Pulling out of his arms, I wipe my face and get up, taking a few steps away to give myself some distance. “So...what? I clocked you over the head with a piece of plastic, and you were smitten?”
“Something like that,” he says. “My cockatrice liked you immediately.”
“You sure it wasn’t your other beast that starts withc-o-c-k?” I fire back.
He smiles, flashing those stupidly perfect dimples at me. “That too.”
Sighing, I run a hand over my tired face. I feel like I could sleep for a month and still need more time to process everything. “I’m so mad at you, Rook,” I say quietly.
“Tell me what to do,” he says vehemently. “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”
I believe him. “You lied to me. I thought…” I swallow past a lump of emotion that I’m still contending with. “I thought I was never going to see you again. And I was so damn mad at you for what happened in my cell—”
He’s in front of me in a blink, grabbing hold of my arms. “I’m so fucking sorry, Sinclair. I wanted to fucking kill them, but I knew if I blew my cover, that it would blow up in my face, and I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to see you again, that you wouldn’t have anyone watching your back if I was gone. You have no idea how much it killed me to watch them do that to my mate.”
My startled eyes fly up to him. “I’m not your mate.”
He cocks his head, once more bringing up his hand to grasp my jaw. “You are. And not even because of some contract that your matriarch signed on your behalf. But because the moment I met you, I knew you were my match.”
Tears fill my eyes again at hearing those words come from his mouth. “Rook…”
“I’m sorry for lying to you,” he cuts in. “After I met you, I just wanted to spend time with you in the prison. I knew you hatedAlpha Bowen, so I wanted you to get to know me just as Rook.”
I nod quietly, because I get it. I do. If I’d been in his position, I might’ve done the same thing. But that doesn’t mean that my mind isn’t reeling. I’m not sure how to process it all or where that leaves me.
“Why’d you make up that contract?” I ask. “Why me?”
His hand drops away. “You’re gonna be pissed.”
My eyes narrow on him. “I’malreadypissed,” I remind him. “So spit it out.”
“I wanted to fuck with your matriarch.”
I blink at him, waiting for the punchline. “Umm…”
“That lounge she took over? The one with all the debt? They were my allies. The mat and pat were good friends of mine. She fucked with them, and I wanted her to pay for it. So I watched. I waited. I knew she took over a shit ton of debt that she couldn’t handle. I made all the other lounges stop doing business with her so that she was drowning in it. And then I brought the contract offer when she was desperate and couldn’t hold off any longer.”
“So I was just a way to get back at my mother?”
“You were just a name on a piece of paper,” he tells me. “I didn’t know you back then. Never even really thought of you as a person. I was too focused on my plan.”
“Which was what exactly?”
His face hardens. “Making the matriarch give up her only heir to me. I figured that would be a blow to her ego, and it was, but I let her believe that was the end. I’d give a dowry for you and that was it. Except I never planned to ally with them. As soon as I had you, I planned to challenge her, kill her, and then take over your lounge.”
A whoosh of breath leaves me. He’s not a prison guard right now. In this moment, as he explains his cold plan for vengeance, he’s every bit the ruthless alpha that everyone knows him as. “And you’d just keep me locked in a tower so you could visit me and gloat?” I ask.
His gaze is unwavering. “Yes.”
That’s what I thought.
I rear back and punch him in the arm.Hard.
“Ow,” he complains, rubbing the spot with a frown.
“What am I supposed to do with that, Rook?” I demand, moving away from him. “How am I supposed to be okay with any of this?” I yell as I gesture to his stunning and very tastefully decorated house.
He shakes his head in a frustrated loss. “I don’t know. I just know that I lov—care about you, and together, we’ll figure this out,” he reassures me, trying to close the distance between us again.
