Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 129691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“You should try talking to her,” Mila told him.
Mateo’s gaze dropped to the floor. “She won’t take my calls.”
“Then go see her,” Mila advised. “You know where she lives.”
“Maybe I will.” Mateo forced yet another wan smile. “I’ll see you all soon.” He practically scurried out of the shop.
Archie sighed. “Something is eating at him.” He looked at Alex. “Maybe you could speak to Bree about it and find out what happened.”
“I tried,” Alex told him. “She wouldn’t say.”
“I can’t understand why they’d both be so secretive about it,” said Archie.
Neither could Alex.
“You’re such a loser!” Dillon yelled at Emilia, who snatched his tablet and then ran, laughing like a loon. With a battle cry worthy of a highlander, Dillon chased her into the break room.
Mila sighed. “It never stops. Never.”
“Ah, don’t get stressed, baby.” Dominic curled an arm around his mate and pulled her close. “On another subject, does my tongue taste funny to you?”
Mila groaned. “Seriously, will you always be so weird?”
“Most likely,” said Dominic. “Hey, don’t get all frowny. How about we play a game later to cheer you up? We haven’t tried ‘The Tiger and the Tiger Tamer’ yet. All you need to do is open your mouth wide, and I’ll feed you the meat. I promise it’ll be fun.”
Mila planted her palm in her mate’s face and shoved him back.
Dominic laughed and drew her back to him. “I’ve got a better idea of what we could do tonight.” He whispered something into her ear that made her blush.
“Not freaking happening, GQ,” she said.
“Oh, come on—you could just imagine that it’s hair serum or something.”
“God, you are hopeless.”
“Yeah, I know.”
As the elevator doors of his apartment complex slid open, Alex sighed. A familiar figure was sitting outside the front door of his apartment. It was a sight he’d found several times before leaving for his trip. Hell, he’d only been back home a few hours and she’d already showed up. He was tired of this shit.
She got to her feet, gaunt and frail-looking. The layers of makeup couldn’t fully hide the dark circles under her eyes, or the lines of sadness etched into her face. “Hi, Alex. I heard you were back.”
Crossing to the door, he sighed again. “You shouldn’t be here, Drina.”
“I just wanted to see you.”
No, she wanted someone to help ease the loneliness plaguing her. He couldn’t blame her for that. He also couldn’t help with it.
They’d had a short fling nine months ago. When she’d pushed for more, he’d ended it—just as he’d warned her that he would, since he wasn’t looking for anything permanent. Soon after that, she’d started dating one of their pride mates, Giles. The couple had grown so close they’d imprinted on each other after only two months—it happened like that sometimes.
Imprinting was unpredictable and poorly understood. Some speculated it would only happen if the building blocks for a mating were there, like trust, protectiveness, tenderness, and loyalty. It could begin after only a few weeks, but sometimes it took a lot longer.
Unlike with mating bonds, imprint bonds weren’t irrevocable. Drina and Giles’ bond had only been in its early stages when, for a reason neither of them had shared, the imprinting process had begun to reverse itself. And then the partial bond broke completely.
As typical in such cases, she and Giles had both been suffering from headaches and depression. Drina had repeatedly turned up at Alex’s apartment, wanting to come inside; wanting to “talk.” Which basically meant she wanted to fuck. He’d turned her away again and again, but she wasn’t deterred.
“I told you not to come back here,” he reminded her.
“I just want to talk.”
“No, you don’t. And if you did, I’d be the last person you’d come to.” He wasn’t exactly Mr. Sensitive, and empathy wasn’t his strong point.
“That’s not true. You’re a good listener. You don’t judge.”
Oh, he totally judged. He was an asshole that way. “If you really want to talk to someone, go see one of the omegas.”
She frowned. “I don’t want pity. I don’t want someone to pat me on the head and tell me that everything will be fine in time.”
“Not all of them would do that.”
She snorted. “I’m not going to Bree, if she’s who you’re thinking of. Everyone knows she can’t be trusted.”
Alex bit back a growl, and his beast flexed his claws. Some members of the pride didn’t trust Bree, sure that someone couldn’t be predestined for a twisted person like Paxton unless they were like him. That was pure bullshit. It was well-known that true mates balanced each other out. Paxton felt absolutely nothing; Bree felt too much.
Alex fished his keys out of his pocket. “Go home.”
Drina continued to bar the door. “Just let me come inside.”
“So that I’ll fuck you? Make you forget?”
She flinched. “You make it sound like I’d be using you. Like you’d be anyone to me. You know I care about you.”