“I—” she began, swallowed, began again. “I didn’t tell you because I wanted us to have a clean slate, to see if you could fall for me again. Moreover, I didn’t want to remind you of whatever your brain was hiding, trigger some trauma again.”
God, this was hard.
“But we’ve both changed. You’re a different man, and I’m a different woman, and while my heart still loves you—”
“Zephyr—”
“—I think this was the closure I needed. I tried, and it didn’t work, and I’m okay with that. Really, I am. But I need to let you go now. Move on. Maybe find someone else, have the family I always wanted. Put you in my memories and—”
She was suddenly on her back, a very large, very intense Alpha looming over her, caging her in with his arms. “Say that again,” he dared her, his voice the dangerous edge of a blade.
Zephyr blinked, confused.
He leaned closer, brushing her blue locks with his fingers. “I cut the hand of a man who touched your hair, Zephyr. What do you think I’m going to do to one you move on with?”
Her breath caught.
She hadn’t anticipated this.
“I might not remember you,” he whispered, his lips almost at hers. “But you’re my wife now. Mine. And I’d bathe this whole city in blood before I let you change that.”
He was being intense, too intense, and she didn’t know how to deal with it.
“It was only for six months,” she threw his own words back in his face.
He pressed a silent kiss to her neck in reply.
“We signed a contract,” she reminded him, hating the way her heart thudded against her ribs.
He pressed a kiss to her nose. “I’m not done with you, little rainbow. Come home.”
“And when you’re done with me?” She turned her head to the side. “Go back, Alpha,” she called him by that name, knowing he didn’t like it when she did. “I’m tired. It’s best for both of us if we move on.”
“Not happening,” he stated firmly, settling beside her, pulling her into his arms.
She tried to get away, he kept her close.
And it was maddening. He hadn’t cared one bit when she’d been clinging to him, needy for whatever he threw her way, no shame in the way she’d given her love. He hadn’t even spared her a touch when she’d been at her most vulnerable.
Her sadness and pain and rage all merged together. She wanted to claw at his chest, make him hurt even an iota of the little ways he’d hurt her, over and over and over again.
No. She’d give him the truth, and she’d let him go.
Zephyr stared at his tattoo peeking from under the shirt.
“Your mother told me about the alfajores.”
She felt him still at that.
She ignored his response, quietly telling him about her meeting with his mother, the two days she’d spent befriending her and how she’d talked about Alpha. She didn’t tell him that she saw him at the hospital breaking down, didn’t want him to know that she’d been witness to something to private for him.
He stayed silent for a long time, processing everything.
“How did you find me?” he asked after a long time, and she sighed.
“I had a friend in school who lived in your area. She told me about you. I’d go to see her and occasionally catch a glimpse of you. It went on for a while.”
“So you stalked me?”