Page 143 of Feeling the Heat: Part One
She’s trembling, and instinctively I reach out to place a hand on her arm, needing to comfort her. “Camille?—”
“Don’t touch me!” she snaps, tear-filled eyes flashing up to mine in anger.
I stumble backward, removing my hand.
She scoffs at my hurt reaction. “You fucking know what happened. Why are you pretending you care?”
My stomach lurches, brow furrowing as I try to make sense of her accusations. “I’m not pretending, Camille. I do care about you. I thought I showed you how much I cared.”
Camille scowls. “You showed me how pathetic I am. I trusted you. I thought you…” A broken sob falls from her lips. “If you’d have just asked me… if you’d talked to me instead of making the choice for me, I would’ve agreed.”
Fuck, itisabout the bite. “I’m so sorry, Camille. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
The elevator’s descent comes to a stop and the doors slide open.
The anger on my omega’s face and pulsing through the bond, strong enough to get past the mental barrier I erected, makes me sick.
“It’s too late for that. You got me fired and now you get to keep your job and your pack to yourself. Have a nice life.” She steps out of the elevator, turning her back on me.
It takes me a moment to process her words, but when I do, I push the closing doors back open and race to follow her. “What are you talking about? I didn’t—I wouldn’t—I want you, Camille. My pack needs you. Work doesn’t matter.”
She whips around, cheeks red and eyes shining with more tears. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one who got fired! You’re not the one who has to figure out how to get a job as an old omega. How to go back to being a-alone.” She curses, wiping at the tears streaming down her cheeks. “You didn’thave to do this. It was cruel. I’m done. I never want to see your face or hear from you again.”
The anguish and disgust radiating through her bond makes me double over. “Camille, please, I don’t understand,” I shout after her, but she doesn’t respond as she hurries away.
Despair crashes into me as I watch her grow further and further away. My alpha screams at me to chase her. To make her stay. But I can’t.
All I can do is feel her anger and the bone deep understanding that only comes with a bond.
Shehatesme.
I don’t know how much time passes as I stand there, staring numbly out the doors of the building and letting this grim new reality set in. Eventually, my phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket to see who it is.
Ambrose’s smiling face stares back at me. Stinging tears well in my eyes at the thought of telling him what happened.
I make myself answer it, knowing that this might be the end for us, too. “Hello?” My voice is oddly calm as my emotions shut down to protect me from the onslaught of pain.
“River, what’s wrong?” Ambrose asks, voice rough with worry.
“Oh.” I swallow hard. “Turns out you were right the other night.”
“What? Love, what do you mean?”
“I’ve ruined everything.” I let the numbness continue to take hold. “Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to console me.”
There’s a long pause, and I feel every emotion Ambrose experiences in those moments as if they were my own. Shock. Anger. Grief. And worst of all, empathy.
It’s that last one that makes the facade of my calmness crumble to dust. “I’m so sorry,” I say, even though I know I don’t deserve his empathy or forgiveness.
“It’s okay,” Ambrose murmurs.
“No, it’s not!” I snap. “I don’t understand what happened. She was so angry at me. She got fired. It must be my fault. I shouldn’t have told her about my feelings. I shouldn’t have hoped…” My voice breaks on a sob and I crumple into a crouch in the middle of the lobby.
“Come home,” Ambrose says firmly. “We’ll figure this out. I promise we’ll figure this out. You didn’t ruin anything. You were right to hope. It’s not your fault.”
His words wash over me and my heart aches as the part of me that would usually believe him and cling to his reassurances is gone. In its place is a grim understanding.
There’s no fixing this, at least not in the way Ambrose wants to.
