BELLE
I hated that he was here. I hated that, as hard as I tried to ignore him and focus on my work, he was the only thing I could think of.
I was aware of his every move, of his eyes that followed me everywhere I went in the small diner.
And most of all, I hated that my traitorous body wanted nothing more than to go to him and forgive him for every single horrible thing he had ever done to me.
Because I still needed him. God, why did I still need him?
He had rejected me. He had tried to mate with someone else. There was no way to make it any clearer that he didn’t want me. So why was I still reacting this way to him?
Why was it so physically painful to stay away from him?
I grabbed the tip left for me on the table of my last customers of the night. It was dark out now, and the diner had finally cleared out, leaving only Grayson behind.
Candice and Brenda had left a few hours earlier, and the cook, who was still in the kitchen, was going to lock up after I was gone.
For the first time in several hours, I allowed myself to glance in his direction. I immediately regretted it. He was looking straight at me.
Our gazes clashed, and instantaneously, it was like a wave of warm, soothing water cascaded over me. I sucked in a deep breath as some relief came to my aching body.
Grayson had a look of worry and frustration on his face, but it softened the moment we made eye
contact.
His shoulders fell slightly. “Belle,” he mouthed, his expression turning into one of
pure torture.
I knew he wanted me to go to him. He was desperate for it. I could feel his emotions coursing through whatever remained of our bond.
Giving in, I approached him slowly, hesitantly. He watched my every move, his entire body tense as he tried to hold himself back from pouncing on me.
When I finally came to stand in front of his table, I crossed my arms securely in front of my stomach as if they would provide me with some sort of protection from the dangerous creature in front of me.
Chapter 23 of 59: Chapter 23
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“We’re closing now. I’m leaving.”
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Grayson’s deep green eyes dimmed a bit when he realized I wasn’t here to finally hear him out. “Okay.” He started to get out of the booth. “I’ll walk you home.”
I didn’t move. “I’m really tired,” I whispered.
Grayson frowned. “I know, baby. You need sleep. You barely got any last night.”
“No, that’s not what I meant, Grayson. I’m tired,” I repeated.
He stared at me, still not understanding.
“I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want you to be the only thing on my mind anymore. I had made progress, real progress before you came.
“I had started to recover from what you put me through. But now you’re here and…” I groaned. “I want to be free of you–of this hold you somehow still have on me even after everything you did to
- me.
“I want to go back to who I was before you held my heart. I’m not me anymore. I’m the version of myself that is tortured by everything you put me through.”
Grayson opened his mouth to speak.
“And I don’t want to argue,” I continued quickly, cutting him off before he could say anything. Tears began to pool in my eyes. I wiped them away before they could fall.
“Look, I know what we had…” I paused, swallowing down the massive ball in my throat. “I know what we had wasn’t what you wanted…”
Grayson growled. “That’s not-”
I interrupted him quickly. I needed to get this out. “Let me finish, or, I swear to God, I’ll kick you in the balls again.” I was completely serious; it was starting to sound like a really good option right
now.
I took a deep breath. “And I know that, as an alpha, having a mate means you get more power. So maybe the mate bond is making you regret…rejecting me because of that.”
Grayson stood and reached for me. I took a step back.
“Belle, please” he tried to say.
Chapter 23 of 59: Chapter 23
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Emergency calls only
No, you have to let me get this out. I need to get this out.”
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His breathing was so erratic. His eyes were black. His jaw was clenched. But he seemed to understand my need and nodded sharply for me to continue.
“We’re both hurting.” I kept going quietly. “But it’s only because of this supernatural bond between
In the end, we’re not supposed to be together. And you knew that.
“You knew that the first night I came to stay with you. It doesn’t excuse how you treated me, but you knew you didn’t want me and that I wasn’t the right mate for you.”
Grayson growled loudly, his entire body shaking. I was obviously making him upset.
“So even though I–I-“I had to look away at this point, somehow keeping myself from breaking down into gut–wrenching sobs.
“Even though I may have loved you…I don’t think you ever loved me. Not really. You just felt a connection to me because of some magical bond you had no control over.
“You felt trapped. And that’s why you acted out the way you did.”
I took a deep breath, wiping my sweaty palms on the front of my skirt. I looked back at him.
His eyes were black with the presence of his wolf, and dark hair was sprouting from his arms, letting me know that he was just barely keeping himself from shifting.
I wasn’t going to let that intimidate me into not finishing, though.
“But that’s okay. I-“I could barely even say it. “I’m letting you go. If the bond is making you feel regret over what you did to me, I don’t want you to feel that way anymore.
“In fact, I don’t want you to feel anything when it comes to me anymore.” I took a step forward. I studied his heaving chest and strained muscles. I was on thin ice, but I continued anyway.
“You know I’m not what you want. It’s why you treated me the way you did back at your pack house. It’s why you tried to mate with someone else. You were mad I ended up as your mate rightly so.”
I brought my arms tighter around me, letting my gaze stray to the window next to us, out to the small town that had become my home over the last few months.
Chapter 91 af 50- Chanter 23
“But I’m no luna. And I’m definitely not strong enough to survive what you put me through again. And, whether or not you wanted to, you would put me through it again because you don’t love me.’
I shuddered at the thought of being rejected again. Even just thinking about it made my mark burn and my heart sink.
“So I’m asking in a civilized and genuine way—no more shouting or ignoring you or begging you to leave me alone…
“If you care about me even a little bit if anything you said to me in Paris was even a little bit true -do me a favor and let me go.
By the time I had finished, Grayson looked so close to shifting that I could practically see his face. beginning to morph into his wolf.
“Good.”
It was clear that I wasn’t leaving his arms until he let me on
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