The Pack's Hacker (by Cooper) novel Chapter 166

Christy

I smell him before I open my eyes. My mate. The man who rejected me. Why is he here? Why now when I’m at my weakest? “Please open your eyes, Christy. Please. Deborah said that you aren’t under any anesthesia to keep you unconscious. You’ve been out for two days. Please open your eyes.”

I open my eyes and see his red-rimmed eyes watching me closely. Relief washes over his face.

“Oh, thank the goddess!” he says, pulling my hand to his lips and kissing it. “Thank the goddess. I was so worried about you.”

“Why are you here?” I ask. My throat is still sore, and my voice is rough, reminding me of why I’M here. I feel the tears well in my eyes and I close them tightly. I don’t want Leo to see me cry again. He saw enough of my tears on the day he rejected me.

I feel his finger gently rub against my cheek, wiping the wayward tear away.

“I was worried about you, and I came to apologize.”

“Apologize for what?” I ask, not looking at him.

“For rejecting you. I was wrong. I see that now. And if I hadn’t, maybe … maybe Arlo wouldn’t have touched you.”

I shrug. I don’t feel strong enough to deal with him right now.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize. I know you want a strong mate,” I tell him. That’s what he told me when he rejected

me.

“But see, that’s the thing. That’s what I’ve realized and how I know that I was wrong. Luna is helping all of us to see that strength comes in many ways, not just in fighting. You probably don’t know that she put the omegas on strike after what happened to you.”

Now I turn and look at him. “She did what?”

He’s smiling as he nods. “Yep. I’m not sure this pack has ever had such a powerful lesson. Well, that was after she came in and reminded all of us that she’s a powerful Alpha female. She was furious after she found you. None of us knew what happened to you until she came in and blasted the entire pack for not protecting you.”

The smile drops off his face. “I didn’t know, Christy. I hope you know that I would never have let him or anyone hurt you the way he did. But I didn’t know. Some did, and they are paying the price for that, but most of us didn’t.”

“Where is Arlo now?” I ask, afraid to hear that he’s still walking around freely.

“Dead. Alpha killed him. He was very clear that abuse like that won’t be tolerated in this pack.” He looks down, rubbing his thumb over my hand.

“Why didn’t you call for help? So many of us would have come to help you. You know that right?” he asks.

“Would you have? Would you have gone against another warrior to protect an omega, Leo?” I ask him.

“Yes. Maybe not like I would now, but knowing what he was going to do, how he was going to hurt you? Yes, any of us that weren’t part of his little posse of thugs would have come to your rescue.”

I shrug again. “He threatened to kill Luna. She’s the only one in this pack who has ever treated us like we were equals. She’s always been so kind and loving to us. I couldn’t let him kill her,” I say and the tears begin to fall again.

“Shit, Luna was so right,” he murmurs.

“Right about what?” I ask him.

“That strength comes in all shapes and sizes. You allowed yourself to be injured in this horrible way to protect our Luna. I don’t know many people who would sacrifice themselves to do that, even for their Alpha or Luna. But you did, and you almost died because of it.”

He shakes his head and the sadness from before returns to his face. “I know I rejected you, but it’s me who doesn’t deserve you. And even though I know that, I’m still going to ask you for another chance.”

I frown at him. “Another chance at what?”

“Another chance for us to be mates. I told you; I was wrong. I know that now. I should never have taken the gift that the Moon Goddess gave me for granted, but I did and I tossed you aside as if you weren’t important. What I should have been doing was treasuring you like the gift that you are.”

I scoff at that. “You didn’t want me before because you said I was weak. Now, I’m even weaker and I’m broken. Trust me, you don’t want me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I do want you. I want to be here for you. I want to help you regain your strength. I want to show you that I can be a good mate to you and that you can trust me. I will never hurt you. I will never pressure you to do anything that you aren’t ready to do. I will protect you and love you, like I should have from the very beginning. Will you give me a chance?”

“Leo, I …”

I’m cut off by the howl of alert.

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