Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret (Leah and Aaron) novel Chapter 335

EMILY

I end up spending more time than I probably should with Ronan and by the time I make the long run back to Rathborn pack lands, I’m in a better mood than I’ve been for a long time.

He’s just so easy to talk to, and I got to ask some of the burning questions about vampires that I’d needed clarified.

If Ronan thought my questions were odd or extremely specific, he didn’t say so.

Part of me wonders if Ronan is someone to whom I can tell the truth of what I am.

But immediately, the part of me that loathes myself and fears rejection shies away from the idea.

Ronan is a new, neutral friend, not influenced by my distant past growing up as daughter of the Alpha in the Rathborn, or my recent past and the terrible things that happened to me.

I don’t want him to start looking at me differently—or worse, start looking at me like I’m some freak—so I’m not going to tell him the truth.

At least, not any time soon.

It’s nice to think if we remain friends long enough, I might be able to tell him one day and he’ll not only accept me, but maybe there are ways in which he can help me.

Of course, I have to make sure no one ever, ever finds out about Ronan.

A wolf being friends with a vampire?

They’d never understand it. And they’d definitely never accept it.

They’d probably assume he was up to no good and forbade me from ever seeing him again.

Or worse, I realize with a shiver. Axel is the Slayer, so he might simply kill Ronan.

I can’t let that happen.

I refuse to let that happen.

Ronan is the one good thing that’s just mine right now, and I’m not going to give him up or put him in danger.

I’m lost in thought as I lope through the woods in wolf form, and I register that I’ve just crossed over the territory line back into Rathborn pack lands when this huge form streaks out of nowhere and barrels right into me.

It knocks me over, and it’s not until I find myself pinned to the ground that I register the scent and realize it’s Axel.

I whine and bare my teeth, snapping my jaws at him, but he easily avoids me.

After a moment, he raises himself off me and then shifts.

“Shift back, Emily,” he tells me in a furious voice as he gets to his feet. “You will explain yourself.”

I think about defying him and simply darting off into the woods.

But Axel is bigger, stronger and far more skilled than I am.

I doubt I’d get far before he ran me down.

And he’s already pissed off enough as it is.

“You’ve been with another male. The same one I scented on you last time!” he shouts at me, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was angry and jealous.