Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret (Leah and Aaron) novel Chapter 206

Chapter 206
AARON
I wake up in my bed at Rathborn mansion, but of course it
doesn’t smell or feel like my bed any longer, because this is
where Leah lay for months in that coma.
For a second, I let the scent of my mate lull me, but then I remember what happened and sit up in a rush.
“Leah!”
“I’m right here.” She gets up from the armchair positioned near the bed-the same one I spent hours upon hours occupying when I was sitting vigil next to her-and I think
there’s some kind of irony to be found in that.
“How are you feeling?” she asks, coming over to sit on the bed
next to me.
Except as soon as she’s within reach, I yank her into me, needing to feel the real, solid weight of her in my arms.
“Are you okay?” I ask her, instead of answering her question.
I have the power of three Alphas.
Short of total decapitation, no one is killing me any time soon.
Leah on the other hand…
“I’m fine, Aaron,” she reassures, hugging me back. “But I was
so scared for you.”
“It’ll take more than a few measly bullets to slow me down,” I try to joke, but it falls flat.
Leah sits back from me, and diamond bright tears sparkle on
her lashes.
“How could you not tell me the truth?” she demands, and a cold shot of shock goes through me.
How the hell did she find out about-
“That someone has been trying to kill you?” she continues,
her voice rising into a yell. “Did you really think you were
protecting me by not telling me? Have you forgotten that
we’re mated? If you die, so do I!”
I reach up with one hand and cup her face. “And the reverse
is true. If someone kills you, the mating bond kills me. I didn’t want anyone to get it into their head that to get to me, they only had to get to you.”
Someone attacked me on Roberts lands a few days ago. Now I
know why!”
“They did what?” I shout. “Why the hell didn’t James tell me
about this?”
Leah sends me a pointed look. “It seems not telling each other things is how we operate, Aaron.”
I can’t argue with that fact.
Still, I’d been so sure that staying away from her would keep
her safe.
If anything, tonight proved that my assumption was incorrect.
That pickup truck crashed into us with the express purpose of getting to Leah-
Suddenly, I remember how it all went down.
“They weren’t trying to kill you,” I say in confusion, even as the thought occurs to me. “They were trying to kidnap you.”
At this, Leah looks even more upset. “Why would someone want to kidnap me?”
There are any number of reasons.
Most of them start and end with me.
Da mn it.
Denying myself Leah hasn’t deterred my enemies in the least.
All I’ve done is further broken something that was already
fractured between us.
After today, there’s no way I’m letting Leah out of my sight
again until the threat has been neutralized.
The only problem is, I know my stubborn mate.
She’s still angry and hurting.
There’s no way she’ll agree to suddenly being with me all the time again.
And that’s not even taking into account Lillian and the cabin.
I don’t know how the hell I’m going to juggle everything and keep everyone safe.
But somehow I’ll make it work.
Failure is not an option.
I bring my other hand up so I’m framing Leah’s gorgeous face
in my palms. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I
swear it on my life as an Alpha.”
Leah closes her eyes, as if soaking in my words.
“I’m so tired of feeling hurt and angry all the time, Aaron,” she
whispers.
bring my forehead down to rest gently against hers, so we’re breathing the same air.
It’s perfect, and I never want this moment to end.
“Then let me make you feel something else,” I tell her in a low voice, before tilting her face up and capturing her lips.