Page 14 of Lonely Alpha

“Because no matter what we were, I would never want anything to happen to you. Never. You know me better than that.”

“I thought I did,” he whispered.

“Me too.”

“I’m going in. I’ll walk behind you.”

I didn’t let him. I waited for him to walk ahead and I followed, making sure he reached the house safely. I doubted anything in Franklin’s heaven was dangerous, but my instinct roared to be sure my omega was safe.

My wolf had things to say as well, but I ignored them.

Once inside, I listened as he took the stairs and then eventually closed the door behind him. There had been a pause in between getting to the top of the stairs and going into his room, and I wondered if, for a moment, he waited for me to get up there. Would he have said something to change my mind? To take away all the pain?

There was so much confusion around what exactly happened between us. Too many unanswered questions remained, but how could they get answered if we were unable to cut through the tension long enough to talk.

Talking hadn’t gone so well.

When I got into my room, I noticed the light was on in William’s. I forced myself to not watch it, wondering if he was having trouble sleeping as I had for a long time.

I picked up my phone and tried to get on the airline website to change my ticket because coming here was wrong on my part, but there was no reason to make William suffer any more. He was distraught about our breakup. My wolf could smell his anger and his hurt.

I didn’t want to cause him any more anguish.

My phone didn’t connect to the Wi-Fi, and I didn’t have a strong enough signal to use my mobile data. No internet meant no flight change.

And no flight change meant I had to stay here and torture myself and William.

Franklin had made his first mistake. William might’ve been mine once but, after the conversation tonight, it was clear he didn’t want to be again.

Even if we cleared things up, a part of me would be scared he’d go silent on me again.

I couldn’t handle that level of pain again. I’d barely survived it the first time.

Chapter Thirteen

William

It was a disaster.

All the years I’d dreamed of what it would be like to see my mate again, to meet his gaze, to be in his embrace, to tell one another what we’d been thinking and wash away any bad feelings. But that didn’t happen. Dinner was awkward and uncomfortable, and our walk had an edge to it that led to confusion and almost something, but then it all went wrong.

Maybe it was all for the best. Until I decided to come here, I was able to delude myself in at least a small part of my mind that maybe there was still hope. And in letting go of Lars, I was saying I was ready for someone new.

But I was not.

What if I had met someone new and then come upon Lars somewhere? How horribly unfair would that be to the next person? It was time to accept that Fate had given us a chance and we’d blown it. I had to take a little bit of blame at least, since I did wait for him to contact me first. If I’d reached out sooner, maybe things would have worked out or maybe he would have come right out and said he wasn’t interested.

Lying there in the bathtub, I ran a soapy sponge over my chest, trying to relax enough to sleep. It didn’t help that every time I pictured Lars in my mind, I got hard. That had always been the case back in the day, but then I thought we were going to have a future together. No, it was just ironic.

Finally realizing that I wasn’t going to find what I needed in the tub, I got out, dried off, and slid between the sheets. The bed was so comfortable and my day had been so long that I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the sun was well over the horizon.

The scent of bacon and toast met my nose, and it occurred to me that it would be rude to just skip out without eating if my host had gone to all the trouble to prepare breakfast. There were only two rooms rented out, after all. I listened but didn’t hear any voices, so maybe I could eat quickly, thank Franklin for trying, and get on the road before Lars made it downstairs. He’d always been a late sleeper when he could get away with it. Hopefully, that hadn’t changed.

But when I arrived in the dining room, I found my former mate seated with a plate piled with bacon and hotcakes in front of him. And since he looked right up at me, it was too late to turn back. At least without looking like a complete coward. And I did have a little bit of pride left.

“Morning.” I took my seat opposite him and unfolded my napkin just as Franklin bustled in with a fresh stack of pancakes. “Those look good.”

“They’re delicious,” Lars said around a mouthful of hotcake. “So’s the bacon.”

---