Defeated (Mate Rejected Book 6) by Eve Bale

Author:Eve Bale [Bale, Eve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

12

CHRIS

Icouldn’t miss the way Zoe had been looking at the stuffed toy I’d picked up from her bed. A strange combination of pain, happiness, and hopelessness.

She’d wanted to take it, but she’d still told me to leave it behind.

I couldn’t when it meant something to her. It was important, so I’d waited for her to go to the bathroom, and I’d tucked it into her bag. If it turned out I’d made a mistake, then I’d apologize and offer to toss it out. But something had told me that she would regret leaving that bear behind, and something inside me hadn’t wanted her to.

She’s upstairs now, checking the shifters hadn’t taken anything out of her bag, so she’ll have found the toy.

I listen to her footsteps, waiting for her to come down and ask me about why I would pack the toy. And I think about what my response would be.

I didn’t want her to be sad?

I felt the toy was important and didn’t want her to leave it behind?

Or… something else. The same something that drove me to kiss her in the street.

My cell phone vibrates in my back pocket, and I fish it out, scan the caller, and breathe out a sigh of relief.

It’s not Mack. Thankfully. I’d have had to find some way to explain why I’m alone here, because he would remember the threat that made Colton leave town, and he wouldn’t want any of his packmates to be facing it down alone.

“Warren?” I say, answering the call.

“Penny texted Tina, saying you met someone.”

Upstairs, the sound of footsteps pauses. Warren wasn’t trying to keep his voice down, and even if he had been, shifter hearing means Zoe would have heard, no matter how quietly he whispers.

Briefly, I close my eyes and curse Penny, and then I sigh.

“I’m guessing she got the wrong end of the stick,” Warren says, sounding like he’s smiling.

“Something like that,” I admit. “Please tell me she didn’t text everyone.”

“Okay, I won’t,” he says cheerfully.

I close my eyes again. “Penny.”

“She was excited. I don’t think she could stop herself,” Warren explains. “Ask me how I know?”

“How?”

“She shot off five text messages in under a minute. The last one said she was too excited and kept forgetting to add more to her message until after she’d sent it.”

“What did the message say?”

Do I really want to know?

“Just that she was happy you weren’t alone anymore. That she worries about you.”

And that is why it’s impossible to stay angry or frustrated at Penny for long.

“She doesn’t need to worry about me,” I say.

“Apparently so,” Tina yells from the background. “She’s excited to meet this woman you’re not busy running away from. For that matter, so am I.”

Her excitement must be the reason Colton isn’t shooting down my idea to take Penny to go stay in a resort for a couple of days. Maybe to save Zoe from being ambushed by all of Penny’s excitement.

“That wasn’t the only reason I called.” A door clicks shut and the TV noises fade.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.