Owned By The Possessive Alpha, Bounded To My Mate novel Chapter 4

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DENISE

The silence that followed was very loud. I could not believe my ears, it was like he had submerged me under water and all i could hear was the rushing water and his muffled words.

"Cancelled," I repeated, mostly out of disbelief and a part of me was hoping that i had heard it wrong. That this was some kind of sick prank.

"You can come back on Monday. Take the rest of the week."

He said it like he was doing me a favor. Like I should be relieved. Like I hadn't spent four days dragging myself toward a door and he hadn't just quietly locked it again without asking whether I wanted it locked.

"Dante." I said his name before I could stop myself, and continued without missing a beat. "We need to end this."

"You're picking a fight."

"I'm not picking anything. You're getting mated. You can't—" I gestured between us. "You can't keep doing this."

He crossed the room slowly, and I held my ground even though my wolf was doing the thing she always did around him, the embarrassing, treacherous softening that four years hadn't managed to train out of her.

"Elena felt bad," he said, stopping a few feet from me. "She noticed she never reached out after the accident to make sure that you were alright despite me telling her that you were capable of getting out. She was worried."

I stared at him. "She was worried."

"She asked about you. I told her you were fine." A beat.

"She wants you to come to the house this week. She's asked for help with some of the wedding preparations—small things, logistics. She's comfortable with you."

Something almost funny moved through me and died before it became a laugh.

Elena was comfortable with me. Elena, who had ordered me to fetch her contraceptives with a conspiratorial wink, who sat in Dante's office radiating authority while I practically ran from the room.

Elena, who had no idea that the woman she was asking to help plan her wedding had spent the last four years in her fiancé's bed.

"I won't be doing that," I said.

Dante's jaw tightened. He took the remaining distance between us in one step, his hand coming up to my face before I could step back. His thumb traced the edge of my jaw with the ease of long habit, and I hated how still it made me go.

"Denise."

"Don't." My voice came out quieter than I intended.

"You need to show up." His eyes were steady on mine, that particular dark gaze that I had once confused for depth, for caring, for something that meant I mattered. "If you don't, Elena will notice. She's already asking questions—she picked up on something in the car, when you used my name. She's smart. She'll start putting things together if you act like you're running from her."