Page 11 of Forsaken Devotion: Part 2
I stormedinto the clinic room. With one sweep of the area, I took it all in. The shower was on, the door wide open, the chair was pushed up to the wall, and the window hung on by one hinge on the left, while the right side was slanted, allowing a slim opening.
She had run.
“Fuck,” I snarled. How long had she been gone? I lunged to the window and breathed in. Her vanilla scent lingered only the faintest amount.
Melodie was in here more than an hour ago. At the very least, she’d had twenty minutes of a head start. I shucked my clothes, ripping them off my body. I shifted, climbed the chair, and shoved through the tight split in the window. With my head lowered, I sniffed the bushes, catching her faint scent. It led down into the woods. I crouched, studying the broken branches and foliage indicating she’d run through here in her human form, because her shifted form would have been more limber.
I’d wasted so much time. If I had checked in on her the moment it occurred to me that she was taking too long in the shower, I wouldn’t have lost her. Foliage smacked across my fur with my burst of speed, and soon I lost my mate’s scent.
Slowing, I lowered my muzzle, sniffing, but her scent was gone. She had to have been picked up in a vehicle, or more likely, she’d shifted.
She was gone.
I howled.
The agonized sound ripping through the night.
No, she wasn’t gone. She could still be close by, maybe hidden within the woods and trying to escape toward a main road where she could hitch a ride. A growl rumbled in my throat, and I continued my hunt.
4
Istood in Alex’s bathroom and splashed my face with water again. Not being close to Lucian was making my stomach ache. It was a dull pain, easy to ignore after everything I’d faced, but when I focused on it, it turned crippling. Exhaling in a steady stream, I rolled my shoulders and then stepped out of the bathroom.
I smelled him on my skin, and it was making me sick.
On my way down the hall, toward the living room, I sank my nails against my ribs, over the spot where I’d tattooed his name. It was never fucking fate.
How stupid must I have looked to him when I ended up in his room. The same one he was showering in right before the hooker arrived. Now, I realized, she was likely a shifter or a human with knowledge of shifters. Because Alphas had knots, they didn’t just fuck any random.
“You okay?” Alex’s voice came from behind me. I turned to face him leaving his bedroom at the end of the hall, scrubbing the towel over his head.
After telling Alex everything, it felt like some weight had been lifted from my chest. The tips of his hair plopped water ontohis skin. Corded and lean muscle flexed with every swipe of the towel. The corners of his lips turned down even more, reminding me of Lucian.
Lucian. Lucian. Lucian. I wanted to strangle myself! The pressure in me compounded whenever I thought of him. He’d hurt me so much.
He’d rejected me and then subjected me to lies and deception. That wasn’t the worst of it. What hurt me the most was the familiar, remembered pain of him touching other women. At the time, I didn’t know that was what was wrong with me, but with my memories returning, so did clarity.
He deserved to experience the same pain I’d had to live through again and again while I’d been trapped for a crime I hadn’t committed.
“Are you okay, Joey?”
I jerked back to the present to Alex watching me while he dried his hair. His concern was evident, as was his patience and kindness. Someone like him could have been my mate. Not his traitorous dick of a brother. Lucian should know my pain—myagony.
In a few quick strides, I was an inch from Alex. His eyes widened, and he blinked a few times.
I knew from the start that Alex liked me. But he’d stopped asking me out and kept his distance when he’d found out about Lucian being my fated. Each time he’d gotten too close, I always tried to respect Lucian and stay away. I’d tried to with any male, not just Alex, but I shouldn’t have.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed. I focused on his face and slowly placed my hands on his bare chest. His eyes widened and he blinked, seemingly frozen. I rubbed my fingertips against his pecs, caressing the softness of his flesh.
His breathing elevated, the sound filling the hall. The hand holding the towel to his head flopped to his side.
“I . . . ” He trailed off.
I leaned closer and closer, waiting for him to make the choice to back away and avoid me, but he remained still. I tipped my chin up until my lips hovered an inch from his. The familiar woodsy smell of a shifter filled my nose. None but Lucian would smell so appetizing to me. I smoothed my hands up to his hard shoulders. He was leaner than Lucian.
My heart pulsated with pain from the loyalty I couldn’t help but feel. Even worse, the love for Lucian, but I didn’t stop touching Alex. He was close to panting.
I closed my eyes tight, focusing on the warmth he radiated. When he didn’t move, I pressed against him until my breasts were flush to his chest.
