Page 64 of Mortal Shift
I needed to tell him and then leave before my resolve crumbled.
“He told me something about his pack.” Abruptly, I felt stupid. I mean, Cole had already told me he was a rival, right? So he probably already knew, and I was just making myself look stupid again. “Forget it, it’s dumb. I should go.”
He caught my hand beneath his, holding it against his chest. His other hand found my chin and tilted it gently up so that I was looking into his amber eyes again.
“If it matters to you, then it matters to me. Tell me.”
I swallowed hard while my ovaries did something distinctly unladylike. Hell, I was seconds away from shedding my clothes, and much as I wanted to blame it all on the mate bond, I hadn’t felt this strongly before.
“You probably already know,” I said, my blush creeping up my face. “But, um, he says his pack is going to overthrow yours. And…he said it’s going to happen before we graduate.”
Cole’s jaw tightened, but his hand stayed relaxed on mine, cradling it against him.
“That’s sooner than we thought,” he said. “Much sooner.”
“Maybe it’s just hot air?” I whispered.
“Maybe.” But from the uneasiness in his tone, I knew he didn’t believe it. He ducked his head and pressed a chaste kiss to my forehead. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll pass the message along to my father.”
“Um, sure. I’m not sorry, you know. About the full moon hunt.”
He exhaled slowly, but his hand stayed soft on mine.
“I know.”
“But I am sorry it made you look weak. I didn’t want that.”
“You were protecting yourself,” he said, his eyes searching my face, like I was a riddle he couldn’t work out. “You’re not a shifter. You don’t understand putting pack first.”
“I…” The words, gently spoken, stung for some reason I couldn’t put my finger on. He hadn’t meant them as an insult, I could see that, yet they bit at me, sending tiny lances of pain resonating through my whole being. Was I selfish? I tried not to be, but since being here, I’d had to protect myself. No-one else was going to do it for me, they’d made that much clear.
“Hey.” He caught my chin with one finger and guided my eyes to his again. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault. You didn’t grow up the way we did.”
No, I didn’t. I’d grown up with my mom, abandoned by a man she’d never even speak about, and it had been just the two of us, forever. Because she needed me. And she needed me now.
I gently pulled my hand away.
“I should go.”
His forehead scrunched. “Aren’t you coming to the party?”
“Not just yet.” I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “I have a couple of things to take care of first.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I thought that the farther I got from him, the more my sanity would return, but if anything, the opposite was true. His masculine scent lingered on my clothing and seemed to call to me with every step, and the memory of his electric touch haunted me, and the taste of his lips on mine sent shivers through me.
And none of that mattered. Again and again I reminded myself of that. This was the one chance I would get—the one night when everyone else would be too busy to notice me, and I could find my mom, and get away from here. Get back to our old lives.
…Our small, cold apartment with traces of damp climbing the walls. Working two jobs and watching Mom in between, just the two of us, doing whatever we had to do to survive. Or whatever apartment we might be able to find, because the landlord would have re-let ours when we hadn’t come back. We’d have had to move, anyway. Disappear, some place where Cole and his pack wouldn’t find us, or anyone else from the academy. Someplace cheap, that would take us in with no notice and no deposit.
Alright, so it wasn’t ideal, but it wasmylife, and I wanted it back. Wanted my family back.
We’d have to start over, sure, we’d have nothing but the clothes on our backs, but we’d done it before and we could do it again. She’d be safe, and that was all that mattered, really.
The cold air brushed against me, raising goosepimples across my all-too-exposed skin. The wind tugged at my hair, pulling a lock of it loose, and I wrested it behind one ear, ducked my head, and hurried on across the grounds. I wasn’t sure how long I had until someone realized I wasn’t around, but I knew it wasn’t long enough for me to loiter.
Which would be easier if it wasn’t for these stupid heels. I glared a silent accusation at them as they sunk into yet another damp patch of earth, and muttered a slightly less silent curse at Ling for not thinking of sensible footwear when she was masterminding this whole escape. At least I’d be able to put on my proper clothes once I got over the wall. Scaling it in heels, on the other hand, was not likely to be one of my best moments this week.
