Page 115 of Unravel Me

I start the engine.

"Sorry, I have to go," I say, placing my hands on the steering wheel, but Mauro reaches out and grabs my forearm.

He starts to type something on the screen with his free hand, but I don't let him. I pull my arm away and shift into reverse.

"I have to go!" I repeat, my cheeks burning. I start backing up, leaving him standing there at the construction site, phone still in his hand, staring after me…

There's nothing here for me.

The whole trip was just stupid. A waste of time. I decide to go back to Renato's mansion and make my final decision there.

Because I'm already 99.9 percent sure who my True Mate is. And I was so fucking blind.

◆◆◆

I stand beneath the shower, letting the water pour over my face as my mind finally begins to clear.

For the past several hours, I've been lying in my nest, obsessively turning over every possible scenario, every decision, analyzing all threads and aspects, and then torturing myself with visions of failure and the consequences of making the wrong choice.

There's one thing I can't deny anymore. Every part of my body wants only one thing, and I'm going to give it to myself no matter what happens afterward. I'm like an arrow flying in a single direction, one that can't be knocked off course.

Mauro.

I have to have him.

I dry my hair carefully, brushing it into long, pale golden waves. Then I slip on nothing but a thin tank top that reaches halfway down my thighs, leaving the rest of me bare.

For a moment, I stare at my reflection in the mirror. It's almost strange how completely the weakness of heat recovery has vanished. My body feels like itself again, filled with a rising energy that needs somewhere to go.

Then I hesitate for a moment and sit down, pulling out my phone to search for a website about sign language. I focus on three particular signs I want to learn.

I like you.

I want you.

I love you.

You never know which one might come in handy, and right now, I have one of them in mind. I quickly practice the signs, and they’re simple and fairly intuitive, so after a few minutes, I feel confident enough to use them and be understood.

After this, I spend a few moments listening at my bedroom door to make sure no one is walking through the hallway. Only when I'm certain it's empty do I open the door and head toward the room where I know Mauro sleeps.

I know he got back to Renato’s house an hour ago, and I hope he’s in his room.

Walking on the balls of my feet, I sneak through the hallway as quietly as I can. When I reach his door, I lightly scratch the wood, so softly that only an alpha's hearing could possibly catch the sound.

No answer comes, but I hear the faint rush of running water. Is Mauro in the shower?

I press the handle. The door is unlocked.

I slip inside and quietly close it behind me because I don’t want to risk standing out in the hallway for too long.

The room is most likely Mauro's childhood bedroom. Maybe this was where he slept whenever he came here with his parents. It has been repainted, but the wardrobe is still unusually low, an old wooden chest sits against one wall, probably once filled with toys, and a large painting of several superheroes still hangs where no one seems to have bothered taking it down in years.

The bed has clearly been replaced, but it doesn't match the rest of the furniture. It gives me the impression that Mauro doesn't actually live here most of the time.

But if not here… then where? I have a pretty good idea by now where he normally lives. Some twenty-minute walk from here…

I stand in the middle of the room, unsure what to do. A moment later, the sound of the shower stops.