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I recall how Charlie was almost forced to marry her mate before she was ready because she broke the rules. “Like you. But Charlie, you tend to hurt yourself, not other people.”
“Maybe so. All I’m saying is I get it.”
“You get why Kai would try to kill Kevin?”
“I understand how he could lose it over thinking his mate was with someone else. I don’t believe he’d have killed the guy.”
“That’s supposed to comfort me?”
“C’mon Abby, the man stands up for what he believes in. You have to respect that. “Challenging Kevin as beta sounds barbaric to us, but that’s how things are done in a werewolf pack.”
I have come to understand that werewolf packs have a more primitive governing system than humans, and maybe I can find a way to accept what Kai did for his beliefs. But it doesn’t change the fact the man hacked into Life Shift and doesn’t like humans. The only reason Kai is with me is because he can’t control his sexual urges.
Humiliation fills me as I think about being used. He probably plans to take down Life Shift through me. “I’m so stupid, Charlie. I gave Kai complete access to the program so he could figure out what was wrong with his profile. But now I think he created the problem. Who knows what he did to it.”
“Maybe that was his initial intention, but he’s in love with you, Abby.”
And I’m in love with him. My heart aches for the future I thought I’d have.
“I doubt he’s going to ruin what you worked so hard to create. Plus, we don’t even know if he did plan to ruin Life Shift. Give him a chance to explain.”
I can’t help but want an explanation that makes my pain go away. Charlie is right. I need to confront Kai. I may not get the truth, but I can certainly appeal to his sensibilities if I threaten him with legal action when I figure out how to prove what he did.
I need to get Mallory to go into the code and see if she can sort out what he might have done to alter things. My fingernail clicks on my phone as I type out a text to her, and it occurs to me that Kai had to know I’d find out about him.
The man is so cocky he probably thought our true-mate attraction would somehow make it okay. My chest tightens as my heart feels like something is squeezing it, and tears burn in my eyes. I’m tempted to agree with Kai. Mixing werewolves and humans is a bad idea.
Chapter Nine
I’d left Kai this morning sitting in his boxers coding for a freelance job. I recall how he grabbed my hand after I kissed him goodbye, and he held on for a few moments in a silent invitation to be late. I squash down the twinge of desire I feel from the memory.
I’m not sure when he’ll be home, but I grabbed my laptop before leaving the office so I can get things done while I wait for his return. I shudder, thinking about our intimate moments that were just another roll in the hay for him, while I thought I was beginning a life with my forever love. The window of my apartment that overlooks an apple orchard is cold on my forehead as I press against it, and I close my eyes as humiliation washes over me. How was I so easily duped?
“I am your mate, Abby.” Those words shocked me when Kai finally decided to speak and let me know why he was being so difficult the first day we met. And then he said, “We will be together, and neither of us has a say about it.”
Anger spikes in me as I imagine his mind turning while he watched me. He must have been thrilled at his good fortune to find someone so gullible. Now I’m sure I won’t be able to focus on anything I should be doing except informing Kai he’s going to get a new match I find for him. Preferably a woman who’s in jail for life, then he’ll get to enjoy his new bride separated by the barbed wire he should also be behind.
My feet thud over the carpet of my living room as I begin to pace, and I ponder what else I can do to make Kai's life as miserable as he’s made mine.
The rattle of a key in my lock makes me stop and face the door as Kai enters. I hold back the string of profanity I’d like to utter, and steam might be coming out of my ears from the effort.
It takes him a moment to get inside. I notice a bouquet of flowers and a bottle that looks like champagne in his hands. “Abby. I didn’t expect to find you here.” His smile fades as he looks at me.
“I didn’t expect to come back this early. But then I didn’t expect Charlie to tell me you don’t want humans in your pack and that you fought Kevin to stop it.”
His eyes widen. “Oh.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “Baby, it’s not what you think.” He sets the bottle and flowers down on the coffee table and removes his light jacket as he approaches me.
I hold up my hand. “Stop right there, and don’t call me baby.”
He halts. “Let me explain.”
“Which part?” I grab the flowers from the coffee table and yank the head off a daisy. “How you found the perfect sucker for your plan?” I throw it to the floor and snap another flower off. “How you blocked your profile so you could gain access to my program?” I throw it at him, and it bounces off his chest. Tears fill my eyes, and they sear my cheeks as they roll over them. I launch the rest of the bouquet as hard as I can at him as I say, “Or maybe you want to explain how you could be cold enough to marry me when you don’t love me, just the sex we have?” A sob escapes, and his form wavers in front of me through my watery veil as he steps toward me with his arms out. I shake my head so he won’t come any closer.
“Abby, none of that is true.”
“Don’t!” I take a deep breath and scrub the tears from my face. “Don’t keep lying to me. I deserve better than that.”
He opens his palms at his sides and speaks softly as he says, “You deserve everything, and I want to give it to you.”
