Danica had been following Gio’s scent, hoping to hunt him down and get him to stop brooding when she heard Duda’s words: “You know, you could just ask her to stay for good.” It was said that eavesdroppers tended to hear things they didn’t like. In this case, the saying had proven to be true. It wasn’t as though she’d thought things were any different than how Gio firmly stated to Duda, and it wasn’t as though she’d thought he cared for her.
Yet the effect was still like a hot lance slicing through her. Why? For the same reason that a dull pain had struck her chest and her windpipe had begun to ache…She loved Gio Wright. The realization punched the breath from her lungs.
God, how horrible was this. She loved a guy to whom she was basically a faceless fuck. She could be anyone to him. In other words, she was no one and nothing to him. Her wolf who was already insecure in the mating due to not having marked Gio was tempted to curl up and whine. Danica was tempted to punch the ass right in the face. Overruling all that was an uncharacteristic urge to flee. To run far and fast. To get away from this person who had so much power over her. To find somewhere to be alone while she faced her pain. As the conversation abruptly came to a halt and awkwardness filled the air, Danica knew they had sensed her presence. There went the option of retreating as if she hadn’t overheard. Although the urge to lunge at Gio was great, Danica had been dealing with asshole Alphas long enough to know that it was imperative that they didn’t believe they had the power to hurt you. They would stomp all over you if they spotted a weakness, just like her dad and Cody. She couldn’t afford for Gio to know that she felt anything for him. Having pasted an easy smile on her face, she walked out of the trees and over to the patio table, examining Gio’s cautious expression as well as Duda’s apologetic one. “Hell, Duda, was it really necessary to needle him when he was already in a bad mood?” she said playfully.
“I, um, we just -”
She rolled her eyes and waved away his attempt to explain himself. “I just came to see if Gio had stopped with the whole brooding thing, but I see
he hasn’t so I’ll leave him to sulk some more.”
Feeling like absolute shit, Gio said, “Danica, wait -”
“I promised Suza I’d call her so I’ll see you guys later.”
“Danica, wait.” He reached out and caged her wrist with his hand but when he tried tugging her to him she shook him off like he was a spider.
“I said I’ll see you later.”
“Look, what I said…” Words completely failed him because, as he’d told her before, he wasn’t good with apologies. He wasn’t good with words at all.
“Gio, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.” It especially mattered because he could sense her hurt, could feel it.
“You only said the truth. It wasn’t anything I didn’t already know.”
Gio growled, pissed at himself for saying dumb shit and pissed at her for walking away from him. “Danica?” His call went unanswered. Duda sighed. “You fucked that one up.”
For the rest of the day, Danica kept herself thoroughly occupied. She called Suza. She went shopping with Michey for groceries. She did a run
around the border of pack territory. She showered. She did some laundry. She beat Andrew’s ass at FIFA. Hell, she even watched a T.V. program about knitting with Lindy during which they engaged in a battle of wills. Anything so that she didn’t have to think about Gio or what he’d said or, more importantly, the fact that she…cared about him. She had tried real hard throughout the evening meal to appear normal, but she was pretty sure that no one had bought it because the guys had crowded around her supportively while shooting scowls at Gio. Still she had persisted with the act. When Gio had spoken to her, she had talked to him and when he had pulled her onto his lap, she had let him. There had been a sort of desperation in the way he held her so tightly yet gently. Like the way a person would try to hold a butterfly carefully because it was small and delicate but on guard because it was flighty. None of his touches were seductive or teasing. All were soft and soothing, kind of apologetic. But it didn’t ease her hurt or make her relax. How could she be relaxed by the touch of a guy she…cared for when to him she could be anyone?
After the meal Danica had done as she usually did she lay down on what was, hands down, the most comfortable sofa in the world to watch some
T.V. When it had reached the time when she normally went to bed, she hadn’t been able to move. Maybe it was dumb that she had originally thought that if she just had a little time physically away from him she could somehow build some mental walls that would freeze him out again. Could freeze out the pain. But even as she lay there reminding herself that none of this was real, that Gio wasn’t important, that soon her part of the deal would be over, another part of her was considering just flipping him the finger and leaving. She wasn’t sure she could bear being around him every day knowing he thought so little of her. Then she took in the wolves in the room and realized that she couldn’t run. This whole thing was about more than just Gio. They didn’t deserve to suffer just because of one asshole. She had always dealt with assholes. What was one more to throw into the mix? He wouldn’t even be the first asshole
who she cared about who felt nothing for her.
Still, even though the constricting sensation around her chest seemed to ease, she knew there was no way she could lay beside him tonight knowing that he would snuggle into her and then try to bring her to orgasm as she woke. Not tonight. Tonight was a night for rebuilding her walls, and to do that she needed distance. So instead of saying her goodnights and making her
way to bed, she let her eyes drift shut and took comfort in the scents and voices around her until they lulled her to sleep. It should have sent him into threatening mode to have other males giving him looks that warned him away from his mate. His mate. But Gio honestly didn’t blame them for the way they were crowding Danica’s sleeping
form and regarding him like he was a threat. He’d fucked up. Just like Duda had said. Whether he’d meant for Danica to hear those cruel words or not, he had hurt her and there was now a gulf a mile wide between them and he didn’t know how to close it. She was now uneasy around him again and emotionally wary of him, both of which were like a blow to his system. He wanted her to know that he was sorry, that he hadn’t meant what he had said, that he would never purposely hurt her, but each time he had tried to get her alone she had managed to slip away. She was freezing him out again. It burned even more this time than it had the first time. His wolf had also sensed her withdrawal as well as her pain and both ate at him.
As Gio stared down at her he promised both himself and his wolf that he would fix this. He refused to believe what Duda had said that he might have broken something that couldn’t be mended. No, he refused to believe that. He couldn’t accept that. Because feeling the sting of her withdrawal had given him a taste of what it would be like to be without her, and although
Gio still wasn’t sure about those chest pangs or the emotions that tormented him or the extreme sense of possessiveness, he now knew that he couldn’t be without her.
Despite his low ‘move out of my way’ growl, none of the males moved even an inch from their positions. Chris, Andrew, Ray and Hudson remained sitting on the floor with their backs against the sofa while Duda was sitting
on it with her feet on his lap and Donny was beside her head stroking her hair. Gio had to admire their loyalty to their Alpha Female, and it was a good thing considering that she wasn’t going anywhere, but no one kept him from his mate. His wolf was in full agreement with him on that. He released another menacing growl, letting his eyes flash wolf.
Reluctantly the males on the floor shuffled along to make room for him. Gio bent and gently scooped her up to cradle her against his chest. She fussed a little in her sleep but didn’t wake. He held her tighter against him, stilling her movements, and strode out of the room through the tunnels. In the bedroom he placed her gently on the bed and then carefully he removed her clothes. Once he’d removed his own he slid under the covers and held her possessively to him, wanting his skin against hers. As she always did, she wriggled a little until she found that groove that seemed to have been made just for her. Then instantly she settled and her expression melted into that sinful angel look she had when sleeping.
Cupping her face and breezing his thumb along her cheekbone, he whispered, “I’m sorry, baby.” Then he nuzzled his face into her hair and
closed his eyes, feeling a strange kind of peace now that he was no longer at war with himself and had made the decision to do whatever it took to keep her.