Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
And it was with that thought in my head that the vein at Henri’s temple got even more bulgy as he shifted his weight in front of me. By his armpits, his hands opened and closed. “I don’t like how you’ve been smelling since we left the kitchen,” was what he stated.
Here we go again.
But before I could apologize, Henri opened his arms.
I blinked.
He opened his hands next, doing another “come here” gesture.
He didn’t look happy; he didn’t look sad. He didn’t look disgusted or even inviting, apart from his waiting arms.
I lifted a shoulder that sagged back down just as quickly as it had gone up. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I sort of whispered, sort of sighed.
His face went wary, but his right hand did that thing again. “You need a cuddle,” he told me, just to be clear.
Maybe a stronger person would have insisted that they were fine. Anyone would have been nervous to admit what I’d just told him. But I thought I was strong. Strong enough to admit that I did need a hug. That I had done something that went against every instinct in my body, and I felt vulnerable and maybe upset because of it.
I needed that hug though.
From him especially.
That’s why I didn’t hesitate more than another heartbeat before I got up and went straight for him, slipping into those arms that became a blanket of muscle as they closed in around me.
I let Henri hug me. Cuddle me. Let him soothe my nerves with his rain and cedar smell and the vibrant energy emanating off his body and his soul that seemed to overpower mine in a way.
A leader and a protector, that was him.
And for the last time, because I swore it would be, I really did—I wasn’t going to think it anymore—I wished that he was mine as I hugged him tight.
I wished things were different.
I wished….
The familiar sound of his ringtone went off, and it was me who pulled away first. Henri’s eyes briefly met mine before he stared at the screen for a solid five seconds before saying, “Hold on.” His eyebrows scrunched. “I need to take this.”
“Sure.”
His finger swept across the screen, and he brought his phone to his cheek, answering, “Henri.”
Turning around, I faced the window behind me, where the sink was, and pretended not to listen to him talking, saying things like “yes” and “someone can come out” and “you want me to?” So when he hung up, I already had an idea of what was happening.
I just wasn’t expecting him to say, “There’s something I need to deal with. Want to come with me?”
The “yes” was on the tip of my tongue, on the edge of my heart. This was his olive branch. His way of telling me things were okay.
But I didn’t know who was more surprised when I replied, “That’s okay,” instead.
I might as well have punched him in the stomach from the face he made.
“Maybe some other time. Thank you, though,” I rushed out, forcing a smile that he had to know wasn’t genuine.
The truth was, I wasn’t ashamed of my feelings for him, but that also meant I needed to be realistic about things between us, once and for all.
I’d tried getting my way, I reminded myself. I’d brought it up enough. Wished for it enough.
But just because you really wanted something, didn’t mean you were going to get it.
Which meant that now, I had to go with plan B.
Not that I even knew what it was… other than it didn’t include Henri.
Chapter
Twenty
I was folding my clothes in the clubhouse’s laundry room, surrounded by five commercial washing machines and an equal number of dryers, when I heard someone coming down the hall, with some speed.
Not werewolf fast, but fast enough.
I couldn’t sense their magic though, and there was only one person here I’d met so far who was like me in that aspect—the tightlipped, suspicious elder who lived a floor below me.
I’d just finished setting the navy blue shorts I’d folded in half on top of another pile of bottoms when Franklin appeared in the doorway. It took about half a second to dread his expression. It was a mix between a grimace and a concerned one, and somehow it got even grimmer when we made eye contact.
“Are you all right?” I asked the man who had been nothing but polite toward me since he’d gotten back from his trip, but I still couldn’t help but think there was something off about him. There was something about the way he watched me, like he was sizing me up, but not with ill intentions. Duncan would have warned me if there was anything to really worry about.
Plus, a few nights ago, I’d watched him slicing a roast into thin slivers and had definitely seen a flash of yellow gold on the clasp, and I was pretty sure even the chain the beads were looped through had been too.