“Then go and find a fucking princess for a mate.” I blink, and there’s wet on my cheeks again. I swipe it away before he sees. “Sorry I’m not fuckingperfect.”
Max would have loved a sweet, submissive omega. Instead, he gets me. An awkward, socially inept, borderline violent omega with a penchant for lying and a disease that’s rotting me from the inside out.
Better luck next time.
A pause. And his voice softens in a way that makes my stomach do little somersaults. Gentling. “I didn’t say you weren’t.”
“It was clear enough to me.” I kick at the dirt on the floor. “I’m fine walking. I do it all the time.”
“I know.” His voice drops. “I didn’t realize you were still up here. You know I always hated you walking back on your own.”
I never walked anywhere when I was with them. Not on my own. “Go home, Max.”
“Not until you’re through your door.”
I force my breathing to steady as I turn to him. He always reminded me of one of those statues you see in the museums. Brett took me to one, once. He told me all about the Greek Gods, and I told him that they reminded me of Max, with their straight noses and curling hair. His hazel eyes gleam with something that might be amusement. But there’s uncertainty there, too. Sadness. “Getting in?”
I kick the side of the truck instead. And then again. Hard. “Go. Home.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he mutters. I hear the slam of the door, and I scramble back as he comes storming around. “Could younot? This isn’t my truck.”
I stare at him. “This is a clusterfuck, Max.”
My voice wavers, and his irritation slides away. It’s always done that. Max wears a smile, a laugh, easier than anyone I’ve ever met. Although he’s not smiling now. Instead, he studies me, as if he’s mapping every curve of my face. Like he’s never seen me before. “We’ll work it out. We have to. You know this changes things, Ken.”
Because there’s no breaking a mating bond. Not as far as I know. They’re permanent. Forever,sorry-you’re-stuck-with-my-toenail-chewing-habit-but-we’re-mates-so-I’ll-love-you-anywaypermanent.
The alpha in front of me was made to love me. They all were.
Darkness fills the space around us. It makes me braver than I should be. “Would you have loved me? If it wasn’t for everything else… Would you have been happy it was me?”
“Yes.” His answer is instant. As if there was never another option. “Always.”
I don’t look at him. “And now?”
Max doesn’t lie. It’s one of the things I always liked about him. So his silence hurts more for the truth that sits within it.
I turn away from him. “I’d like to be alone now. You can at least respect that.”
“Ken—,”
“Don’t.Don’t act like you care and then tell me you don’t. At least be consistent when you’re tearing me down, Max. Go and be with the others. I’m fine on my own.”
Unlike him, I can lie just fine.
I trudge away from him, into the trees. For a moment, I’ll wonder if he’ll follow. I don’t hear the truck for a long time, but the faint sound of Theo’s engine eventually filters through.
It’s almost pitch-black, but the forest doesn’t scare me. There’s much worse out there than shadows and stars. Max brought me close enough that I don’t have far to walk. It’s barely ten minutes before I reach the trailer, the small light left on outside but the windows dark.
Rick is asleep on the couch, his snoring filling the air. It doesn’t look as if he’s moved since I left.
It feels like days have passed.
Everything has changed, but nothing has changed.
I wash off, changing out my bandages while avoiding actuallylookingat them before crawling into bed. I wanted to call the clinic, but they’ll be closed until the morning.
If things were different, I’d be with my mates now. That’s the normal way of things. You find your mates, and you never leave them again.
