Oh, crap. This was big news. Not only was the alpha staying, which was exciting to the whole pack, but the first woman he was seen eating lunch with was her. This would be gossip. There was no getting away from it. Staring down at her burger and fries, she suddenly lost her appetite.
“You need to eat something,” Phoenix said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“That’s not acceptable. Do you know that you’re twenty-three years old and you’re the only one who looks like that?”
Was he going to say something mean? Cruel?
“Like what?”
“Like you’re going to fall down. It’s not a good look, babe. You need to eat something. I bet your wolf gets tired easily on a run, right?”
It was none of his business what happened to her. Why was he even talking about this?She picked up a fry and popped it into her mouth. It tasted good, but her stomach churned.
“See, it’s good.” Phoenix picked up his burger and took a bite. “I fucking love coming here. The food is always good.”
“Is that why you were always passing through?” she asked.
“Pretty much. Good food on the road can be hard to come by, but then you have these little delicacies, and you never forget good food.”
She shoved another fry into her mouth and started to chew, trying to think of ways to keep him talking. If he was coming to the DIY store, there was no a chance of her avoiding him. Was he doing this on purpose? Rubbing in the fact he didn’t want her? There was no one she could tell. A quick glance around the diner, and she saw that people were intrigued by the two of them.
“Do you regret stopping by when you did?” she asked.
Phoenix wiped his mouth. “What do you mean?”
“When you saved us all? Do you regret it?”
“No, I don’t. My biggest regret is that I didn’t ride faster to get here. I could have saved some more people. Their deaths will be forever on my conscience. It’s why I’m going to take over the alpha’s house. It’s my rightful place, not that piece of shit’s. The memory of him needs to be wiped out. The only people we should ever remember are those that lost their lives that day.”
“I was ten years old,” she said.
Phoenix paused in moving his burger to his mouth. “I know.”
“You’re obsessed with math?”
“When it comes to you, it would seem I’m not giving a shit about a whole lot of math.”
She found that very hard to believe.
“Take a bite of your burger. You’ll be surprised how good it tastes and how energized your wolf will become.”
She wanted to tell him to go to hell, to fuck off, to leave her the fuck alone. There were a lot of words she wanted to use. Instead, she gritted her teeth like nothing happened. She took another bite of her burger, not because he told her to, but because she wanted to eat her burger.
****
What had he said to her all those years ago that stopped her from eating food? Yes, he rejected her, and he was cruel as he did so. She was eighteen freaking years old. What did she expect? He wasn’t in the habit of fucking teenagers.
Five years had been a long time, though. There was no denying it. A long time on the road, missing her, only getting snippets of information about her. He’d not told anyone she was his mate.
What he did was unheard of, and it certainly didn’t come without its price. A big old fat price of loneliness. His wolf had been pissed, so had he. No other woman could satisfy him either, or the craving. Fucking hell, the craving and the dreams, and the need, it had gotten worse as the years wore on. All he wanted was Ashley. She was so young. Her life hadn’t been hit by the hardness of life, and he didn’t want to be the one to sully her, and yet, he knew without a doubt he would have to.
He wasn’t a good man. Even to save her pack, he’d murdered people. Her parents were right, even though it left a bad taste in his mouth to think about it. She deserved a nice man like Daniel. That made him feel sick to think about. Daniel was a good man.
Nope. He couldn’t do it. There was no way he would ever allow Daniel to have his woman.
Following her back to the DIY store, he took pleasure in watching her ass. Did she even realize the swish of her hips, the teasing she did, and all because she had the energy to do so? The burger had given her a boost. He had to stop her from starving herself. It was simply unacceptable.