“Okay.” The rational part of my brain screamed for me to let it go, but my jealous heart won out. “What happened with Cathy?”
He shrugged. “I guess I should back up a little. Our Alpha before Asher, Allen Caldwell, wanted to expand our pack at a rapid pace, but the only way to do that was to bite humans.”
I frowned. “I thought you said you stayed away from humans during a full moon.”
“We always did until Caldwell started working with the Nero Organization. The founder of Nero, Antonio Severino, believed if they could increase the numbers of shifters, we could come out in the open and dominate the humans.” He shook his head. “Insanity. But we didn’t know that was Caldwell’s plan at the time.” My heart pounded, and his eyes met mine. “I didn’t bite anyone.”
How did he…? “You heard my heart racing?”
He nodded. “It also helps us know when someone is lying. Their pulse almost always gives them away.”
“Good to know.” I wasn’t much a liar anyway. “So what’s all this have to do with Cathy?”
He took the keys from the ignition and pointed at the door to the house. “Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you everything.”
I followed him to the door and gasped as he opened it. The kitchen was huge with gorgeous walnut cabinets etched with intricate trim that resembled an infinity symbol over and over. I walked farther into the room, eager to see more of his place. The living room had a vaulted ceiling all the way up to the second floor, and the landing of the second story was visible between the wooden spindles of the staircase.
Each post bore the same design as the trim in the kitchen. Infinity. Everything in the house was custom.
I turned around to find him leaning on the bar between the kitchen and the living room, watching me. I crossed to him. “You have a beautiful home.”
“Thanks. I built it myself.”
My jaw slackened. “Really?” And then it hit me. “You wanted to be an architect or maybe a carpenter? When I asked about wanting to be a veterinarian all your life… This was what you really wanted.”
Something forever.
He nodded, his eyes warm, and he drew me close. “Nothing gets past you.”
I breathed him in, sliding my arms around his waist. “So why did you give it up?”
“Because my pack needed a doctor. I wouldn’t commit to medical school, but I had the grades to make it into vet school.” He pulled back enough to meet my eyes. “And that was where I met Cathy.”
Cathy. It was stupid, and not like me at all, but I already didn’t like her. The jealous streak surprised me.
He took my hand, leading me over to the sofa. We sat down, and he stared at the fireplace. “So I went to vet school, and back home, Caldwell needed more shifters, so he made the decision that, as our Alpha, he would choose mates for the men in the pack. He started assigning them to women who had been bitten.” He dropped his head, shaking it slowly. “My parents used to tell us stories about the moment my dad’s wolf recognized our mom as his mate. They raised us to believe fate had chosen someone for us from our first breath. Caldwell was going against all our better instincts in pairing up the pack’s wolves.” A muscle tightened in his cheek as his eyes cut to me. “So I told him I’d already found mine.”
Pain seared my chest. “She was your… I thought you only have one for life.”
“No.” He took both my hands in his, searching my eyes. “No, I lied to him. I had gone out with Cathy a couple times, but I’d touched her and nothing happened. She wasn’t my true mate. But as long as Caldwell thought I was mated, he wouldn’t assign me to anyone.”
He broke eye contact, but the pain and regret were written all over his face. “I saved myself, but not anyone else. I didn’t stop what was happening. Humans were being bitten, locked up, and impregnated. My packmates were being forced into relationships by our Alpha for the sole purpose of breeding more werewolves.” Disgust colored his voice as he lifted his gaze to my face again. “I looked the other way when I should’ve done something.”
I couldn’t stand the self-loathing in his beautiful hazel eyes. I tugged his hands and pulled him into my arms. “Could you have beaten your Alpha on your own?”
“No. He had two wolves as bodyguards. No one could’ve beaten Blake and Bo alone.” He was quiet for a minute before freeing himself from my embrace and standing up. He raked a hand back through his hair. “You deserve a man who would’ve tried, someone willing to sacrifice himself to save others. I pretended it wasn’t happening.”
The thought of him sacrificing himself, of us never having found each other, wrenched my heart. “You survived.” I followed his agitated pacing. “And you and your brother did fight to stop him.”
“Eventually.” He looked over at me. “I wish I had done more.”
I stood up and went to him. “I’m sorry he did that to your pack.”
“Yeah, me too.” He brought his hand up to caress my cheek as his gaze wandered over my face. “I don’t deserve you.”
I lost myself in his eyes, emotions churning into a whirlwind inside me. What could I say to ease his burden? Were there words?
“Fate must not agree with you.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Besides, I told you I wasn’t going to give my heart to anyone unless it was forever.” A smile tugged at my lips. “No take-backs.”
“I’m good with that.” A chuckle escaped him, and although the wounds were still in the lines of his face, there was also a spark of hope. “We need to get some sleep. Tomorrow we can focus on the future and figure out how to help the woman with a mental link to you.”
I settled against his chest and closed my eyes. I could get used to this.
I woke up in his king-sized bed alone. Light filtered through the shutters on the French doors leading to a balcony, and I squinted as I got up and wrapped the sheet around me. My clothes were still in the dryer downstairs. I peered into the empty master bathroom. No sign of Cole, but I snagged his bathrobe off the back of the bathroom door.
The soft fabric caressed my skin, and his scent surrounded me like a hug. I smiled, sniffing the lapel as I walked to the bedroom door. His voice echoed from downstairs.
As I came down the stairs, I could only catch bits and pieces of his conversation with my “human” hearing: Ridgemont, Nero, Deidra, and the Reno Pack.
I found him in his den sitting behind a big oak desk. He lifted his head and smiled at me as I came in. He was in boxers and nothing else. His hair was still tousled from sleep, his five-o’clock shadow had grown to seven, and he was so sexy and adorable all at the same time that I wanted to pinch myself. He gestured for me to come to him, and I sat on his lap while he finished his call.
After he hung up, he set his cell phone on the desk and stroked my hair back from my forehead. “Good morning, beautiful.”
I rolled my eyes with a chuckle. “I’m sure I’m a prize. No makeup, bedhead, and I don’t even have my toothbrush here.”
He kissed my bare shoulder, and tingles shot down my back. “You’re the best thing I’ve seen all day, and I was up for the sunrise this morning.” He grinned. “It was gorgeous, but it really had nothing on you wrapped in my robe.” He slid his hand up my leg, his fingers skimming my hip in a blatant search for underwear.