Page 19 of Betrayed Kidnapped Mate

I bite my tongue. I know she’s lying, but it hurts, anyway. Not that I’ll admit it to Rosa, but I haven’t been with anyone else since the day I left her. It felt wrong. Plus, I was so busy with work for the agency that there was hardly any time to date.

“That’s not true,” I growl, finally looking at her. I’m surprised to see she’s staring back at me, her eyes fierce and bright.

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“How would you know?”

“I can tell you’re lying!”

“How?”

I stare at her, and she snaps at me to look back at the road. We’re nearing my house, and the lake has long since disappeared in the rearview mirror.

“Rosa,” I say, not wanting to mention the apparent mating bond that’s developing between us. Even when we’re talking, the back of my mind is acutely aware of how her legs sit, crossed on the seat, how her arms compress her breasts, how her hair falls over her shoulders.

I want to touch every part of her. I want to relearn her body, update my understanding of how to make her feel good.

Forcing myself to push it to the back of my mind again, I growl softly and glance at her, but she’s looking out the window now, having completely turned her head from me.

“Rosa,” I say, “we can’t ignore this—”

“Ignore it? Why, Bigby? You’re very good at ignoring things!”

“That’s not—” I take a deep breath. “I can explain, Rosa—”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses.”

We pull up outside my house, and Rosa hops out, helping me get the stuff into the garage. Mostly, I just need someone to hold the door while carrying things in. The second it’s finished, she hops in my Jeep, her arms crossed, staring out the window until I drop her off outside the old bar.

As I watch her go inside, something in my chest twists. I don’t know how to get through to her.

***

“You need to apologize,” Linnea says, popping a piece of celery into her mouth. We’re sitting at her kitchen island, and she’s trying to get me to try a new veggie dip. I eye my broccoli with disinterest. “That’s how Aris and I were able to heal our relationship. He had to apologize for what happened, or we never would have moved on.”

“But she won’t let me get a word in edgewise.”

“I’m sure she is—you’re just not using that one word to say you’re sorry, are you?”

I think about the conversation. Linnea is right—I wanted to explain myself and justify my decision, but from Rosa’s position, there’s no reason a man should leave his child. And she’s right.

“I think it was Rosa’s mother who reached out to me about them sheltering here,” Linnea says, and I’m relieved that she’s changed the topic. She can always tell when someone is ready to move on.

“I’m glad she’s still alive,” I say, to which Linnea raises her eyebrows. I sigh. “Amon is worse than Varun. It’s hard to believe, but the guy is totally ruthless. For one, His territory is way bigger, so he just has more shifters under his thumb. But the stuff I’ve seen him do—and the worse things that Rosa witnessed when she was a kid—they’ll make your insides curl.”

“Yuck,” Linnea says, holding her hands up. “I don’t want to know. I believe you that it’s that bad. So, what can we do about it?”

“I’m honestly not sure that if we track Amon down, we’ll be able to take him. Rosecreek is small, for one, and still recovering. And I would never ask Aris to take on that threat. He very well could fall to Amon—and then you—and the kids…”

Linnea puts her hand on my shoulder, smiling kindly.

“We’ll figure it out, Bigby. We always do.”

Chapter 10 - Rosa

A blaring noise wakes me from sleep, and my heart immediately ratchets up to a million miles per hour. I grope for Kaila, who’s sleeping with me in the queen bed. She’s thrashing to get out from under the covers, and I help her get free. We stumble into the little living room area, and Olivia is there, her hair wild and standing on end.

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