Page 30 of Alpha's Baby Girl
And, God, I wanted to challenge her to make good on her word with that, and was going to until Sasha bumped into us, breaking us apart.
Her eyes were unfocused as she jabbed a finger into my chest. “There’s a lot I could say to you now,” she shouted over the music. “But out of respect for my best friend, I won’t. I can’t warn her away from you, but I can warnyou.If you hurt her again, I’ll come after you.”
“Sasha,” Thalia said sharply. “We’re sorting things.”
But the alpha in me couldn’t back down from the challenge. She wasn’t a wolf but she was still a female, so I tried to rein myself in.
“Careful,” I threatened.
“I refuse to pick up the pieces of my best friend again. That’s all. I don’t have loyalty to you,wolf.”
“Let’s go upstairs,” Thalia urged into my ear, slipping her fingers through mine. “She’s drunk and protective.”
I was never one to walk away from a challenge, but this wasn’t that, I told myself. I should have always protected Thalia, and I needed to be glad she had someone like this in her life. I had been an asshole and went about everything the wrong way. I was only sulking because Sasha had hit a nerve and I wanted to defend myself but I had to consider Thalia now.
I let her lead me out and up the steel staircase to the top floor. It was completely shut off from the basement club, considerably quieter. Then it was my turn to lead her down the long, narrow corridor, past the black velvet couches and silver decor, and into the furthest booth at the back. Each one was sectioned off and closed in, a room in itself.
A large chaise lounge was at the far end of the wall, and the door closed, shutting off the sounds of the lounge outside. There was a screen on one wall to order food and drink to the booth, but mostly it was for couples who wanted some privacy away from prying eyes.
It was perfect.
Chapter 15 - Thalia
Getting to know Fenrys again on our date reduced a lot of my worry. The knots of panic and confusion had lessened, and the sick feeling had gone while we had eaten.
I had told Sasha I wanted this night with him. That’s all I’d said on the dancefloor, with a promise to tell her more when I could. But with Fenrys looking at me the way he did, and his words assuring me more and more, I thought that maybe Icouldhandle it. One night with him, I would make up an excuse and request to Graham that I be eliminated on the basis of an injury during the trial. It wasn’t a legitimate reason but I could feign that my leg hurt worse than it did. I could leave tomorrow to save him the hurt of betrayal when he found out what I was really doing in the Mating Games. I didn’t know if I could tell Fenrys the truth. I’d gone to, at the diner but he’d looked at me with so much hope that I’d swallowed my words. The more time I spent with him, the less I wanted our time to end.
“Sit with me?” he said, as we entered the booth.
He gave me a soft smile, so at odds with how we’d been dancing earlier. He tugged me next to him on the navy chaise lounge at the back of the booth, and all I wanted to do was sit astride him.
“Sasha was right,” he said, surprising me. At the diner, I’d recognized the out he had given me when I’d backtracked out of the conversation. “Iwasthe asshole who broke your heart. But, Thalia, I need you to know I won’t do that again. However long it takes,whateverit takes, I won’t break it.”
I needed him to stop talking, and kiss the words away instead of listening. I couldn’t keep pretending and nodding my head. I couldn’t pretend like I was innocent, like I hadn’t signed a contract that would lead to the breaking of his heart.
“It’s okay; it’s all in the past now,” I assured him. It wasn’t—we still had wounds that we couldn’t fix alone but I couldn’t hear him apologize knowing how awful my plan with Kato was.
Fenrys shook his head. “No. No, we should talk about it. About what I did. About what I caused for you and your family, too.”
I didn’t want to hear it anymore. I wantedhim. If we only had a few hours left together before I would be the one to walk away from him, then I didn’t want to waste them on words.
But there was such an earnest look in his eyes that I found I couldn’t keep him from explaining.
“You know my father passed away three years ago,” he said. I nodded. Everybody knew that; the whole town had been asked to attend the funeral. “The day you came up to me and said we were mates, the week after I won the championship game against Oak Hill, it wasn’t a good time. That had been the first game he didn’t get to see. Things weren’t… Good for me. I was the alpha; my mother was looking to me to do the duties my father would have done, I suddenly had all these insane responsibilities despite still being in college. The pressure hit to start finding my mate, create a future for the town, keep my grades up so I could graduate with top honors.
“And then you came along. I knew you’d come to the game. My mind was going crazy wanting to find you, and yet when you found me a week later, I couldn’t deal with it. I knew what you tried to recreate that day, and I pushed you away.”
He took my hands in his, pressing his mouth to my knuckles. “Thalia, I was awful. I reacted badly because of my grief and not being able to process anything that was going on. It was like there had been so much talk of my future and duty, and then there you were, all of it combined into my mate, offering yourself to me. What I did to you was unimaginable, and while you might not trust me now, trust that my intentions this time around are good.
“They are what they should have always been. I knew who you were when you walked into the hotel that first day. I knew I wanted you and wanted to get you back, to beg for another chance. Thalia, I’d beg forever if it meant you thought about it.” His mouth quirked. “And trust me, it’s hard to say I would beg.”
“So you knew,” I said slowly. “You knew that we were mates?”
Ashamed, he nodded. His cheeks flushed with it. “I couldn’t handle it and thought that lying was the best option. I was a fool and a coward. I never even wanted these Mating Games, either. It’s just another thing I’ve been pressured into for the sake of the town’s, and the pack’s, future.” He shook his head. “I should have swept you up the first day I met you. I felt it then. I knew who you were to me.” His gaze bore into mine, undoing everything doubt I had. I shoved aside the wretchedness I felt for the plans I had come here with. “My mate.Mine.”
The word was said with such intent and conviction. My mind whirled. If he hadn’t rejected me, I never would have agreed to Kato’s mission. Had I not done that, I wouldn’t be facing this decision. I wouldn’t have signed myself away to a potentially dangerous man.CouldI trust Kato? Could I back out and confess my feelings for Fenrys? He would send more people after him, and then maybe even me. Anger and confusion and downrightawfulnessswirled inside me. But one look into his eyes had all of that quieting.
I didn’t have more words to say without risking confessing. He was giving me honesty; I needed to do the same. Yet all I could do was climb onto his lap to kiss him.
