Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 176

Chapter 176

Footsteps sounded behind me, but Vaughn made no effort to join me. He was more bodyguard than mate.

The burn in my chest intensified. I increased my speed, testing my muscles. They seemed loose enough. I pushed myself harder, welcoming a different kind of burn. The kind that said I was alive and fighting.

I followed the dirt road towards the mountains, trying my best to ignore the fact that Vaughn was behind me. Memories of the past few weeks dogged me. Garrison and his torture. Kaleb’s taunts. The hurt on Knox’s face today.

I picked up my pace, searching for those moments of blissful nothingness when I was pushing myself to the edge. That place where there was no space for memories or thoughts of any kind. Where it was only you and the path beneath your feet.

The road gave way to a path. Branches of overgrown brush and trees slapped at my exposed skin. I welcomed any hint of pain. It was more distraction that I desperately needed.

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The path turned into a steep incline, and I attacked it with everything I had in me. My rage at Kaleb. My pain and grief. My frustration and impotence.

My legs shook as I crested the last of the hill. I normally would’ve loved seeing the meadow that greeted me, but instead, I struggled to stay upright. I tried to stiffen my legs, to command them to stand strong, but they wouldn’t obey

Seconds later, they gave way, sending me crashing to the ground. A thick blanket of grass cushioned my fall, but the drop still jarred my spine. My chest heaved as I struggled to get my breathing under control.

Vaughn slowed to a stop in front of me but made no move to help. “Are you done?”

I blinked up at him. “Excuse me?”

“Are. You. Done?”

I struggled to my feet, my legs still shaking with a vengeance. “No. I’m not done. I won’t be done until my father is in a shifter prison or six feet under.”

“Foolish,” Vaughn spat.

My hands fisted at my sides as my whole body trembled. “I’m the only one who can stop him. Me. I let him get away once. It won’t happen again. I have to be ready. I have to stop him.”

My voice cracked and I hated the weakness in the sound. “I’ll do anything.” My fingernails dug into my palms, piercing the skin. “Anything.” Vaughn gripped my wrists, stilling my motions. “I have to stop him.”

Vaughn pulled me into his arms, holding me tight.

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Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–IIis Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

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Chapter 176

It was the contact with him, the one who rarely gave freely, that broke me. It splintered my tenuous hold on the world around me. And I was simply falling.

Vaughn held on as I let the sobs free. It didn’t matter how much I tried to shove them down, how ashamed I was for falling to pieces yet again, they came anyway. Every time I thought I had gotten a handle on things, something else landed on my shoulders.

Senugh hands gripped me as I cried. They held firm as I fell apart. He whispered things I couldn’t make out against my hair. Nonsensical mutterings that soothed.

Then Vaughn started to rock back and forth. This glimpse of gentleness and care only made me cry

“Y–you don’t even like me.”

The words came out garbled, but Vaughn stilled. “Don’t be dumb.”

That sounded a little more like Vaughn.

He sighed, his fingers tangling in my hair as he stroked. “I thought we were past that.”

“You’ve barely talked to me for weeks. You just glare. You won’t…” I let my words trail off.

harder.

“I won’t what?”

“You won’t let me close.”

Yet here I was in Vaughn’s arms. Every time I truly needed him, he was there. But I wanted him in the in–between

moments too.

“I could hurt you.”

It was the same refrain that played over and over again. Excuse after excuse, I shoved at Vaughn, wriggling free from his arms.

His jaw dropped. “Senna.”

“I’m so sick of your excuses.” I shoved at his chest. “You aren’t going to hurt me. You aren’t going to hurt our bond

mates.”

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