âI felt it, so donât try to deny it. I know what you did,â I snap at him, consumed with grief, and turn away, unwilling to let him manipulate me with fast words and untruths.
Wiping my face with the back of my hand, I pull myself together, trying so hard to find my inner rage again over this damn stupid weakness at what heâs done to us.
âWeâre linked, you and I. Meaning you feel things like me marking someone else. Which you couldnât have because it didnât happen! Is this why you are so fucking mad at me?
âYou have this crazy notion in your head I marked Carmen?â
The bitter way he says it, the tinge of anger, and the less-than-friendly deliverance, only fuel the tornado in me I was trying to calm.
I spin back on him, eyes glowing painfully as my inner wolf jumps out to battle for me.
âDonât you dare! I did feel it⦠the pain and betrayal. About four days after I left, so donât stand there and fucking lie to me about what you did! Iâm not stupid.â I yell at him, temper hitching.
Iâm equally riled as I stand up to him, but he doesnât back down.
Colton can be scary as hell when riled, and he seems to stand taller and bristles at my verbal attack.
His eyes, much like mine, increase in a glow of an equally pissed wolf.
He reaches down to the hem of his T-shirt, yanks it over his head in one swift, hasty motion, and throws it on the bed, exposing that tanned, muscular physique.
He spreads his arms out wide and looks me dead in the eye before turning slowly and giving me a full three-sixty of his naked torso.
âShow me. Because marking is a two-way thing and something I wouldnât be able to hide! Look~ real ~hard, Lorey, because, I swear, I havenât fucking marked anyone.â
He bites it at me as he comes back to face me, and the blood drains from my body, leaving me cold inside as I take in his tanned skin, free of any mark.
Itâs hard to stay on this idea about marking when there is nothing on the flawless physique except inky tattoos of his pack tribal on one shoulder and a lot of carved, toned muscle.
My anger simmers, but she isnât about to back down because I know what I felt in the woods. That kind of pain and betrayal didnât happen for nothing, so he had to have done something.
âFine⦠Okay, so maybe it wasnât that, but what I felt was real. You obviously just screwed her, then. Either way, this will never happen. The bond is marred and damaged, and you did this to us.â
I cross my arms across my chest, my fight dying because I was so sure, yet Iâm wrong.
My heart is pounding like a war drum within, and my body is beginning to tremble with the excessive amount of pain and energy coursing through me.
Colton looks like he might explode, standing menacingly close, a new rage ignited in that angular face as he tenses his jaw and grits his teeth.
âI did NOT fuck her! What is wrong with you? All this cryptic bullshit since I came for you. The refusal to let me touch you, all this. You think I cheated on you? Thatâs what all of this is about? Because⦠you felt it?
âNo, Lorey, what you felt around four days after the mess hall conversation was me finding you gone.
âMe coming back from four days of recon with Mateo to find not only the girl I decided to fight for had gone, and that completely destroyed me, but my beta, my best friend, kept it from me!
âStopping me from being able to find you and betraying my trust in the worst way.
âMeadow broke my heart with a betrayal. You broke it by leaving. I came back for you and to tell my father I would go and take you with me if he stood in my way.
âShe knew that your leaving would break me, and it did. I wasnât ever going to mark Carmen. YOU are my mate and have been since the second we imprinted, no matter what I said or how I seemed.
âI always wanted you. Iâm devoted to you, crazy about you, and I wonât be happy until Iâm marked to you!
âYouâre my soul mate, and I need you. Why the hell would I fuck that up any more than I already did?â
I stand in stunned silence. Colton is breathless with the deliverance of an angry, then almost soothing to calm splurge of words.
His whole demeanor softened as he reached the end, and his eyes returned to chocolate brown as he let go of the rage and tried to drive the point home that I was wrong.
He stands now, looking at me with a slightly furrowed brow over that cute-boy expression of âforgive me,â and I canât move.
My stomach is twisted in pain and caught in a world of confusion as his words reverberate through my mind and heart, and I see-saw a bunch of emotions all at once.
First, there is the elation that, in one rant, he wiped away all doubt and confusion about why heâs been trying so hard to get us to connect romantically.
Then itâs followed by the sweep of mad at myself that I left when I did and could have been with him all along.
Heâs right about Sierra, though. I wouldnât have found her otherwise, and maybe the Fates always intended it this way after all.
I feel so stupid, guilty, and ashamed, and I regret it took until now to know this. I look down at the floor, unable to look him in the eye while shame washes through me and my stupid pride takes a dent.
He didnât break the bond; he didnât betray me, and in fact, he came home willing to fight for me, only to find Iâd gone, and it was too late.
Iâm mad at myself for the weeks of shutting him out when, with just one link, he would have told me to come home or come for me.
I spent weeks in heartbreak and loneliness when he was always there waiting for me, looking for me, and not about to give up on us.
He meant it⦠he really didnât, and Iâve held him at armâs length because I believed the pain and betrayal was something else.
âWhy didnât you just ask me when I came for you? This could have been over then.â Colton steps toward me. His voice is now low and level, with regret seeping in.
He takes a soft little movement closer toward me to tighten the gap and surround me with his smell and presence.
I stay still, eyes dropping to my feet in apology and mental fatigue.
Finally, Iâm able to let go of some of this anger and pain, and it leaves a gaping heaviness within me because Iâve been carrying it for weeks. It was all so unnecessary.
âI didnât think I needed to. I felt something. Weâre linked. I figured you knew that I knew.â I sound feeble and small, tears clogging my voice as he moves closer.
Colton slides his strong, warm hands up my arms until they rest on my shoulders, and he exhales heavily as he pulls me the last few inches toward him so we are only a fraction of an inch apart.
His touch and heat soothe me with his gentleness.
âI had no idea you even thought it, or I would have told you, Lorey. I didnât know this was in your head and assumed you would have known I didnât mark her.
âI figured you were mad about how it ended and that I made you feel like leaving was the only option.
âIâm sorry, baby, for everything, but I swear on my pack, on my life, on us, that I have done nothing to betray the bond. Iâve stayed true to you.
âIâll project every memory you donât have of our time apart and prove it.â His soft voice falls over me like a warming balm, and I break down into stupid little sobs and thrust myself at him to be held.
Iâm the one who needs forgiveness, so easy to break when I now know he did nothing to make me hate him.
Colton doesnât hesitate. He wraps me up in his arms tight and presses me to his chestâa full-body hug, safe and secure as all the pain and heartbreak subsides.
I cry for everything I went through these past weeks: hating him, needing him, being brokenhearted over him. It all seems so foolish, and nothing now.
Iâm wrapped up tight against him with his breath on top of my hair, sweeping it away.
The boy who was my rock, and my words of wisdom, is right back here, where I need him, and he does what Colton does best. He holds me up and soothes away my anxiety and tears.
âIâm sorryâ¦â Itâs a muffled, pathetic noise against his solid, smooth chest. His skin on mine is like coming home to the best place in the world and being enveloped in warm, cozy safety.
âNo, baby. I am, for everything. This is my fault. I failed to do what I was meant to. I failed to nurture and protect my mate and didnât even figure out how much pain you were in over a stupid misunderstanding.
âForgive me, princesa. Give me another chance to prove I can be what you need. What you deserve.â
Colton leans back, sliding his hand between us to separate us a little, guides his fingers under my chin, and tilts my face up to him to look me in the eye.
Iâm the watery mess of a girl having an emotional breakdown, and he wipes my jawline with his thumb to catch some drops waiting to fall.
He takes care of me the way he always does, making it hurt with more intensity. Iâve been so stupid.
âFor someone so strong, you sure like to cry a lot.â He smiles with humor that shines back in his eyes, and those dimples make an appearance, melting me a little more.
It makes me snort a small chuckle through my tears, and I wipe my nose on the back of my hand, lightening my mood with a smile.
âThatâs because my mateâs an asshole, and he inflicts it,â I point out sarcastically, still trying to dry my face as he helps by lifting his shirt and using it to dab my eyes.
Colton leans in and head-bops me on the forehead with his softly and sighs at me, his dimples back on show, hinting at a subtle smile.
âMate, huh? Thought that was never happening again?â A naughty gleam, a cheeky grin spreads across his face, and, despite how much I love him, I have the urge to knee him in the balls for joking at a time like this.
âDonât push your luck. I have plenty to be still mad about.â I shove him back by placing two hands on his chest, finding a little of that strength he goes on about.
I pull myself together once more, swallowing the sobs and sniffing away the mess.
Colton lets go of my face, catches me by the hips with fast reflexes, and hauls me back, so we bump groins, and he nestles me against him.