Page 46 of The Wolf's Secret Twins

I stood up from the couch and went to the bedroom where the twins were quietly reading. Every inch of me burned with rage, but I managed to calmly instruct them to grab a snack from the kitchen and head to Archie’s house. I shot Francine a quick text about the twins visiting to which she responded it was fine.

Everything would be fine. Eventually. But perhaps someone like me didn’t deserve all that. Someone like me,deceiver, wasn’t ready for a life with a man without any reservations. I couldn’t tell him the truth about Atlanta or his children. How could I ever expect him to be faithful to me when I couldn’t be bothered to tell him something ridiculously important?

As soon as the kids kissed me goodbye, I held my breath. I counted their steps, the sound fading into the distance. I counted to ten. I squeezed my eyes shut and held the air in my lungs until it burned.

And then I screamed.

Layers of hatred came undone in a flash. Resentment returned with a vengeance, hundreds of hours spent ruminating in my bed coming back to me at once. It was a freight train going off the rails and I was some poor, unsuspecting train hopper watching those headlights come right at me.

I blinked.

I was on my back on the floor with the ceiling in view. I thought I had my phone in my hand, but it was hard to say. Every inch of me was covered in sweat. I was soaked to the brim with exhaustion and anxiety, the mark on my shoulder aching like it had just been delivered.

What was happening to me? Was this what a mate death felt like?

No, that was ridiculous. Slater wasn’t dead. He was abandoning me. This was entirely different—and in many ways, it was so much worse. Betrayal like this went bone-deep. It lived beneath the surface for years and cropped up repeatedly later on, kind of like those slow-release capsules for melatonin. Little doses of it would appear in intervals until it was rotted out of my system.

And I knew that would never happen. I would feel the debris from this for ages to come. The twins would grow up, go off on their own, get mated themselves, and I would be left to rot from the inside out. A spiritual death while still living was the worst way to die—and Slater had just sealed my fate.

Somehow, I managed to get to my hands and knees. I stared at the carpet, heaved a few times, thought I was about to crumble until I got to my feet. The doorframe came next. I caught myself on the sink. Cold metal. Colder water. And then I was just wet.

My whole face felt like an icicle while my eyes burned behind my closed lids. The parts of my skin that weren’t covered in cloth felt frigid like I had suffered hypothermia. But my insides were boiling hot. I didn’t understand what was happening to me. I didn’t understandwhyit had to happen.

Had someone given us up? Was Blake angry? Maybe someone was trying to take him away from me. That was the only reasonable explanation. Slater loved me. He practically told me when he—

But hehadn’ttold me, had he? Slater had never quite said those three magical words. He just took my body when he wanted and then got his fill until the next time. How in the world had I been fooled by a player? I should have had my wits about me instead of fantasizing about absolution or whatever the hell I had been thinking when I kissed him that night on my porch.

None of this would have happened if Bentley hadn’t said a word. That idiot had ruined my entire life. And for what? Because I’d turned down a date with him?

I launched myself from the bathroom and stomped into the bedroom, searching the closet for my shifter bag. Slater had gotten a car with fake plates. If it was parked near the Bravecrest property, I could find it while the twins were occupied. I could go into town and grab my tips from the jar, then give Fred everything I had plus some. New documents. New IDs. New location.

I had my work cut out for me. Which meant I had to get moving.

***

Pool balls clacked when I walked intoThe Greasy Jester. Pops was behind the bar with his mutton chops and mean mug, beady eyes following my movements as I shuffled toward the register. While cleaning a glass that didn’t need cleaning, he nodded toward the back office. That meant Fred was in.

My text had been vague—and for good reason. Pops wasn’t one to ask too many questions. Too many people flew through here, shifters looking for some kind of new beginning. As long as it wasn’t something morally objectionable, he didn’t mind helping them out one at a time. That was how I’d gotten in touch with Fred originally.

Things were quieter in the back hallway. Once I got to the office door, I knocked twice, waited, and then knocked twice more, waiting for the quick whistle from the other side. I slid a key into the lock, twisted it, and walked right in, inhaling the familiar scent of fresh basil and rosemary.

Fred stood near the window next to one of his precious plants, an olive evergreen that he brushed fondly. “Oscar says hello.”

I snorted. “Oscar is a plant.”

Fred whirled around to face me, his green eyes burning like embers from a mystical fire. “Oscar hasfeelings.”

“And so do I.” My voice cracked. I tried not to let too many of my emotions show as I slapped what I had onto his desk. “I need three fresh docs, stat.”

“You could sayplease.”

Dusty white hair fell into his eyes, nearly blending with his pale skin. The freckles of rusty orange were the only things making him appear to anyone at all in the sun. That was, when he decided to walk out into the sun. Most people thought Fred was a vampire because he rarely went out in the daylight. But I knew he was just a shy loner wolf who didn’t like to be bothered.

I pointed to the ceiling. “I’ll loot your loft again if you don’t do it.”

“That’s close enough, I guess.”

He waved his inked fingers, the ones with Roman numerals that he never bothered to explain to anybody. And why would he? People barely got to know Fred. Except for people like me, of course.

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