Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“There’s plenty of blame to go around.”

Suzanne Collins

To my surprise, Alpha Enzo did not ask me, even once, what I’d been doing in the hallway as he escorted me back to his bedroom. I expected an interrogation or at least a lecture, but he was unnervingly silent.

He didn’t look angry, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t. The longer I spent around him, the harder I found him to read. A large part of me wondered what Alpha Enzo meant when he said he “wasn’t done” with the man who’d tried to attack me. Did he mean to torture him? Imprison him? Something about the clench of his jaw kept me from asking.

By the time we made it back to his bedroom, the tension was beginning to wear at me. If he was going to yell at me, I might as well just get it over with so I could get some shut-eye.

“Just for the record,” I said, moving to my side of the bed, “I wasn’t trying to escape, you know. I just wanted a glass of water from the kitchen.”

He remained quiet, pushing the makeshift pillow wall to the floor so there was no barrier between us anymore. I watched each throw pillow flop onto the hardwood, but didn’t comment.

After another beat of silence, I sighed. “But I suppose I should thank you for what you did tonight. Showing up like that, pulling that guy off me…thank you.”

He snapped his head up to look at me, his slate gray eyes glowing with intensity. “I am your mate,” he said, his voice low, “You don’t need to thank me for saving you like I did you some favor. You are mine. It is my responsibility to protect you.” His gaze flickered to my swollen arm. “I should’ve woken up the moment you even shifted in the bed, let alone made it out to the hallway, regardless of what your intentions may have been.”

He looked off to the side, almost like he was embarrassed to admit this next part. “And any other night, I would’ve. If there’s so much as a creak in the hallway most nights, I’m on my feet, but…sleeping beside you, that was the deepest, most relaxing sleep I’ve had in a decade.” A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he quickly added, “But a mistake like tonight will never happen again.”

An uncomfortable pit settled in my stomach as I fought the urge to comfort him. The last thing I wanted to do was encourage him to feel “responsible” for me like I was his property, but…

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up over semantics,” I told him, “You should’ve woken up sooner, maybe I shouldn’t have left the bed…none of it really changes what happened. It’s not your fault he got an attitude the moment he found out I was human.”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, the encounter was a reminder that, even with Alpha Enzo breathing down my neck, I still needed to tread carefully around his pack members.

*Enzo may not believe that my humanity is a problem, but there’s no telling that his pack members won’t. The guy tonight certainly did.*

*Just gives me another reason to get out of dodge.*

His intense eyes never left mine as he took my hand in his much larger one, and brought it to his mouth. Ever so slowly, his full lips pressed against the side of the wrist, right where my pulse was thumping like a rabbit.

“I want you to know, sweetheart,” he said quietly, “That what happened tonight will never happen again. As long as I am breathing on this earth, I will do everything in my power to ensure that nobody ever touches you again. Hell, I’ll claw their eyes out for looking at you too long.”

A chill ran down my spine.

When people made violent threats like that, they were usually lying, or at least exaggerating.

But staring into Alpha Enzo’s eyes?

I knew he meant every word of it.

And that was terrifying, more than whatever that man had tried to do to me tonight.

I swallowed, unsure how to respond to that kind of devotion.

“I’m exhausted,” I finally said, “And no longer thirsty. Do you think we can get some sleep now?”

Maybe it was the dim light of the bedroom, but I could’ve sworn his eyes softened. “Of course, sweetheart,” he said, “Let’s go to bed.”

And we did.

Suffice to say, Alpha Enzo did not let me out of his sight – or his grip – for the remainder of the night. With my pillow wall thrown on the floor, there was no physical barrier between us anymore.

And he took full advantage.

He hooked one long, muscular arm around me, pulling me close until my body curved into his. I resisted at first, but I might as well have been trying to remove a lead weight instead of a limb. There was no give to his grip, so eventually, I gave in to the force-cuddling.

And as much as it pains me to say it (because it does), I didn’t…hate it. I wanted to.

I really did, but I didn’t.

I couldn’t help but notice the way my body almost immediately relaxed at skin-to-skin contact, like his touch was my very own sedative.

Even the cuddling itself was pleasant.

It was nothing like the way I was used to cuddling or spooning with boyfriends –

*Woah, stop right there, Elsie. Don’t even group him into the same category as your consensual relationships. This guy is not and never will be a boyfriend.*

Still, there was none of the awkward shuffling I was used to, no accidental jabs to the ribs or restless limbs as we tried to find the most comfortable position.

It was just instinct. Two puzzle pieces effortlessly snapping into place.

And that, more than the attack, more than the threats, was the scariest thing to happen all night.