Chapter Twenty Five
Cruel Discoveries, Cracking Hearts, and Cold Realizations
Elliot
When his words finally pierce through the haze, my body stills.
Vigilante Wolf Hunter
So close to catching this bastard.
It can’t be. Itcannotbe. Not now, not when I don’t have anything to run for. Not when I really,reallydon’t want to run.
I look at Nicholas’s relaxed body, his long lashes falling on his cheeks. Just a few seconds ago, all I wanted was to rub my face against that stubble. His arms around me encase me in his warmth.
Just like he always does. So possessive. So protective.
It’s all my fault, letting myself believe this could be something. That I’d made a clean escape. That I couldeverescape. That he’d protect me. Save me.
That I could be saved in the first place.
Suddenly, the warmth feels too much. I need to get away. I try to remove his arm from my hips, needing space.
To think. To plan.
He stirs, and I freeze. His hand comes around me again, pulling me in until he’s half lying on me. His face buried in my neck, his soft, even breath against my skin. His weight is juston the right side of too heavy. My body relaxes, betraying me like it always does with him.
I lie there, no opening to escape unless I’m willing to wake him up. He’s a light sleeper, probably because of the heightened senses. If he wakes up, he’ll want to talk about it, or worse, he'll want to have sex. And I can’t take that intimacy right now.
Not when I have tothink.
This was never supposed to happen. How did it all gosowrong,soquickly? It was casual. Walking away wasn’t just supposed to be easy, it was going to be inevitable. Then why does it feel like he’d just ripped my heart out with his claws and squashed it?
My heart sinks in my chest, like it’s physically breaking. My eyes itch. I swallow, trying to bury it all for later.
Later, when I’m safe. The idea that I could be safe anywhere else other than right fucking here, surrounded by Nicholas, seems laughable.
It may be true because I was never safe. Not really. I convinced myself I was. That this man wants me enough to overlookeverything.
He likes me.A lot. I don’t doubt that, even though he tries to hide it. But he’s bad at it, likereallybad at it. For one, he can’t stop touching me if I’m within reach. He takes care of me like he feels I’m his responsibility, or at least tries to when I let him.
But all that’s because he doesn’t know the truth.
Fucking Vigilante Wolf Hunter.
The fact that I don’t feel flattered they gave me a badass name for my alter ego shows how fucked I truly am. The tears come then, and no amount of swallowing my feelings stops them. Maybe I can let myself have this for just one night.
This false sense of safety. This pretend domesticity of sleeping in someone’s arms. Someone who could have cared for me in another life. Someone who I could let myself like, or let’s be honest, more than that.A lotmore than that.
If only I were someone different, someone normal. If hewere someone… no, he’s perfect.Too perfect.
I wrap my arms around him, pulling him closer. He murmurs something against my skin and drops a kiss on my collarbone before his body goes slack again.
The tears don’t stop. Luckily, my soft sniffs don’t wake him. I don’t know how long I lie there, memorizing the feeling of his skin against mine. The cords of his biceps. The pattern of his breath. Until my eyes close of their own accord.
“You could have stabbed him. Would have just taken seconds. Seriously, Elli boy.” The Werewolf shakes his head in disappointment.
I look around me. I’m in the passenger seat of a car. Then I notice the body of the drug dealer slumped in the driver's seat. Why is it so cold?
