Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
She loved it grilled and seasoned, which she did, preparing it on trays and then allowing it to cool completely before flash-freezing, then bagging it. This was always a big hit for her. Some she simply grated and portioned out for the freezer.
By the time she had finished doing most of the prep, it was already dark, and she heard her stomach growl.
She breathed out a sigh, and as the loneliness started to creep up, she felt the traitorous tears she tried to keep at bay. This is not what she wanted to do. Crying randomly always annoyed her. Gripping the edge of the sink, she tried to control her emotions. Her wolf was no help, as her body was fueled with feeling as well. Being around Rocco didn’t help.
She stepped away from the sink when the tears didn’t fall. She was able to keep everything inside, and as she went to the fridge, someone knocked at her front door. Rose was not used to company.
She moved toward her door, unbolted the lock, opened it, and there on the other side was Rocco. Neither of them spoke, he just looked at her.
She wasn’t ready to deal with him. Not tonight. She was exhausted, and preserving, doing everything her parents had done. Along with the cleanup last night, and the confrontation with Rocco and Alpha, it was all too much.
“Not tonight,” she said.
He shook his head. “I’ve not come for anything.”
“Then what do you want?” she asked, figuring there was another human about to die, and she’d be cleaning up the mess.
“This.” He stepped toward her and at first, she tensed because she didn’t know what he was going to do. Only, he shocked her by pulling her into his arms. “I’m doing this for me,” he said.
“Rocco?”
“I know you don’t need it, and I get that, but I am doing this for me.”
He held the back of her head, and she knew in that moment he wasn’t doing this for himself. Rocco had come to comfort her.
She hated him. But at that moment, she didn’t quite hate him enough to push him away. Even though her wolf wanted to gouge his eyes out, she also just wanted to be held. It was a strange feeling.
Rose rarely felt this way, but when she did, it felt like her whole world was crashing down around her and there was no way she could stop it. There was only fear and pain, and that terrified her.
Breathing in Rocco, she knew she hated feeling this … need.
Chapter Three
“Why do you keep staring at me, dude? It’s kind of creepy, and trust me, I can handle a whole level of creep,” Boyan said.
Rocco hadn’t realized he was staring.
“Sorry.”
They were out patrolling the perimeter. Usually, they left this to the beta team, but with the threat of Milton’s experiments, neither Alpha nor any of the club wanted them to have to deal with feral humans.
“Okay, now I am freaked out. Since when does Rocco say sorry?”
“It’s nothing. I was just curious is all.”
“About what? I’m not a mind reader, Rocco. Just spit it out.”
Rocco didn’t want to ask the question because he knew it would open a whole bunch of questions that quite frankly he didn’t want to answer, and it would be a lot easier for him if he didn’t have to.
“Dude, out with it!”
He glared at his friend. “What’s it like … you know, having a mate? Being mated? Do you like having Agatha around?”
Boyan laughed. “Wow, I hope you don’t ever get a mate.”
“Why?”
“You’d be bad at it.”
“Fuck you.” Although, he couldn’t exactly argue seeing as Rose didn’t want to be around him. They did share a moment a few weeks ago. Rocco couldn’t even describe what came over him. It was like one moment he was so focused, and then the next he had to see Rose. He just needed to hold her. When she opened the door, he saw how broken she looked, how the last few weeks had drained her, but he also knew she was stubborn. Everything she was going through was his fault. He’d denied their bond, rejected her, and he had fucked up. All for a good reason.
With all the bad shit going on, being a member of the Poison Wolves MC, and the fact Rose was who she was, he didn’t see a future for them. She was a recluse, and he was the opposite.
His rejection made sense in his fucked-up head, but now it didn’t seem to make any sense to him, which sucked big time. He didn’t know if it was because he was spending more time with her, or whatever the fuck it was. Either way, Rose dominated his every waking thought, also his sleeping ones.
“It’s like you don’t realize you haven’t been living, and I know that sounds poetic and stuff, but it is. When I finally allowed myself to commit to Agatha, and see we had this bond, this connection, that she was supposed to be my mate, there was nothing else I wanted. She is and always will be everything. There are no words. I know when I get back home, she’s going to be waiting for me, and just having her in my arms is going to make all the bad shit disappear.”