Page 16 of Dream Girl
“No. The Center couldn’t keep her and she needed help. I thought we could help her. So, you know her? That’s great. I’ll take one of those. Shit afternoon at the Center,” he sighed. “Who is she?” He eyed the tent-pole in my pants. “Um, if Lexi knows who she is, why is Peaches still a Jane Doe?”
“Peaches?” I used to call her that. I downed my glass and poured another. “Lexi never actually met Grace.”
Hunching over the counter, I tried to block out the fear and hopelessness I’d had knowing that Grace was being hurt and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was an alpha. Her alpha.
I failed to protect her. Failed to find her.
Ifailedher as her alpha.
“Babe, what’s wrong? I feel that.” Evan wrapped his arms around me.
“Remember me telling you once that I dropped out of university and joined the military because a girl fucked me up? That’s her.” After I couldn’t find her, I wondered if perhaps Grace wasn’t even real, and I’d spent all those years invested in nothing. A dream.
“Really? That’s the girl? Wow. You never told me what actually happened. Will you tell me now? Please?” He held me tight, comforting me with his scent, his touch, and some alpha-calming pheromones.
“I was in love with her. Well, I thought I was. I was twelve when we first met. The last time that I saw her I was nineteen.” How did I say that for seven years I dreamt of her? That I’d never met her unless asleep. The only pictures I had of her were sketches. She was the love of my literal dreams.
“I don’t care that she finally found me after all these years. I have you.” Turning my head, I stole a kiss from him.
Lies.I cared a lot. Why now? Was she okay? Who’d hurt her? Who was after her?
How the fuck did she even get here?
“Of course, you have me. Wow, she found you,” he breathed.
I looked into the eyes of the man who saved me. “That was a long time ago. Now I have you and a pack, andnothingwill ever take me from you. I’m sorry I never talked much about her. The story is weird. I’m surprised Lexi even believed me.”
“Evan, do you have any more of that tea, I still feel awful,” a feminine voice said as someone entered the kitchen.
My body instantly went on edge at her scent, which wasn’t quite right, not that I’d ever smelled her outside my dreams. I looked over at her, hoping that it wasn’t actually my Grace.
I was happy. Successful. There was no room for a ghost.
“Fade.” Her grey-blue eyes went wide.
The pain in my head exploded. It actually was her.
My Grace.
She looked a lot like I remembered. Her hair was short, and Grace was older now. But so was I.
Had she always been so small? The bruises on her face and her neck made me want to hurt someone. My hands fisted as I stared at her. Her peachy scent went sour as she stood there, conflict raging on her face.
She wasn’t real. Otherwise, I would have found her and saved her from her awful mother. I would have been the alpha she needed–and deserved.
Grace looked awfully real despite being a dream. Despite her claims that we both existed, just in different worlds.
The alpha in me wanted to hold her, soothe her fears, protect her–and bury myself inside her.
But the man in me had been deeply hurt by her disappearance. I couldn’t do this again.
“No. No. It can’t be.” Tears streamed down her freckled face. “I…”
“Hey. Come here, Peaches. This is my mate, Wes. He isn’t going to hurt you. I promise.” Evan let go of me and bundled her into his arms with a gentle tenderness.
She buried her face in his chest. “I know. He’dneverhurt me. Fade, they said you weren’t real. You don’t understand, they saidyou weren’t real.”
Every cry was a knife in the heart.
