Chapter Eighteen
Colt
Sky was still snickering after Rafe left.
"You think he's funny, huh?" I mock-growled at him, holding back my own smile.
"Maybe," Sky teased me back.
He was about to say more when the door to Juno's room swung open and Chloe stepped out, her fists balled on her hips and a fierce scowl twisting her lips.
I sighed and patted his knee. "Can you give us a minute."
"Sure," Sky agreed immediately, standing up and offering Chloe a smile. "You're Chloe, right? I'm Sky."
"I. Don't. Care." Chloe glared at him.
"Okay," Sky shrugged good-naturedly and turned his smile to me. "I'll be outside."
I waited for the door to close behind him and settled into the winged armchair opposite the couch, gesturing for her to sit. She did so with an exaggerated flounce, crossing her legs at the knee.
"You have something to say to me, Chloe?" I asked, tightening the rein on my temper.
"I heard you, you know," she snapped.
It took me a second before I realized what she was saying. "Oh. Sorry about that." I tried to ignore the heat creeping into my cheeks. "I'm afraid I wasn't thinking clearly. That won't happen again."
Chloe continued to stare at me. "It better not," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, if I'm home again, then you don't need him anymore."
“I meant that we will keep the volume down,” I clarified, ignoring the hammer that struck my chest at the thought of losing Sky and focused on the second part of her statement. "What do you mean by home again, Chloe?" When she didn't answer, I raised a brow. "You filed to dissolve our mating pact. Do you want to reapply for pack protection?"
Chloe opened her mouth, but snapped it shut. Fed up, I shook my head and when I spoke again, it was with the power of generations of Alphas behind my voice. "Tell me what happened, Chloe."
"Darren was a member of my original pack," she began, twisting the fabric of her skirt in her fingers.
"I know. We thought he was a Beta after the attack, but he just hadn't presented yet."
She nodded. "He didn't present as Alpha until after we'd mated. That was why he left."
I knew that, too, but I waited for her to continue.
"I ran into him in town awhile back when I was running errands." I raised a brow and she clarified, "Just after Juno was born."
"We didn't do anything," she assured me. "Just talked. But the more we talked, the more it seemed like we had in common." Her voice faltered. "He said that I was supposed to be his, that that was why I hadn't wanted to be claimed. That somehow I knew my place was supposed to be at his side, helping him rebuild our pack."
"Regardless," I interjected, "Juno belongs to my pack and you know that. You want a dissolution, fine, but you took my kid."
"I know. I'm sorry." Chloe took a deep breath and met my eyes. "And I don't want a dissolution. Not anymore."
"He hit you," I said, remembering her reaction when he'd moved suddenly in Clint's office. "So you want to come back."
She nodded, brushing a tear from her eye. When she pulled up the sleeve of her sweater, the rainbow of bruises marring her flesh made it clear that he hadn't only hit her once.
"Fuck." I drew in a sharp breath. Back when I’d agreed to mate with Chloe, I was feeling a little guilty about taking her first heat and if I was honest, I’d really just given up on ever finding that missing piece and accepted that maybe there wasn’t really a soul mate for everyone.
Maybe Clint and Trevor had just gotten lucky.
In other words, I’d settled.
