Page 143 of Bite Me Alpha Cole

I look up at Cole, stilling for a moment. But then I shake my head.

No. I do notat allwant to speak to my father right now.

“All right, then,” Cole says. “Let’s go.”

Cole is steady as he leads me from the tent, the phone tucked under his arm.

I am…completely empty as we cross the camp, my mindspinning, unable to get anygripon reality.

I – I can’t believe it –

Did that seriously just happen?

Did my dad – my fuckingdad– just expel me, after I saved twenty-six children from a cult?

What – what the fuck is happening?

“Hey,” Cole snaps, his hands tightening on my waist. I blink and look up at him, focusing on his face as he frowns down at me. And then I look around, realizing that we’re in the nurse’s bunk tent.

When the hell did we get here?

“Are you all right?” he asks, all stern.

I frown at him again. “I’mfine.”

Cole narrows his eyes. “You’re not fine. But you will be. Okay? I need you to trust me on that.”

I blink up at him, hope and clarity coming to me as I realize that…dad was right. I do have a royal connection. Cole took that phone for a reason. He’s – he’s going to make some phone calls – he’s going tofix this–

I straighten my shoulders, nodding to him. Cole’s eyes move over me, and he nods too, buying it. “Go and wash up, okay?” he says, lifting his chin towards the bathroom. “I’m going to make a couple of phone calls, and then we’ll decide what to do.”

“Okay,” I say, smiling up at him, trusting him completely.

Cole growls a little, stepping closer to me, taking my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Don’t you dare doubt yourself, Nadia,” he says softly, shaking his head. “You did therightthing last night. I see what your father is saying, but…he’s wrong. At least in the more cosmic sense, he’s wrong.”

“Okay,” I whisper, tears flooding my eyes again. I…I think I needed to hear that.

And secretly, deep down, Ilovethat Cole knew I needed to hear that.

“Don’t cry,” he murmurs, his expression softening subtly. Quickly, Cole wraps me in a tight hug before giving me a little push away, off to the bathrooms. “Clean up. We’ll talk in a few minutes after I’ve sorted some stuff.”

I exhale, long and slow, doing as I’m told and heading off for the bathroom with my toothbrush and wash kit, off to take a minute alone and clean up.

When I come out about twenty minutes later, my face damp and clean, I honestly do feel better. I mean, I’mwayangrier now, but…Cole was right. I needed a moment to take care of myself and get my mind in order.

And while I usually hate when Cole is right…

I don’t know. I’m too exhausted right now to be mad about it.

I make my way back over to my bed, and Cole looks up at me from a backpack that he’s filling with…stuff. But my eyebrows go up with shock when I see that it’s…it’s my stuff – some clothes, my long-dead phone, a book -

“What’s…happening?” I whisper, reaching the bed and leaning over it, snatching for the bag. “Cole! What are you doing?”

“I’m just packing up some of your stuff,” he says, standing, letting me take the bag.

“Why?”

He frowns at me. “So we can go.”

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