“I told you to tell him.”
Betrayed. By two people he trusted. Most of all, by his mate. Oh my God.
“I’m sorry I pushed you,” Noah managed. “I won’t bother you anymore. I’m so sorry. I’ll just . . .”
“What does that mean? Noah!”
Turning on his heel, he ran. He had no clue where he was going, but he had to get away. Had to escape the crushing agony in his chest. Distantly, he heard people calling his name. But he didn’t stop. He ran all the way to his room, grabbed his wallet and the keys to his shitty little car, and was out again in less than fifteen seconds.
In one minute, he was tearing down the driveway toward the road leading away from the compound. He’d head into town, and from there? Who knew. Maybe he’d come back later, after things cooled off. Maybe not.
Right now, driving forever sounded really good.
Driving and never returning to the place where his mate had rejected him, maybe for the very last time.
6
“Noah! Noah, stop!”
But his sweet mate was already peeling down the driveway, and roared out of sight.
“Oh, God. I fucked up so bad.” Burying his hands in his hair, he looked around wildly. “I’ve got to go after him.”
“Yeah, you fucked up, you stupid asshole,” Aric snarled. “Why’d you have to be such a douche canoe?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Nix moaned, guts churning in misery. “But he knows how hard the public scene is for me. I’m learning, but lifelong shit that’s drilled into your skull doesn’t go away overnight!”
“Point. But man, you can’t go around lashing out at the one person who’s supposed to be your guiding light. Who’s supposed to mean more to you than anyone in the world. And you slammed him in front of everybody we fuckin’ know.”
“I know! Shit, what am I going to do?”
“Give him time to cool off, then call him on his cell. If he doesn’t answer, follow him into town. I’ll bet he ends up at the Grizzly drinking a beer or three.”
“I sure hope so.”
“Come on, let’s help clean up. Then you can call.”
A sense of dread told Nix he should call now. After Aric walked off, he tried several times, but each call went straight to Noah’s voice mail. Nix left messages, then finally gave up for a while and went to help the others.
Who wouldn’t speak to him.
He didn’t blame them one bit.
When they finished cleaning up the mess, Nix tried his mate’s cell phone again. To his relief, Noah answered. He could tell right way his angel had been crying.
“Look, you can stop calling, okay? I’m on my way into town, and I’m fine.”
“On your way? You should’ve been there a half hour ago. What happened?”
“My car died a few miles from Cody. But Lucius came along, and he stopped to give me a lift, so don’t worry about it.”
The dread returned full force. “Noah, I don’t want you anywhere near him! I don’t believe he’s changed, at least not enough for it to be safe to be alone with him.”
“He seems sincere, and I really want him to get to know me. For your sake, Nix. I honestly think we can all get along, even if he’s acting a little weird.”
The words hit Nix like sledgehammer between the eyes, and he nearly stumbled and fell. “Weird how?”
“I don’t know. There’s this hum of energy coming off of him, almost like he’s Fae. But not.”