Chapter Twenty-Six
Lachlan
Chloe’s head dropped onto my shoulder, her heart pounding against my chest. I smelled blood and realized the bite on her shoulder was still oozing a little. I ran my tongue over the wound.
She winced and sat up. Moving slowly, she climbed off of me and walked out of the room without a word. Water ran in the bathroom and I knew she was cleaning up. Feeling strangely content, I got to my feet, slid on my jeans, and followed her.
The bathroom was empty when I entered. Grabbing the damp washcloth she’d left in the sink, I rinsed it out and cleaned myself off. I heard the rustle of fabric in the bedroom and found her yanking a t-shirt over her head. The expression on her face froze me to the spot.
She looked tortured and incredibly sad.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” she asked, her voice shaky and thin.
“You mean the bite?”
“Of course I mean the bite!” she yelled. Chloe drew in a deep breath, shoved her hands in her hair, and turned her back to me.
I watched her fight for control over her emotions. When she won the battle, she faced me again, her eyes still overcome with sadness.
“You marked me, Ian. Not just a love bite but a claiming mark. If I’d bitten you…” she trailed off, shaking her head.
The peacefulness within me faded. “I know,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.
Her eyes widened. “You know? You did it intentionally?”
With my jaw clenched tightly, I nodded.
“What in the hell were you thinking?” she asked, her voice growing louder. “You said yourself you don’t want to take another mate yet you fucking marked me! You didn’t discuss it with me, you just did it. If I’d bitten you in return, we would have been mated and there would be nothing either of us could do about it!”
She had a valid point. I hadn’t thought, at least not about what she might want. Since she’d mentioned the mate who rejected her, all I could think about was that he might change his mind and she would be gone. I knew it was entirely selfish, but I wanted Chloe to myself. For myself.
“If you’re worried about your mate—” I began.
“I don’t give a fuck about that right now, Ian. What I care about is that you did something that affects both of us without so much as asking me how I felt about it. You know there’s no going back once the bond is in place. There’s no changing your mind.”
She stopped speaking, her chest heaving with emotion, and her eyes filled with tears.
“Shit, Chloe. Don’t cry. You’re right, I wasn’t thinking about what you wanted. All I cared about was what I wanted.”
A tear trickled down her cheek and the wolf within me whined. He wanted to go and comfort her. Hold her until she no longer felt sad or afraid.
“Do you even know what you want?” she asked softly. “Truly? Because I know I couldn’t take it if you decided after all was said and done that you made a mistake.”
God, I’d completely fucked this up. I took a step toward her but she lifted her hand to stop me.
“No, don’t touch me right now. Think about my question and answer it. For yourself.” She brushed by me, heading toward the door. “I’m going for a run. We’ll talk when I get back.”
The implication that I was too weak to know my own mind stirred my own anger. “Are you worried about what your mate will say when he sees the mark? If he ever does?” As soon as the words left my lips, I regretted them. I opened my mouth to apologize but she’d already turned toward me.
It wasn’t ire sparkling in her eyes but utter dejection.
“I told you, Lachlan. He doesn’t want a mate. He probably never will. This isn’t about him. It’s about you and me.”
Without another word, she slipped out the front door, closing it quietly behind her. I stood in the hall, staring after her, my mind sifting through everything she’d said and the hurt in every line of her body.
She was wrong. I did know what I wanted—her.
I took a step to go after her, but stopped. She asked me to think about what I truly wanted. She wanted me to be sure.
But not once had she said she didn’t want to be tied to me.
My fear that she would leave me for the mate who rejected her had driven me to do something drastic, but that wasn’t my only motivation.
I wanted Chloe. For a week. A year. A lifetime.
I would never have that soul deep bond I’d shared with Belinda, but it didn’t matter because I loved Chloe.
There was no version of my future that didn’t have her in it.
Determined, I went to the front door and walked outside. I would shift and track her down. When I found her, I only hoped I could make her understand.
Before I reached the edge of the porch, something sharp pierced my back. I whirled, facing my attacker. My entire body was on fire, my muscles convulsing uncontrollably as I fell to the wooden planks beneath me.
The pain subsided for a moment and I looked up at the shadow looming over me. He crouched down, his face coming into focus.
Darrell Whelby’s dark eyes stared back at me. “Thanks for saving me the trouble of coming in to get you, son.” He held a black device in his hand, his finger twitching on the trigger.
Once again, my body was seized by unending waves of pain that continued until I slipped into unconsciousness.
When I came to, I was lying on my side, my body swaying. I cracked my eyelids open, hoping to get an idea of where I was. I saw the metal shell of a van and realized that my body was swaying because the vehicle was in motion.
Then I focused on the lump in front of me, my blood running cold when I realized that it was Chloe. I tried to reach for her, but my hands were caught tight behind me, bound in chains and thick shackles.
The van slowed to a stop. I tilted my head back to look toward the driver’s seat. Darrell stared back, his eyes grim. He lifted a black handgun, pointing it straight at my chest. I barely had a chance to register his intentions before he pulled the trigger.
When the tearing pain never came, only a sharp pinch, I looked down and saw a silver dart sticking out of my chest. My head swam as it dawned on me that he’d drugged me.
“You don’t get off that easy, Lachlan,” Darrell muttered as I fought the effects of the sedative. “You have a lot to answer for.”
I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. As the darkness claimed me one more time, I whispered, “Chloe.”