She strode up to me and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “I’ll come early.” When I still hadn’t moved, she said, “Everything’ll befine.”
Oh no, no, no.Why’d she have to say that? To use those exactwords?
Chilled to my bones, I finally walked out. Liam neither greeted me when I climbed into his car, nor did he spare me a passing glance. He wore his usual black V-neck and blue jeans but had added a black dinnerjacket.
“Am I overdressed? I let Sarah pick myclothes. . . ”
His gaze didn’t budge from his windshield, but a nerve ticked in his jaw. “Are you fishing for acompliment?”
“What? No! I was just asking if I should go change before weleave.”
He pressed on the gas pedal, and the car lurched forward. I hurried to strap myselfin.
“Too late now,” he snapped. “I’m sure August will appreciate your little princessdress.”
That stunned me into silence. But only for a minute. “Don’t be a jerk,Liam.”
He side-eyed me. “Me? A jerk?” He barked out a dark laugh. “I think you got me and your mate mixed up.” He pronounced the wordmateas though it were somethingrotten.
Anger welled up behind my breastbone. “How is August the jerk? He’s not the one who said Ibackst—”
“He challenged my authority in front of the pack! I can’t even put him back in his place verbally or physically, because he’s yourmate.” He narrowed his eyes. “Tell me, are you and him a thingnow?”
I shook my head, not as an answer, but because he was actingcrazy.
“If you and him fuck, that’s it for you. You’re stuck with him for life, and from what Sienna says, he’s a boringlay.”
I blanched, and then I flushed with anger and glared at the low buildings smearing past our window, wondering why Liam had to be so crude and petty. I wasn’t the one who’d jumped into bed with someone else the second I wasunattached.
He jerked the car to a stop at a red light. “The crazy thing is how much shit I’m getting from my buddies about this. It’s not like I strayed, yet I’m the badguy.”
I was gripping the tulle as though it were a stress ball. Didn’t do squat for my stress level. “I know you’rehurt—”
“I’m not hurt! I amfuckingfurious!” He slapped his steering wheel. “You toss me to the curb at the first mistake I make. I’m not perfect. No one is! Not evenyou.”
My knuckles whitened, and my eyesight sharpened, but I pushed back my wolf before she could rip through mylittle princessdress.
“I slept with Tammy because she stroked the ego you’d crushed.” The volume of his voice had dropped, but it still rang too loudly in thecar.
Tammy.Tamara. Why was I notsurprised?
Had he ever stopped seeing her? Why was I torturing myself with this? It didn’tmatter.
Shedidn’tmatter.
What theydiddidn’tmatter.
“How am I supposed to be Alpha if I’m made to feel like a piece of shit?” heasked.
I didn’t make a sound. I barely breathed. My spine tingled, and again, I shoved my wolfback.
The light turned green, and Liam flattened the gas pedal, weaving between cars like a Formula 1pilot.
“She was just a means to an end,” he added, so low I almost missed hiswords.
I still didn’t sayanything.
He pulled to another violent stop, this time on the side of the road that led up to the inn. “Say something,” he yelled. “Shout at me! Do something! Tell me what a prick I am, slap me, tell me what a bitch Tamara is!” His violent words were limned withdesperation.
