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“And I was scared he was going to kill you.”
“He was going to.” He smiles lightly, but there’s no happiness behind his eyes. “I don’t fear death, Ella. My only regret is not having you in my life to love, or...” He blows out a deep breath. “Or for you to love me.”
To love?
“You were prepared to sacrifice yourself for me,” I say, taking a step closer, ignoring everything else for now.
“I’d do anything for you.”
“Including walking away right now?”
“Anything that makes you happy.”
My gaze is still on my alpha. The man I thought was evil was prepared to sacrifice himself for me. “And your happiness. Does that not matter?”
“I don’t deserve you.” His gaze finally moves behind me as he studies what I know is Walker and Jake dragging the body of my kidnapper from the office.
“I was so mad at you. I know I blamed you for my dad’s death.”
“I was partly responsible.”
“I heard him, Gabe. You had nothing to do with it.”
He lingers in the center of the room, and I long for his arms to hold me. But it’s like the two of us are too scared to make the first move. “I’m not totally innocent. I never stopped them.”
“Gabe—“
He shakes his head, swallowing.
“Okay, if you want to beat yourself up about this. Why didn’t you stop them?”
“I tried to. But the pack leader thought I was weak, and he claimed he had stopped the kidnapping of your sister.”
My hands form into fists on instinct.
“Then I came home from work to see you and Ava blindfolded and your hands tied up against chair arms on the screen, and my pack mates were drinking beer as they discussed what to do to you.”
My legs wobble, and he rushes forward and holds me against him.
“Sorry,” he purrs. His nose rubs my hair as he holds me against his body.
“No … Go on. I need to know everything.”
“They didn’t know at first that you’d been taken too. They wanted you to be freed, but the kidnapper refused. You were blindfolded, but he claimed you would locate him in a lineup by his scent. We had a choice, and that was to take you, or he’d kill you.”
My breath catches in my throat as my eyes lift to his. Dark, haunted, desolate.
“And your pack chose to kill me?” I gasp out the question I already know the answer to.
“They are no longer my pack.”
I nod.
“That’s when the kidnapper claimed omega siblings had a unique bond. And your pain, your death, would not only bring on Ava’s heat but make her perfume so vibrant we would be rutting her for weeks.”
I grip his shirt to keep from sliding to the ground. “She had a lucky escape.”
“I should have told you that getting away from your kidnapper would have sent him onto the hunt stage.”
