Page 26 of Brutal Alpha Beast
Clearly, we’re getting nowhere. I should leave and save myself the frustration, but I’m too pissed off.
When we were friends, and Ellis didn’t know the truth about what I was, we never even argued once. I’d get heated andcomplain to him about all the shit I was receiving from my fellow ‘pack mates’, and he’d calm me down and offer advice.
While Ellis could still get grumpy back then, he’d never get cranky with me. He was kind to me—gentle.
I see now with even more clarity that was only the case when he thought I was a non-shifting wolf.
“Sorry, Danielle,” he says, shaking his head and huffing out a breath. “You’re trying to convince me that you coming out here into the woods, alone, at night, to a very hidden spot isn’t suspicious—but it’s not gonna work.”
Ellis is sharp—I’ll give him that. Even though he’s still being a total dick, I know that he has to thoroughly investigate potential threats.
Recently allied witch whom he believes he’s just met is definitely one of those.
I need an alibi of some sort.
“Look,” I say, softly, relaxing my shoulders, trying my best to ease the tension between us. “The reason I came out here is because I'm finding adjusting a little difficult. More difficult than I thought. It’s not easy being away from my sisters, or my home, in a pack full of shifters who I know, deep down, hate my guts. I was looking for a place to be alone. This seemed like a good spot.”
He’s silent for a beat.
“They don’t hate your guts.”
They might not, but he definitely does.
“Whatever,” I say, a lump of emotion forming in my throat.
While what I told him was an alibi, it doesn’t mean that there was no truth to it.
The weight of my words hit me stronger than I thought they would.
It is difficult being back in a pack full of people who hate me. It’s even more difficult to marry and pretend not to know the person who completely broke my heart.
“Anyway,” I say, swiveling on my heel. “I’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing.”
Before I can leave, he says something that shocks me. “Wait,” he murmurs. “Stay.”
I freeze. It’s crazy; those two words are ones I longed to hear from him all those years ago in this very spot.
Now, they fill me with panic and dread.
I want to leave, so I can let out all the horrible, chaotic things interacting with him is making me feel. I need to be alone.
But what if this is a test?
If I were lying to him about my reason for coming out here, wouldn’t I want to scurry off?
Maybe he wants to see if I’m being sincere and if I can handle further questions.
I don’t know. I don’t claim to understand the intricacies and downright sociopathic mind-control methods of Alpha wolves.
I just need this alliance to work. For Penelope and for the coven.
“Okay,” I say slowly, reluctantly walking deeper into the space. My eyes rake over the area where that blanket once was.
I can still hear my pleasure-filled moans and the way that Ellis looked at me when I told him what I was.
That was the best and worst day of my life. Coming here, to this spot, was very obviously a mistake. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.
I might as well make conversation.
