him yelling at her had been so jarring, why seeing him flustered and in pain had made it so impossible for her to hand responsibility for him over to someone else. And, yes, perhaps a part of her had delighted in having the upper hand, in having him rely on her so completely. And another part wouldn’t ever turn away something wounded. But still, she hadn’t realized that he seemed more himself again.
“You said you feel amazing,” she commented.
He raised his eyebrows, having reclaimed the spot next to her, a fresh beer brought for her as well now resting on the coffee table.
