“Yes, of course I do. I wouldn’t have asked.”
“He was still alive when I got to town. He was just picking off men and women to keep his own neck safe.”
“So what happened?” Ashley hadn’t heard this part.
He sighed. “After I killed the men that were hurting the pack, the old … he got up, he looked me in the eyes and tried to thank me for saving them all. The pack told me what happened, and no pack should ever be at the mercy of the alpha like that.”
She stared at him. “You killed him.”
“I killed him.”
“Which makes so much sense as to why the pack viewed you as the alpha. You killed the other one and by our laws, you took his place.”
“Men died, women were hurt. That piece of shit didn’t deserve to breathe, and I don’t regret it.” He took a step toward her. “Which is another reason I was trying to protect you. I’m a killer, Ashley. I will kill anyone who even tries to hurt you.”
That shouldn’t thrill her, but she knew he spoke the truth, and she kind of liked it.
****
Phoenix hadn’t thought of killing the alpha in a long time. He’d accepted it as part of what needed to be done. The bastard had harmed men and women for his own protection. The bastard had offered his hand as if he was grateful for the help. Until the pack had no choice but to turn on their alpha. They had told him, screaming out what the alpha had done, what he refused to do. After the carnage he’d seen, Phoenix knew long before then that the alpha hadn’t deserved this pack.
Killing him had been easy. To him, it was fair, and now, knowing his mate had been part of that pack, he realized he had saved her too. He watched her, waiting for her to run away in terror.
She held up two bags. “I made lunch for us later. Do you want to show me what’s been done so far?”
“You’re not going to scream at me? Call me a murderer?”
Ashley shook her head. “I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I know a lot of people were hurt because of it. The pack, for a long time afterward, changed. They invoked a curfew. There were a lot of changes made, and I know many of them hated that they’d not been able to protect their own. You saved us. How can I hate you for that?”
“A lot of people would.”
“I don’t hate you,” Ashley said. “At least, not because of that.” She smiled at him.
He stared at her. “So you do hate me?”
She held up one hand, two fingers together. “A little bit.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want my mate to hate me a whole lot.” He held his fingers up and spread them apart. “So, I better distract you and show you my awful abode.”
She started to chuckle. He loved the sound. Taking hold of her hand, he threaded it through his arm, and they started to walk inside.
“As you can see, my sweet, the stench of death is nearly all gone.”
Another laugh. “Don’t ever become a realtor.”
He snorted. “It’s not something I ever wanted to do.” She didn’t pull away from him. “I think it’s only fair I take you upstairs, or whatever is left of the place.”
“I’m sure it’s not too bad.”
They walked upstairs. They had to skip a few steps as they were indeed missing.
Arriving upstairs, he had no choice but to let her go, but he did move her in front of him. He placed his hands on her hips.
“No floor.”
“Enough to get people around, but it’ll be fine. The electrician has already made a lot of progress.” They moved toward the main bedroom, which had already had new floorboards started in the corner. He’d done most of them this morning. He’d spoken to the electrician, who had to rush off because of an emergency, but he had promised to be back before the end of the day to finish.
“Wow,” Ashley said. “It looks … terrible.”