I didn’t want to prolong his presence in my house and in front of Nadia. I rolled off my Alpha aura and I saw his body flinch as he hurried out of the office.
The moment the door closed, I sent a mindlink to Jenny, to take Nadia to our room. I wanted Nadia away from me while I was still trying to control my anger and my guilt.
“Riley, I’m sorry. I didn’t know he’d come here.”
I shook my head and cupped her face before I opened my mouth to speak, “It’s not your fault, it’s okay. Go to our room and rest. I will see you later.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
I didn’t know what to answer her, and I was thankful that the door opened and Jenny came in. Nadia’s eyes darted to the door, and I took it as an opportunity to get away from her hold.
“Jenny will take care of you.” I moved back and just as she was shifting her gaze back at me, I turned around and went for the window, flinging it open before jumping out of it and running towards the forest line.
I heard Nadia calling after me before I leaped into the air and shifted into my wolf form. I knew a good mate would have stayed behind and held onto their mate, assuring her that the monster wouldn’t come back for her anymore. But I couldn’t do it.
The moment I saw Nadia with her body shaking and the color draining from her face out of fear, it sent me flashes of Andrea shaking and begging in my arms while I threatened to mark her in front of Caspian.
I was fucking worse than Elliot.
He only asked for fifty thousand compared to the fifty million I was asking for from Caspian. And now I fully understand why Caspian was willing to sell his soul to the devil just to get Andrea away from me.
I am a fucking monster.
And Nadia didn’t deserve this—to be mated to a monster after running away from one.
Hunter just kept running while I blocked off my emotions so Nadia wouldn’t feel anything. I blocked off my mind too. I didn’t want anyone in my head while I sorted out my next step.
I was expecting my wolf to berate me for everything I did in the past, but he kept quiet. Hunter did like Andrea, but he was not always in agreement with my ways, and it was often the reason we didn’t get along. But he wasn’t blaming me today. He was sharing my grief, and I was grateful for that.
Chapter 33
NADIA.
Ididn’t know that Elliotwas still looking for me. I thought my uncle must have told him about Riley.
I couldn’t blame Riley for the way he reacted but I thought he would at least talk to me about what happened. But it seemed he was really disappointed.
All I could think was that he paid him to stop bothering us and that might be the reason he was upset. I had no idea how much it was, but it must be a lot for him to act this way.
I waited for him for almost an hour in our room, but he didn’t show up, so I decided to put on new training clothes and head for the archery range where he was supposed to meet me so we could practice together.
But I’d been sitting here for more than thirty minutes and he was still nowhere. His mind was also shut off and none of his Beta and Gamma knew where he was, so I was already starting to get worried.
I was lost in my thoughts when I heard footsteps approaching, bringing me back to the present. I snapped my head in the direction of the sound only to be disappointed to see Beta Dominic approaching and not my mate.
My shoulders sagged as I turned my head back and looked at the target board ahead. I felt Beta Dominic sitting beside me, but with enough distance before he turned to look at me.
“We found the Alpha.”
I didn’t look at him as I let out a deep sigh. My eyes were still fixated on the view in front of me. “Where is he? Is he back?”
“He’s on the terrain at the western border. He mindlinked with Justin, one of the warriors, to bring him a guitar.” He chuckled, but it soundedsad.
“A guitar? And why Justin? Why not you or Gamma Sebastian?” I tilted my head to look at him this time.
He shrugged his shoulders before he leaned his palms on his backside, stretching his body as he lifted his head to look at the sky. “I don’t know. But if my guess was right, he didn’t want us to let you know where he is.”
“Maybe. But what is he going to do with the guitar?”
