27. Emily

Chapter twenty-seven

Emily

" W hat were you doing down there?"

I can't catch a breath to respond, even if I wanted to say all the things that are now whirling around in my head. My heart begins to pick up and my mouth dries up. Easton's eyes go black and I wonder what it means this time. Is it arousal or am I now his prey?

He takes a step closer, but I have nowhere to go.

I suck in a deep breath. His scent is intoxicating. It fills my lungs and immediately my body responds.

I shake my head, trying to clear it and focus.

This is a game he's playing with me.

"Why did you lie? They didn't come here for me, they came here for him. You had him in the basement this whole time." My voice is calm. I refuse to be that woman that loses her shit for a man. Especially when I ignored the warning bells ringing in my own head this whole time.

"They came for both of you. Gremlin Baby is their next Alpha," he insists, moving closer. I wonder what his eyes see when they're like this. His scent is almost too much. Can he produce it on command?

"That's bullshit, Easton. Tell me the truth. What does it matter if they came for us both? Why not just let them have us? Why do you even care?"

"I care about you, Emily…"

"Easton, my brother owes you a ton of money, I'm huge pregnant with some other man's child, and, yet, here you are. You could have any woman you wanted. You don't need me. What's the deal? Why me?"

He moves within arm's length of me and rests his hands on the door just above my head, boxing me in on either side with his arms. If I wasn't so terrified, I'd be begging for his cock, but at the moment my chest feels like a vise is gripping it. His bare chest rises and falls as he leans over me and presses his nose to my neck. He sucks in a deep breath and then pulls back to meet my eyes. "You're my mate."

I shake my head. "I can't be your mate. I'm human." My words are barely a whisper.

His eyes clear, and he tries to brush the hair from my face, but I pull away. He sighs. "Humans can be the true mate of a wolf, but you're not human. I saw you shift the other day in the alley. You must have a wolf ancestor in your family somewhere."

I close my eyes so I can't see his eyes looking back at me. My mind goes back to his wolf biology lesson. Mating gives an Alpha increased strength and healing, but he cannot be far from his mate for long without feeling like he's coming off a drug.

"So this all was just a ploy to get me to stay around? For what? So you didn't have to admit I was your mate?"

He shakes his head. "I didn't lie to you."

"But you did, about a great deal. Omission of information is still a lie. So what's one more? Why didn't you just tell me that I'm your mate?"

He sighs and closes his eyes. "I've been tricked before. My ex, she had pheromones manufactured to simulate true mate pheromones. I only found out because she was sleeping around with her best friend's boyfriend."

I huff a laugh. "It's always the ex. I'm only treating you like shit, Emily, because my ex was mean to me. Wah, wah. Fucking men and their exs, I swear." I slide under his arm and away from him. He turns to look back at me. "I'm going home."

"It's not safe."

"Oh, and I'm safer here with you?"

"You signed the Luna Covenant, you can't go back on it now."

I roll my eyes and sigh. "It said I was to provide you with an heir. It didn't say anything about sleeping next to you every night."

"The wedding is Friday. You will be there. A Luna is not just some surrogate. She's the wife of the Alpha, the mother of his heir. She is an example for the pack."

This, more so than anything else, makes my blood boil. "Then maybe you should have picked someone better than an unwed mom from the poor side of town to be your mate."

"I didn't pick you. We picked each other."

"The fucking pheromones picked, asshole, and I won't be part of this anymore."

"You signed the contract. You will be a part of this."

"I will not marry someone who lies to me."

"All men lie to women."

"About how big their ass is. They don't pretend to care for her safety when really all they want is the power a true mate brings them!" I'm screaming and I don't care at this point. Easton's a head and a half taller than me and I should be terrified, but all I am is murderous. I want to stab him in the chest with one of Raul's knives.

"What the hell is going on?" Tracey asks as she steps into the kitchen.

"I'm leaving." I pull the ring off my hand and slam it down on the table without looking back.

"It was a toast, not an instruction manual," I can hear Samuel say behind me. I waddle as fast as I can to my room and shove some clothes in a bag, then scroll my phone to request a ride on one of the apps. It's too late to call Angie.

There's a knock at the door. I ignore it and keep gathering up my things. I brought so much of Gremlin Baby's stuff, it's going to be a bitch to take with me. The knock comes again, then the creak of the door as several cats crowd the doorway ahead of Easton.

"Are you really going to do this? It's going to drive us both mad."

"According to you, I'm only part wolf. I'm sure I'll be fine." I tell him, packing up what's left.

"You'll need help caring for Gremlin Baby."

"We'll be fine."

"Emily, please."

I say nothing. I'm not crying here, not in front of this man. Why do I have to be such an idiot and let my guard down? I should have known better. I should have figured out a man like him would never just want me for me. There had to be another reason.

"I'm going home. You've shown me who you really are. Now you can see who I really am. I've been doing everything on my own this long. What does it matter if I go back to that?"

"You are my Luna–"

"You keep saying that like it's supposed to mean something to me. It means nothing. Nothing, Easton. I don't care."

"You signed the contract, Emily. You are my Luna and I am your Alpha. What I say goes."

I roll my eyes. "I don't recall that being part of the contract."

"You're not leaving this house. It's too dangerous."

I square up to him, which is stupid, but hasn't stopped me so far. "Easton Degarmo, I'm leaving this house and you cannot stop me."

"You'll leave this house over my dead body."

"Then I guess I'll just have to make that happen."

I've barely gotten the words out when something soft brushes against my leg. It's Kevin, appearing out of nowhere in that way cats do. His tail runs along the back of my leg and I turn around, my attention momentarily drawn down to his level. What Kevin has in his mouth causes me to gasp. A normal cat would bring you a lizard or a mouse, but not Kevin. I wish for an instrument of death and Kevin delivers. With a sigh, I reach out a hand toward him, beckoning him to come closer to me.

"Kevin, is that a knife?" I ask aloud, even though it is very obviously a knife. I take it gently from his mouth and he meows at me, demanding pets. I scratch behind his ears with my free hand, then look up at Easton, my hand still wrapped around the handle of a very serious-looking knife.

He stares back at me for a long moment–his eyes flickering between solid black and their normal brown–then starts to laugh. "Go to bed, Emily."

"Fuck you, Easton. I told you, I'm not staying here."

"And I told you, as your Alpha, you will do as I say. There are men stationed at all exits of this room. You will stay here until Friday."

I suck in a deep breath. "My shop–"

"You will have an escort that will take you to the shop every morning. You'll close every day after lunch and return here."

"You can't control my business, too."

"I control all of it, all of you. You're due any day now. You should have cut your hours back weeks ago."

I roll my eyes as I drop my bag and the knife carelessly on the floor and head to the bed. I rip the comforter off, but even at arm's length it smells like Easton. It's too much. It brings tears to my eyes. My brain and heart can't handle the crazy turn this night has taken. Thankfully, I remember the extra blankets stored over the towels in the linen closet and head that way to grab one. The linens in the closet smell like nothing and no one–there is only the scent of detergent when I bring a blanket to my nose. I take it and a pillow and head back to the main room. Easton is still there, sitting on a chair. I move to the couch, throw my pillow down, and sprawl out.

"Emily, you can have the bed," Easton says, his voice soft. I don't know if he suddenly feels bad for what he's done, but he's not offering me my freedom, so I ignore him and slowly roll over. Thankfully, I'm too angry for tears. I lay there, Easton's eyes on me for the rest of the night.