He Swore Flowers Would Kill Him, Then Came Home Smelling of Roses novel · Chapter 16 of 32

Chapter 16: Three Years Late

I did not sleep.

The ledger lay on the nightstand in Torin's room.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Maureen's slanted writing.

Near midnight I gave up and went down to the porch.

The river ran black past the garden.

Across the yard, the sentries had put Sabine in the guest cottage with the lamp lit.

Torin came out behind me and stood at the rail.

"You should be in bed," he said.

"You were at the border meeting three years ago."

He went still.

"I was on the pack side of the hall," I said. "Rhett had his hand on my back."

"Clara."

"The omegas from the east end stood against the wall. They were grey in the face, and they could barely hold their cups."

"Clara."

"You looked at them. You looked at me. Then you turned around and walked out."

I had never said it aloud.

It came out hard and clean.

"I was sick for a week afterward," I said. "I thought somebody had finally seen what was happening, and he left."

"I know."

"You were the only Alpha in that room who looked, and you did nothing. Is that all you have to say?"

"No." His hands closed on the rail. "It isn't."

He turned to face me.

"Maureen came to my truck that night," he said. "She said you were fragile. She said your wolf was sickly, and any fight over you would kill you."

"She said that."

"She said if I touched another Alpha's mate, Cedar Hollow would call it war."

"And?"

"And the omegas I wanted to help would be the first to die." His voice cracked. "I believed her. God help me, I did. I thought, if I stay away, she lives."

"You could have asked me."

"Yes."

"You could have asked me what I wanted!"

"Yes!" He was shaking now. "I've asked myself that every day for three years!"

I hit him.

I did not decide to. My open hand cracked across his chest.

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