Page 48 of Fated to the Alpha

*

Friday had rolled around and Kimberly was thankful for the distraction of the upcoming wedding preparations. That didn’t keep her from obsessively checking her phone for any sign that Shane was ready to talk. It took her all of one night to realize she had been in the wrong. Pride be damned, she should have told him what happened the morning after her panic attack. She should have let him in, even if it hurt, even if it felt awkward and vulnerable. It was Shane. He would have understood and they could have avoided this whole mess. And now, she knew how it felt to be brushed off and iced out.

It wasn’t until Gage approached her the morning before the ceremony, while she arranged the garland over the wedding arch, to reveal just why Shane had gone radio silent. He confessed that they had talked, that Gage told Shane everything about the attack and to stay away from her until she regained her footing again.

Her alpha deserved a swift kick to the nuts for overstepping his bounds. Instead, the moment it all came out, Kimberly’s body went cold and numb, her knees weak, and she stared into the distance as all she could feel was her heart thrumming painfully hard in her chest. Shane knew everything, and she hadn’t been the one to tell him. Her world spun out of focus with the implications of such thoughtlessness on the part of her alpha. For a second, she thought she’d faint.

But she didn’t. She just chewed him out and ignored his insistence that he felt obligated to protect her from Shane after all he had done in the past. While she could appreciate the thought, his actions were far from appropriate, and Kimberly wasn’t so sure she could forgive Gage this time. He went behind her back and tried to change the natural course of things. He was trying to keep someone away from her without ever taking her feelings into account. Shane very well might have ghosted her again because of what Gage had told him.

She was done being gentle. Done waiting on him. Done playing phone tag. Done with the radio silence and the secrets. Shane knew her past, and there was only one way he’d come to a full understanding of the present. That was how they had any hope for a future. She just had to act on her decision before she could talk herself out of it.

After her responsibilities at the wedding were wrapped up, she went straight for Shane’s apartment. He had shared it with her after her panic attack because he wanted to make sure that she could find him if she wanted to talk. Well, he was sure going to get an earful now.

*

Shane zipped up the compartments on his duffle bag and double-checked that he had everything packed. Distance from Tolstone was the last thing he wanted, but probably what he needed. It’d be the first weekend of several that he would spend away from the pack and Kimberly in his search for a new territory. He decided to start with the closest town and work his way farther, taking more days to travel as needed. This trip would only last the weekend, so he didn’t have to request any time off work. He wouldn’t be gone for long. That was what he tried to assure himself.

The floorboards creaked down the hall outside his apartment, but he assumed it was one of his neighbors. He heard them leave an hour ago and some talk about a grocery store run.

When the knock on his door came, and the scent of Kimberly hit him like a freight train, he rushed out of the bedroom. When he was two feet from the door, a pulse of uncharacteristic hesitation brought him to an abrupt stop.

He checked himself. Was he ready for this? The last few days, he refused to open the box in his head labeled Kimberly. All of his efforts were poured into researching towns and coming up with his game plan. He didn’t want to continually ruminate over how she didn’t trust him. He wasn’t entirely sure he was prepared to have this conversation, especially when he was about to leave town.

Her urgent knocking told him that she meant business. She entered his territory on a mission, and it was his wolf that propelled him toward her with no reserves, no strings attached. If his wolf was ready to see her, maybe his own heart would fall in step, and they could both get their footing again.

He let his wolf make the call and continued headlong toward the door.

Kimberly stood in the hall, arms crossed in a pretty olive-green dress that showed off her lean but strong figure and made her eyes nearly luminescent under her dark eye makeup. She looked like she had just left a party, and he remembered something about a wedding the flower shop was supposed to service soon.

The whole package made his body hum with want for her, even if she pierced him with a glare that could cut through diamonds.

“I want in,” she demanded flatly.

Shane moved aside without question, and she rushed inside, the potency of her flowery scent making his eyes want to roll with pleasure. He hadn’t realized how much he missed her smell so much. She had to know what she was doing, what she always did whenever they were close. The night at the gym was the only exception to his reflexive panting after her, but only because righteous fury overpowered any desire. Knowing the bastard that hurt her was long dead helped to bank that fire since he and Gage talked. That left plenty of emotional fuel for other things, but passion must have been the last thing on Kimberly’s mind.

Kimberly turned on her heels as he closed the door behind them. She didn’t bother to look around the apartment, making Shane her sole focus.

“Now isn’t the best time.” Shane was careful to keep his tone even and not antagonize her any further.

“I don’t care. Gage told me you two talked.”

“We did.”

“He told you what happened.”

“He did.”

Fire sparked in her glare. “He had no right to, even if you asked. I don’t like people talking about me behind my back.”

“You weren’t exactly an open book about it.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Her voice rose to a near shout. “I would have told you when I was ready or when it was important for you to know.”

“You didn’t think it was important to tell me that someone almost raped you before we got physical?”

The heat in his words galvanized her. “I didn’t think I’d freeze up like that. I thought I was over it. If I had an idea that I would, I would have stopped you before things went too far. But, according to Gage, you aren’t willing to give me another shot at physical anyway. You’re willing to just toss me away the way you did ten years ago because someone let you believe it was a bad idea to come after me.”

“Kim, I—”