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“Great we can chat more and formulate a plan once Jace gets here. If you’re done eating why don’t you go get a few hours of rest?” Ryan suggested gently his gaze still on Jade with a look of sympathy in his eyes.
As they all moved away from the table Clay watched Jade rush to catch up with his cousin, Whatever she asked made Ryan look at her and then at him a sad expression on his face before he finally nodded. Jade let out what seemed to be a sigh of relief.
Clay moved to join them only to have Ryan delay him. “Let’s speak in my office before you head upstairs.”
Clay watched Jade ascend the stairs feeling like she was escaping but he was unable to stop her before he returned his attention to his cousin. His sigh was full of regret rather than relief. He turned and followed him to the office, not surprised when Kelly joined them only moments after the door had shut.
“I’m sorry.” Her apology was soft and Clay wasn’t sure if it was directed at him or her mate. Perhaps it was intended for both of them. “I wasn’t thinking and my mouth ran away with me. I didn’t mean to hurt Jade and I’ll apologize to her as well once she’s rested if she’ll hear me out”
“Jade isn’t unreasonable I’m sure once we’ve had the chance to clear the air things will be fine.” Clay tried to reassure her while lacking the confidence to back his words. Seeing his cousin kiss her hand in greeting had made him feel murderous. He’d kissed Kelly, had held her. It was innocent but Kelly’s confession about them thinking about mating might have been enough to convince Jade otherwise.
“Still I should have remembered how painful it is to see your mate be touched by someone else.”
Clay knew their relationship had a rocky beginning but he also knew that his cousin loved Kelly and any issues they’d had were in the past. Ryan hadn’t been joking when he said he’d handed Clay a beating for his offer to mate with Kelly.
They’d shaken hands afterward and the feud if it could be called such a thing had ended but Clay understood now the drive that had been behind Ryan lashing out.
“Clay, I think Jade needs some time to process things.”
“She probably does but we’ll be alright. It’s just been stressful the last few days.” Clay didn’t mention the severed bond. He wasn’t sure if his cousin could feel it but Clay wasn’t eager to talk about it.
“No, I mean she needs some time to process on her own. She asked me for a separate room while you’re here.”
“Like hell.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jade slid the lock into place knowing that Clay would eventually come looking for her. She knew the lock wouldn’t keep him out if he was determined to see her but she hoped that it would at least dissuade him. She needed time to think. Time to forget that he’d held someone else, had kissed someone else.
It didn’t matter that it wasn’t passionate it had still torn something inside of her and had made the absence of the bond they were supposed to share even more unbearable.
She didn’t belong here and she knew her coven would find her. Seeing him among pack members who cared for him made the urge to leave even stronger. The elders would come demanding their pound of flesh and there wasn’t anything these people or the members of Clay’s pack could do about it. Running would only work for so long. Hiding would fail. Jade would have been better off staying and facing the music.
She jumped when there was a loud bang at the door, swallowing down the squeak of surprise that tried to escape from her throat.
“Open this door. Right now.” He didn’t raise his voice but the pain and panic underneath the words came through in his tone.
“No.” Jade didn’t yell knowing that his exceptional shifter hearing would pick up her answer without any trouble, she wondered what he could pick up in her voice with his acute hearing. She knew some lycans could pick up emotions too so she buried hers deep and threw up every shield she could around her feelings, imagining a wall thick and smooth without a single weak spot.
“Jade open the door, please. I don’t want to damage Ryan’s new house.”
“Or you could just go away and give me the space the locked door is asking for.”
“Please let me in so we can talk. Then if you want me to leave I will, but I can’t just walk away. My instincts won’t let me.” She wanted to say no but it suddenly seemed ridiculous to hide behind a locked door. He wasn’t going to hurt her, not physically anyway. She knew with every fiber of her being that he wouldn’t. it was her wounded pride that made her not want to open the door.
“Please. I’m begging you.”
Jade went to the door and paused with her hand on the knob ready to release the lock. Before she did she shored up her defenses against him one final time, in the back of her mind knowing it was pointless even as she did so.
As soon as the door opened he fell to his knees in front of her. Bending his neck he offered her his throat.
“Clay, what are you doing?”
He didn’t respond. Instead, he waited patiently unmoving waiting for her to accept his offering.
“What are you doing? Get up.”
“I’m sorry.”
