So why does her retreat feel like a loss?
Cal sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well," he says. "That went well."
"Shut up."
"I am just saying, maybe if you had not been such an asshole about her phone..."
"I said shut up."
Etienne does not say anything. Just stands there looking at the closed door with an expression I cannot read. Something thoughtful. Something determined.
Great. Now he is going to be brooding about her all night. Both of them. My packmates are going to spend the next six weeks pining after an Omega who hates our guts.
And I am going to have to watch.
While pretending I do not care.
While ignoring the way her scent is still wrapped around me like a promise I never asked for.
I push off from the counter, heading toward my own room. I need a cold shower. I need to hit something. I need to figure out how I am going to survive six weeks of living with a woman whose very existence makes me feel like my carefully constructed walls are crumbling.
"Rafe." Cal's voice stops me at the hallway entrance. "We need to talk about what happened earlier. About what you said."
"Not tonight."
"Then when?"
"When I am ready."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the only one you are getting."
I do not wait for his response. Just keep walking until I reach my room, slamming the door hard enough to make a point.
Alone at last.
I lean against the door, tilting my head back and staring at the ceiling like it might have answers to questions I have not even figured out how to ask yet.
Six weeks.
Six weeks of living with Mabeline Mae Rose. Of smelling her scent every time I walk through the common areas. Of hearing her voice through the thin walls. Of watching Cal and Etienne fall over themselves to make her comfortable while I try to remember why I am supposed to hate her.
Do I hate her?
I am supposed to hate her.
She is a complication. An intruder. A reminder of every shitty thing I did when I was young and stupid and desperate to feel powerful.
But hate is not what I feel when I look at her.
Hate is not what makes my blood run hot and my fists clench and my entire body ache with a need I refuse to name.
I close my eyes, breathing deep, trying to find the calm that always escapes me when I need it most.
Miss Phillip's parting words echo in my head.
