The Independence My Alpha Regretted novel · Chapter 19 of 24
Chapter 19: Morning After
I woke on the floor under my mother's quilt with the stove burned down to red.
Duncan was already up.
He was standing at the counter in his jeans and no shirt, losing a fight with my coffee pot.
"It has a trick," I said.
He jumped.
"I didn't want to wake you. I looked for the trick."
"You hit the side."
He hit the side, and the pot began to gurgle, and he turned around with a face I had not seen on him in years.
It was shy.
I sat up with the quilt around me and pushed my hair out of my eyes.
"Before you say anything," I said.
"Yes."
"This doesn't mean I'm coming home."
He nodded at once.
"I mean it, Duncan. I'm not going back to Ridgeline. I'm not going back to the house, or the chair, or the pendant."
"I know."
"Last night was me wanting you. It wasn't me forgiving anything."
"I know that, too."
"Then what are you going to do about it?"
He took a long time with his answer.
"Wait," he said.
"For how long?"
"As long as you want." He brought me a mug and set it on the floor within my reach, without crossing the line of the quilt. "The year is the council's. The rest is yours. I'll chop the wood, and I'll go to the new moon, and I'll sit in the back at the clinic. If you say no at the end, I'll hear it."
"You'd really stay in the feed store with that cat."
"The cat and I have an understanding."
I tried not to smile into the coffee and failed.
He looked at the table.
"You didn't read it."
"No."
"You don't have to. I could burn it."
"Give it here."
He brought me the envelope, and I took it in both hands.
The paper was soft from being carried, and the fold had worn through at one corner.
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Independence My Alpha Regretted from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend