I wanted to believe him, but how could I? When he never told me about this.
“I don’t believe you,” I said with a shrug. “It’s part of your job, Brandon. So, what’s your plan when you finish this? How do you plan to work wherever you work and stay here?”
“You don’t honestly believe that I could walk away?”
“You did before. How can I trust what you say when you’ve been hiding this from me? I don’t know if history won’t repeat itself.”
He looked hurt as he frowned. “You think I wanted to hide this? Do you think I enjoy the idea of my hometown being taken over by those things? You think I wanted to leave before? That I enjoyed the thought of leaving you behind?”
I stiffened, confused.
He ran a hand over his face and pulled himself out of the chair. He walked toward me, dropping to his knees in front of me. He reached a hand up, wiping at my cheek. “Don’t cry. You know I can’t stand it when you cry.”
I hadn’t even realized the tears broke free.
“What do you mean by that? You…you did leave me.”
He looked like he was in pain, and I knew it wasn’t physical. Like a weight had been pressing down on him, and he was exhausted from carrying it.
“My father gave me an ultimatum a week before I left. He said he knew that we were mates and couldn’t stomach the thought of us accepting it. He didn’t want me tied down to someone as weak as you. He said the pack deserved a strong Alpha and a strong woman by his side. One that could shift.”
Lionel had said that?
I felt my shoulders drop.
“He’d paired me up with another woman from another pack that was supposed to be a perfect match. She was raised to be strong and to bear children. It was either marry her or go off to work for the special ops. My father thought I would just accept her and forget about you.”
My mouth dropped slightly at this. How had I not known this? How didn’t Kaleb tell me anything?
I shook my head. “That…” I couldn’t find the words. “Why didn’t you just tell him you weren’t even looking at me?”
“Because that would have been a lie. I was looking at you, Jade. I was always looking at you. I watched you all the time.”
I felt a blush roll over my face.
His thumb stroked my cheek. “I had every intention of making you mine, and my father knew that. So, I decided to leave, but not before having you.”
I pulled my hand up and slapped him. I hadn’t even realized I’d done it until his head was turned slightly to the left and he looked shocked.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I snapped. “You should have told me instead of leaving.”
Brandon looked back at me. A tight, painful smile pulled at his lips. “Because I knew what you wanted. You wanted to go to college and break free from everything. I wanted you, Jade, but I wasn’t going to be selfish and make you stay. I wasn’t going to ruin your future because I didn’t have the guts to go against what my father wanted.”
“So instead, you left me to fend for myself.”
He reached out, cupping my face. “I thought you left for college. I figured we both could enjoy the night and move on.”
I shoved my hand on his chest. “I got pregnant.”
“I didn’t know that,” he whispered, his face growing closer to mine. “I thought I had done the right thing.”
“Well, you didn’t,” I said, looking at his lips. I felt the tug to be closer. I inhaled his scent, suddenly hyper aware of how close he was, how we looked.
“I’m sorry,” he said genuinely.
As mad as I wanted to be, I couldn’t. If what he was saying was true, he was thinking about me. I remembered how excited I had been. I was attending school and planning for my future. I was finally breaking free from everything and becoming who I wanted to be.
I looked into his eyes, taking in the softness. I could see the hurt, the pain from everything. I reached a hand up, running my pointer finger over his lips. I wanted to ask him what we were, what our next steps were now. I needed to clear the air, and we needed to talk. But I didn’t want that.
