Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Three
“Have you considered the possibility that Bailey masterminded all this?”
The moment I said it, everything seemed to click it does make sense. Bailey had brought the plan up, and when they wouldn’t go with it, she decided to take the lead.
“Bailey hasn’t left the pack since the incident; I don’t think she is behind this,” Thane disagreed.
“Hear me out. Bailey has every reason to hate you. Do you remember the deal you never kept your part to?, or the fact that after I left she might have hoped you would finally make a move, but you didn’t.”
“She seems to have moved on Riley.”
“That might be what she wants you to think. Do you really think she could move on after everything‘? She did sacrifice a lot, but of course that’s just a speculation.”
‘
I noticed how close I’ve drawn to him, and I immediately pulled back, instantly missing his warmth.
“I’ll keep a close eye on her,” he promised. “We can’t keep you hidden here forever, I wonder if you are ready to officially meet the pack once again.”
I couldn’t help but recall the humiliation I faced right before them all, and how the pack would view my return – as a desperate attempt to reclaim my place.
“Thane, this is not and would never be my home,” I reminded Thane.
“Riley, I didn’t mean anything I said back then, but that doesn’t excuse my actions. I hurt you and deserve every last bit of the punishment, but I can’t let you go.”
11
“Why Thane? Why do you want to bring me back to the things I had tried so hard to forget? I cannot stay here; my mother must be so worried.”
“Then she could come live here; it would all be like it once was,” he said softly, even if we both knew it would never be that way ever again.
“She would never come back here; she had always hated this place, and more than ever, she abhors it.”
“If you’d let me, I could talk to her; I could make her see reasons to stay here.”
“Is not just that” I said, staring down at my ring. “I made a deal with Nick. He had played his part, and it is my turn to do mine.”
“Is that why you are marrying him, as part of a deal?”
“Yes, but more to that, he would never hurt me as you did; I would always be good enough for him.”
7/2
Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Three
“You were always good enough,” Thane declared but I shook my head slowly. “We’re not in the same cycle. You know it; I know it, and everyoneelse does too.”
“What cycle do you speak about?” He questioned The look he gave me so intense, I couldn’t hold his stare; it was so hard to look him in the eyes and know he wasn’t going to be mine.
“We are not meant to be, and maybe that’s why everything seemed to be against us all the time.”
“No, the fact that you are here makes it even more clearer.”
“I led the attack on your pack; I didn’t come back to see you.”
“Are you sure?” he asks. “You can’t deny a part of you had wanted to go against all odds; a part of you did want to meet me again, even after everything.”
“And what if you are wrong?”
“I could be, but I am not. Riley is not too late; I know that. I am going to fight for you.”
“Again, you are wrong; it is too late. I would get married to Nick, and the faster you let me go, the easier it is for the both of us. I promise you, you wouldn’t have to see me ever again.”
Those words had finally broken through his hard interior; I could see the emotion, for the first time, very clearly on his face.
“I can’t force you; I wish I could, but I can’t. I would let you go, only if you could tell me to my face that you don’t still love me, that you don’t dream about me each night as I do of you; tell me to my face that your body doesn’t yearn for me as mine does.”
This was it.
I could be free.
All I had to do was say those words to his face, and then I could go back to Nick. We would get married, and maybe after a while, I would be a wife to him in every sense of the word and our marriage would blossom into something genuine
Yet thinking about this future alone filled me with dread. With Nick, There had never been those sparks I get when I am with Thane or Axel; it was completely different. He was a good man, but I couldn’t see myself falling for him, and maybe all this while I had subconsciously dreaded the day I would get married to him, the day I would be his.
I would never be able to love him, not if Thane lives, and it was time to acknowledge that.
Thane waited for my response, and yet I couldn’t say it.
“That’s what I thought,” he whispered.
