Billionaire Alpha's 99 Deadly Games novel Chapter 176

Chapter 176

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

Slowly I opened my eyes. “Patrick?” I asked, still feeling dazed and confused and gasping for air against the panic that had set in. “I thought… I thought I was back there. I couldn’t move my arms.”

“Sorry,” he said, sounding sincere. “Guess I rolled over in my sleep and pinned you beneath me.”

His deep morning voice sent unexpected chills of excitement through me. All of my senses were heightened, in part from the fear and panic that had gripped me, and another part from the strong male presence sill pressed firmly against me.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked when I didn’t say anything.

Talk about it? Talk about what? How badly I wanted him in that moment? How hard it was to fight

the mating call that reached out to me in constant torment, even when he wasn’t right there with me? Or was he asking about the kidnapping and how helpless and weak it had made me feel?

My elevated awareness of him caused an arousal in me that was borderline painful. I needed my

mate. My fears of the kidnapping were at the surface, too. He protected me. He saved me. I knew

that perhaps there was still too much alcohol in my system from the night before. Lily and I had

polished off five bottles and I think I had taken the brunt of that while pouring my heart out to the girls. The overall consensus was that I was a chicken and needed to stop fighting my destiny. Patrick

O’Connell was mine.

I had come to his place the night before to make things right, to complete our mating bond once and

for all, but he had rejected me. I couldn’t remember a lot from the previous night, but the sting of his rejection still radiated with me.

“You rejected me,” I said sadly.

“What?”

“Last night,” I said, trying to sit up, though my head was throbbing so much it hurt to do so. “Last night, I tried to complete the mating bond, and you rejected me.”

He sighed and rubbed his face and the day old growth there. “You remember that? You were so gone, I wasn’t sure you would.”

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Billionaire Alpha’s 99 Deadly Games

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Chapter 176

“I remember. You don’t want me as a mate, so what are we doing here?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I want you as a mate, love. I just ” He paused like he was trying to determine how best to word his next statement. “I just needed to be sure it’s what you truly want. You weren’t in a condition to make that decision last night. You weren’t, I had to carry you home. Even in wolf form you couldn’t walk a straight line had your life depended on it. You’ve been struggling with the thought of taking me as a mate. It would have been selfish of me to take advantage of the situation last night. I couldn’t do that to you.”

He toyed with a piece of hair framing my face before tucking it behind me ear and cupping my

cheek.

“Look at me, Elise.” There was authority in his voice that my wolf demanded I submit to, so I looked him in his sparkling, deep–blue eyes. “There is nothing I want more in this world than to be your mate, to bond myself and my life to you, but if you don’t feel the same, if you have any doubts at all, I can wait. Stopping you last night was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life, but I want you to come to me on your terms, and if you need that much in spirits to do it, then you aren’t ready, and that’s okay, love.”