“YOU DON’T NEED TO MAKE any hasty decisions,” Carter said eventually. “Let’s sleep on it tonight and figure out what to do tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Her voice stuck in her throat with emotion. He’d kissed her, and she’d loved how it had felt. She’d been so swept away in the moment, that for a fraction of a second she’d let down her guard, and by doing so had revealed her secret. She was stupid, so stupid, but her emotions were tangled. In part, she felt terrible for putting Carter in this difficult position, but she was also thankful to have un-shouldered some of the burden. Just as he’d been since she’d met him, he’d remained calm and decisive. She could see why he made such a good alpha for their pack, even if he did seem to pick up girlfriends a little too readily.

Who Carter dated was none of her business, but still her mind kept conjuring the image of Kimberly—sexy, feisty, with her long dark hair, and tiny, nipped-in waist. Nothing like Piper at the moment. Yet she and Carter had shared that kiss, and though she knew it could never work, she found her heart longed to experience that moment of tenderness with him again.

But he had kissed her before knowing she was carrying another man’s child. Everything was different now.

“You wanna tell me exactly what happened?” he asked, his tone soft. “Why you’re on the run when you’re pregnant?”

Her gaze shifted away from him, but she started to talk. She owed him the truth. “The pack I come from is different than yours. It’s old-fashioned, religious. The men rule the town—the position of alpha female doesn’t even exist. The women are there only to be good mates and produce babies for the men. My husband was beta, so he was powerful in the pack. He and the alpha are brothers, and I swear everyone in the town worships them like they’re gods.

“When I turned sixteen, my parents gave me over to him, like I was a gift to keep them in his favor. I’d only ever kissed a boy once before in my life, and I had no idea what to expect. He was our beta, and they were my parents. I cried every night when I found out what they had planned, but it never even occurred to me that I might have a choice.”

Carter frowned. “But when you realized you were pregnant, you knew you had to make that choice?”

She nodded. “I had reached rock bottom. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to live another day in the same house as that man. He did whatever he wanted to me, even though the feel of his hands on me, and his mouth on mine, made me sick. He barely let me leave the house unless it was to run errands for him. If I dared question him or speak back, he would hit me hard enough to knock me to the ground. I waited until he’d been drinking one night, and, when he passed out, I grabbed some of my things and left. I didn’t let myself think about it too much, because I knew if I did, I’d talk myself out of it.”

“What about your parents? Wouldn’t they have wanted to help you if they knew how unhappy you were?”

She exhaled a small puff of air through her nose. “They didn’t care. They only cared that their daughter was married to the beta, and that it raised their standing within the pack. I tried to tell them how cruel he was to me a couple of times, but they told me I was a grown woman now, and I needed to start acting like one.”

“How long had you been running the day I found you in the forest?”

Tears slid down her cheeks, and he reached out and gently swiped them with his thumb.

Piper sniffed. “I’d been running for a few days by then. I only wanted to put as much distance between me and him as possible.”

“Jesus, Piper, I can hardly believe it.”

“It’s the truth,” she said sadly. “You must think differently of me now?”

He sat back, frowning. “Why would I do that?”

She shook her head, keeping her gaze cast down, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes. “Because now you know how weak and stupid I was. I let myself be mated off to a man I hated, and I didn’t do anything to stop it.”

“You were barely more than a child, Piper,” he said, taking her hands in his. “There wasn’t anything more you could do. It doesn’t make me think any differently of you—hell, I think you’re braver than ever.” His shoulders squared and he lifted his chin, casting his gaze toward the front door. “But it does make me want to go and track the son of a bitch down and beat seven bells of shit out of him, though.”

Her heartrate soared. “No, Carter, you can’t do that. I already told you why. He’ll find me for sure.”

His green eyes had darkened a shade. “Let him. I’ll kill the bastard.”

“Please,” she pleaded. “Don’t make things even harder for me.”

He exhaled a slow, steady breath, his shoulders relaxing. “Okay, but only because you’ve asked me to.”

“Thank you.” She bit on her lower lip. “So, what now?”

He shrugged. “I guess we just carry on and see how we feel in the morning. Sound all right with you?”

“Sure.”

Piper didn’t know how she’d feel in the morning. She knew she’d enjoyed Carter kissing her, and a part of her ached at the knowledge it wasn’t going to happen again. It was a bad idea to grow attached to him, but he was gorgeous, and kind, and sexy, and she’d have to be blind not to notice any of those things. Plus, her hormones were running riot at the moment, which seemed to amplify all of her emotions.

They carried out the rest of their day like an old married couple. Carter continued with his work and then cooked for them both, while Piper tried to read a mystery book she’d found in the study. She struggled to concentrate on the words, and her mind constantly slipped back to Carter’s offer to let her stay. She couldn’t pretend she wasn’t in heaven right now. She’d never imagined life could be like this—having a handsome man taking care of her, even though he knew she was pregnant and on the run with another man’s child. A part of her thought she would be crazy to turn him down, but fear nipped at her heels, warning her that things wouldn’t stay this way.

They always went wrong for her eventually.