Page 46 of Twisted Mates

She smiles and rubs her thumb against mine. “Can we go to your room, so I don’t have to worry about Clayton coming back in and finding another reason to call me a whore?”

I growl and tug her into my side. “If heeversays anything like that again, I will make him regret it. I only held back so I didn’t make him even more suspicious about us than he already is.”

When we get to my room, I sit in the plush chair in the corner and hold my arms out to her. She curls up in my lap and looks up at me.

“I have a question, and I don’t want you to get upset when I ask it.”

“I could never be upset with you, Alexia,” I say as I wrap my arms around her. I’m not exaggerating. She’s too precious to be angry at; it still baffles me every day that Kai could be so dumb.

She smiles, but her expression sobers when she asks, “I know you told me it wasn’t my business, but I can’t stop thinking about it. After watching you these past few days, it doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t you come home for your mom’s funeral?”

"I—" The shame I suddenly feel for brushing this question off before washes over me. I bury my face in her hair and inhale her sweet scent before answering. “I’m sorry that I pushed you away when you asked before, but I didn’t think anyone really wanted to hear my side of the story. I realize now I was wrong. I didn’t come home because I didn’t even know she was gone. I knew she was sick, but I had no clue how bad it had gotten. I’d left town to visit a friend, thinking she had more time. It wasn’t until after the funeral when Kai called and ripped me a new one that I found out that she had died. It turns out Clayton told everyone that he called to let me know when the funeral was, but he didn’t. It still fucks me up to think that I missed it. That I didn’t get to tell her goodbye.”

Alexia’s jaw falls open and her eyes fill with tears. “What? You didn’t even know she died?”

I shake my head. “No. The last I had heard, which was just a week or so before she passed, she was doing better. And that came directly from Clayton because when I called to check on her, he answered her phone. He told me she was fine, but that she was at the doctor for her checkup and would call me back.” I swallow and force back the tears that threaten to fall. “She never did.”

Alexia grits her teeth and her nostrils flare. “I hate that guy. What a jackass. He had everyone thinking you were the biggest dickhead for not coming home, and that is not fair!”she exclaims, crossing her arms and staring in the direction of Clayton’s office like she could kill him with her glare alone.

“I’ll hand it to the asshole. He always told me he would make sure I paid for the misery he claimed I brought to his life. He succeeded in the most spectacular way.”

Her anger only grows, but I’ve had years to stew in this. I’ve done it all to punish myself. Because when you get right down to it, it was my fault that I wasn’t here. I avoided my stepfather at all costs. If I had just been here and never left, it would’ve been a nonissue. In the end, I paid dearly for that. It hurts like hell, but I’m learning to manage that pain day by day. It’s only been recently that the pain is just a twist in my gut and not a breathtaking blow. I’m all too aware what—or should I say who—is the cause of that change.

“I’d like to make him pay,” she growls.

I place my hand on her cheek and turn her face to mine. “Baby, I can’t tell you what it means to me to see you so riled up in my honor. Honestly, no one has ever cared so much. But I have to tell you, since you strolled into this house and my life, you’ve made that pain bearable. You’ve made me happy. And that’s something I haven’t been in alongtime.”

A tear slips past her lashes, and I wipe it away with my thumb before it can slide down her cheek. “Why couldn’t it have been you?” she murmurs, lifting her face to brush her lips against mine.

My heart actually squeezes in my chest. “I’m happy to let it be me for now. The memories that you and I are making will be the ones that I cherish for the rest of my life.” When the final word leaves me, I have an urge to laugh, only because I can’t recall ever making such a sappy declaration in my entire life. But I would make it again and again for her. Until she doesn’t want me anymore, I’m hers.

She kisses me, and when she parts my lips with her tongue, I let her in with no hesitation. And I can tell the sun is close to setting without even looking out the window because my body is starting to heat up, the tingle in my bones vibrating under my skin.

“Are you ready for the shift, little wolf?” I whisper against her lips. “I feel it already, the adrenaline rushing through my veins.” I run my fingers through her hair. “I can’t wait to see you shift.”

She smiles and brushes her nose against mine in an almost canine motion that sends a shiver down my spine. “I’m ready, but I wish we could go run and not just stay in the house. I’ve got even more energy than usual.”

I tighten my arms around her and pat her on the ass. She gets to her feet, and I follow suit. Pulling my shirt over my head, I say, “We aren’t staying in the house. I refuse to hold you prisoner on the one night a month you should be free.”

“You’re serious? You’re going to go against Clayton?”

“Defying my stepfather is what I do best.”

With a wide smile, Alexia sets to work removing her clothes. I know it’s just in preparation for the shift, but it feels like a little striptease just for me. Her delicate fingers move down the buttons on her shirt, slipping them free. I watch in fascination as she slowly exposes more and more of her skin. She is the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen. She rivals the full moon and all the stars that twinkle around it.

She doesn’t even notice I’m watching her as she says, “I can think of something else you do better.”

I chuckle and she looks up at me, her cheeks glowing that pretty pink. Her gaze roams over me as I lean against my desk, pants unbuttoned and unzipped, watching her undress.

“What?” she asks as she reaches behind her back to unhook her bra. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You know why I’m looking at you like this.”

“Do I?”

The sass in her tone has my body reacting. I’m enamored with everything this woman does. I could spend hours fixated on her as she brushes her hair. And I have no doubt that she understands my reactions to her. How can she not when everything she does jolts me like volts of electricity straight to my heart?

“I’m looking at you like this because you have captivated me like no other. I want to drink you in every second of the day,” I confess with no shame. I want her to know exactly how I feel.

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