Chapter 16

~M

"Why do you smell like another man while telling me you were about to run away?"

"Again with that?" She asks with slumped shoulders and a annoyed sigh.

"Yea again. Because no man will live to tell what he's done if he was near you." I counter. She is unaware of her beauty and because I haven't marked her, others don't know she is mine.

"He stopped me from running away, does that count?"

I want to shout at her, tell her how much it eats me alive, that she is so casual with other guys and she seems to always want to run away.

Maybe I should just let her go. I have been so patient but I have my limits as a man and as an Alpha. My pride won't let me beg for her to stay anymore because that's all I've been doing.

"Why do you want to leave?" I ask trying to get answers.

She stares back at me and looks relived I asked, instead of yelling again.

She gives me a straight face and says, "I have someone I need to kill."

__SOPHIA__

He finally lets me talk. He finally lets me explain something I have kept from him.

"Do you believe a young teen, whose mother died, could survive on their own as a Rogue?" I ask and Luke knows not to answer he just shakes his head instead.

I feel the stinging behind my eyes but ignore them best I could.

"Of course not! They say it takes a village to raise a child but I only need two people. I called them family and they raised me like I was, everything I know is because I them. I would have been killed."

I take a second to breath, trying to stop my tears as some slip through.

Their smiles flashing in and out of my head, they took me away from the dangerous path of being real a Rogue. The ones that are the characters in the evil myths and legends.

"I could have died," I sniffle gently, "but they did instead. They stood in front of me and took the hit instead of me."

"Who did it?" He asks softly, like he regrets raising his voice to me.

"Ever heard of Daylights Death?" I ask and, of course, Luke nods.

Everyone has heard of that pack. The Alpha who lost his mind and the pack that followed him into insanity.

"He's the bastards that did it with his owns hands. I would like-no- love to take what he loved most and-"

"They say he saw his mate die Sophia. They say that she was killed and he was held down to watch. That's probably the only thing he ever loved. He has nothing more too lose, nothing for you to take away. He's a broken man," Luke interrupts.

I can tell my the way his fingernails are digging into in palm that he is trying to calm himself down.

"Are you defending him?" I ask bewildered.

"Oh god no!"

"Then whys your point? What's the point in telling me? Because no matter how hard he has it he had hurt other far worse than his own pain-"

"Don't underestimate the pain of losing a mate." Luke says firmly, almost defensively. As if I was calling him the monster, as if he was the beast.

"You are defending him!" I shout and Luke rubs his eyes.

"No-"

"How could you? He's a murder, a thief, a tyrant."

"I'm not-" Luke tries to say.

"Than what is this?" I snap at him and he lets out an aggressive breath.

"I'm just saying if I had to see what that man saw I wouldn't be right in the head either!" He yells back glaring at the wall, then softening his gaze to look back at me.

"I wouldn't have done anything he has no matter what happens. All I am saying is the pain he went through isn't something to be taken lightly. You shouldn't threaten to take something a man loves most. Because that would be his mate. You can't... you can't take that from someone, it's just... it's just not right," he says and tightens his jaw.

All those times I was leaving, I wonder how bad that hurt him, how much mental damage that actually did.

"Luke if I left would you turn out that way?"

"No I wouldn't. I would take care of my pack but it would be hard, very hard," he pauses and lets out a frustrated-annoyed-angry sigh.

"And I thought I wouldn't have to worry about you leaving I thought we had worked through that and then I hear this," he says and gestures to me with his hands dramatically.

I let out a small, unnoticed chuckle, "I thought I needed to leave because you could not have offered me what I wanted." I explain to him and he keeps his gaze fixed on the crack on the floor.

"Thought." He repeats.

He continues to stares down at the ground for a moment and then sits on the bed.

He reaches for me and I don't resist as he pulls me in between his legs.

He then finally looks up at me with those blue, puppy dog eyes while gently brushing my cheek. It's comforting. It's loving. It's trustworthy. It's something I have given up my twisted revenge for. Him.

"And now?" He asks calmly, trying to hide his anticipation for my answer.

"And now I can sleep at night and not have nightmares, if your by my side. Now I don't want to carry out my revenge, I mean one day I will, but now I can't. Because that would me take me further away from you. Now, I don't need anything more than I need you,"

And he kisses me. He kisses me softly then rough, then smooth and slow then aggressive and intense. He pulls me close to he can feel my skin and holds me tight to make sure I'm really in his arms. I know all this. This short time and I know this person better than myself. I think I'm in love.