When I get to the bedroom, I grab an extra blanket out of the closet and put it at the end of the bed. Alisha is standing in the doorway, glaring at me with her bright violet eyes.
She’s so beautiful…even more beautiful than I remember. How could I have left her?
Slowly, she comes into the room, keeping her eyes on me like she’s stuck in here with a snake ready to strike. I take a step towards her, and she jumps back.
“Look, Alisha,” I say, sighing. “You have every right to be pissed with me. I completely understand. But I have to keep you safe. I promise I won’t let any harm come to you, and for now, you’re just going to have to trust me. It will be much easier on both of us if you don’t fight me every step of the way.”
Alisha’s eyes flick from me to the bed, then back again. “I suppose that means you can’t leave me alone for a second, doesn’t it? If you think I—”
“Alisha,” I cut her off softly. “I’m taking the couch. The bed is all yours.”
I see her face slacken with shock, but I don’t hang around to enjoy it or talk further. I can’t really think of anything else to say—and I really do want her to feel safe and comfortable.
As I set myself up on the couch, I let my intrusive thoughts creep back in. She appears so innocent, but now I can’t ignore the fact that she’s appeared on two of my secret missions.
Is she really just an innocent girl, or is she my enemy?
Chapter 4 - Alisha
What the fuck was that?
Tossing and turning in Brad’s bed, I feel like my bones are simmering, and my skin is on fire. I’m tempted to storm down the stairs, shake him awake, and throw all my questions in his extremely handsome face.
Not a great idea, for so many reasons.
I turn onto my back and stare at the ceiling, trying to stay conscious of my breath and relax. Even though my body still feels strung with tension, my thoughts begin to settle.
He literally fucking kidnapped me by force, then made my favorite food, tucked me into bed, apologized…and walked the fuck out.
An uncomfortable feeling rises in me that maybe I’m so pissed because he walked out, and part of me was perversely looking forward to sleeping next to him. It creates such a crash in my psyche that I’m forced to look deeper into my feelings.
I met Paul so soon after Brad left, I didn’t even really have time to process what happened. I just closed my mind down and locked the pain away.
When I feel a faint tickle on my face and realize I’m crying, it shocks me. I sit up quickly and wipe my eyes, feeling all my fury dissolving into misery.
I didn’t cry…I never admitted what he meant to me. And now I’m here, in his bed, wearing his fucking clothes!
I wrap the blanket tightly around me, cocooning myself with pressure as I start to tremble. The stress has just been too much. Running from Paul, just weeks of survival mode,and now, quite literally running into Brad and getting actually kidnapped.
I still can’t believe he apologized. Did he mean just for tonight, or did he mean for everything?
Fury sparks in my chest again as I remember how it felt waking up alone. No note, no text, just completely abandoned. For days, I held out hope that he would come back, that he’d contact me somehow. I imagined all kinds of scenarios that might have made him disappear—a hurt family member, a business collapse, even a horrible accident.
I called every hospital in the area, for fuck’s sakes. I even went to the cops!
A little chill runs across my skin as I remember that. They had no record of Bradley Cade. At first, I was reassured because it meant he had no record, but they hadn’t been able to look him up at all.
“Are you sure that’s his real name, darlin’? How long did you know him for? Oh. Well, then. These things do happen. You should really take care, now.”
The echo of the cop’s voice in my mind twists my heart into an angry, tangled mess. The guy was trying to be sympathetic, I know that, but he was also telling me I got duped by a player.
Maybe I did…
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to settle my anger and frustration, but it’s fueled by the unanswered questions that just won’t stop piling up in my mind.
I know he wasn’t lying to me, I just know it. He was with me, and I felt it! Why did he leave me? What the fuck does he actually do? He clearly has a whole life I never knew about—and now he’s ended up as an alpha out in the woods? Where even are we?
I lay down again, stretching out under the blanket to ease the tension in my muscles.
