57. Doubt
I pulled one of Ace’s shirts over my naked body and wrapped a blanket tightly around my shoulders before carefully padding out of his bedroom.
The hallway was eerily quiet and vacant. It was too dark to see anything.
For whatever reason, my heart was beating incredibly fast. What is it about a silent house at night that is so creepy?
It didn’t help that this house wasn’t mine. The thought of Ace’s creepy father lurking in the shadows filled me with dread, plus there were plenty of nooks and crannies I hadn’t explored.
I imagined the disturbing skeleton man from my nightmare standing around every corner, waiting to kill me. He would have limitless places to hide in this huge mansion.
I tiptoed down the hall, looking into each dark room I passed, until I eventually made my way down the staircase to the main level. I was relieved to find a light on, illuminating the foyer.
Voices were coming from the direction of the kitchen at the other end of the house.
The tension in my shoulders drained away when I recognized one of those voices as Ace’s.
I approached the entrance to the kitchen, being sure to stick to the shadows so I could try to pick out who it was that he was talking to at such an hour. Lord forbid, his father was back in town.
“…into heat?” Ace asked.
“She won’t,” the other person replied. “She’s too young. She has a few more years.”
Madoc. He is talking to Madoc. Not his father. Thank goodness.
I wasn’t sure why Madoc was at Ace’s house at two in the morning, but it was better than encountering the man who’d acted like he’d wanted to kill me the last time I saw him.
“She basically already has,” Ace said. “Mini ones. I know the real one is coming. I can sense it. She’s supposed to have a few more years, but our mate bond is too strong. It’s pushing us together.”
Madoc scoffed. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“In this case, it is. She’s going to want to complete our bond without knowing what she’s asking for.
“I can’t do that to her. Not until she knows the truth about us. I already feel bad enough about what we did last night.”
They weren’t talking about me, were they? As usual, I understood very little of what they were saying.
But I recognized a few keywords, like mate and heat. Ace had said both to me recently. Did Ace call Madoc over here to talk to him about our relationship?
But then that would mean… Did he regret having sex with me? He just said that he felt bad about what we did last night. Was that what he and Madoc were talking about?
A boulder settled in the pit of my stomach.
I struggled to hear what Ace said next, his tone hushed and distressed.
“What am I going to do when her real heat hits? She’s going to be in so much pain, ruled by her instincts, and she’s not going to have a clue about what’s going on or why her body is acting that way.
“She’s already so confused every time I tell her she’s got a fever. I can’t go on avoiding telling her what’s really going on in her own damn body. But what else can I do?”
“You could put her on suppressants,” Madoc suggested.
“And make her sick for the last month of her senior year of high school? Fuck that. I will never let her go on suppressants.”
An awkward pause ensued, then Madoc cleared his throat. “You could always give her a few days on her own—”
“No,” Ace immediately cut him off. “Don’t even finish that sentence. I will not stay away from her.
“She needs me, especially so close to her first heat. You saw how sick she got during our fight, and I was never even that far from her! She couldn’t sleep, wasn’t eating.
She was barely functioning.
“How would she pass her finals like that? You know how much her grades mean to her. No, giving her space is not an option.”
He let out a groan. “I have to tell her. I can’t lie to her anymore. It’s killing me. It’s killing her.”my way down the “You can’t tell her now. Not when you’re so close. There’s only a few weeks left. You have to stick it out.”
“She’s going to go into heat before that. I thought I had more time but I don’t.”
“But what about what the OPS said—”
“The OPS told me the same bullshit as before. I have to wait until she’s eighteen, or they’ll run a full investigation. Which means spending up to a year apart. She could decide to go back to Mitchell.
“They said I can mate with her if she goes into heat, but I won’t complete the process until she knows the truth. I need her to have time to process it… To hate me for lying for all these years.”
“She’s not going to hate you.”
“Yes, she is. I would hate me if I were her. She deserves to hate me.”
“She didn’t hate you last time.”
“She was young last time. We had just finished making out. And I wasn’t sleeping on a fucking bed of lies. The whole reason I even told her last time was to avoid having to lie to her.”
“How do you even know she’s going into heat?” Madoc said, clearly trying to comfort Ace. “There’s no way to be certain of it. Are you sure it’s not your animal side trying to speed things along?”
“Oh, my wolf would love to speed things along. It’s getting nearly impossible to control him whenever she’s around. It’s like, every time I open my mouth, he says something stupid to freak her out.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t run for the hills yet.”
“Okay, but what else is new? You’ve got a strong wolf who has been deprived of his mate for years.
He’s bound to act out.”
“She’s nesting,” Ace stated as if it were enough to prove his point.
Madoc hesitated. “That doesn’t mean anything. She’s always loved nesting.
Remember all the forts she made when she was little? It’s all she ever wanted to do on the weekends —”
Ace snarled. “She called me Alpha. Last night.”
If I wasn’t sure they were talking about me before, I knew it had bothered Ace when I called him that the previous night in the car.
And now, here he was complaining to his best friend about it at two in the freaking morning as if it were information that just couldn’t wait.
If it upset him so much, why didn’t he just talk to me about it? Why did he act like everything was okay? Why didn’t he come to me about any of the things he was talking to Madoc about?
He said it was killing him to lie to me but then left me alone in his bed in the middle of the night to go tell someone else about things he should only be talking to me about.
I wrapped the blanket tighter around me, wishing I had just stayed in Ace’s bedroom instead of coming downstairs to get my heart broken.
“What?” Madoc asked, shock lacing his tone. “How did she even—?”
“Hold on,” Ace abruptly cut Madoc off.
The room went silent as both of them stopped speaking for several long seconds. I held my breath.
“Doe?” Ace called out.
My heart dropped. Shit, shit, shit.
I went over my options. To avoid being caught eavesdropping, I could tiptoe back to Ace’s room and pretend I never left, but I doubted I’d get far before Ace turned the corner to see me fleeing.
I also wasn’t a quiet runner. They would hear me.
I was caught. It was time to face the music.
I stepped into the kitchen and greeted them both with a sheepish smile.
Ace was at the end of the kitchen island, shirtless and wearing only gray sweatpants. Madoc was sitting on a stool next to him in jeans and a T-shirt, his hair messy as if he had rolled out of bed.
I gave them an awkward wave. “Hi—”
Ace moved across the kitchen and in front of me faster than I could comprehend.
He grabbed me by my waist and threw me over his shoulder, causing me to screech and drop the blanket.
“Ace!” I shouted, pounding my fists against his back. “What are you doing? Put me down!”
Ace spread his hand over my bare ass, which was now out in the open as he carried me out of the kitchen.
He let out a booming growl. “You’re not even wearing any damn panties? For fuck’s sake, Doe! Do you want me to rip Madoc’s eyes out?”
Ace manhandling me out of the kitchen suddenly made sense. I hadn’t considered what I was wearing.
It probably wasn’t my best idea to greet my boyfriend’s best friend wearing basically nothing.
I was wearing a shirt that hit my thigh, but it did little to hide that I wasn’t wearing a bra. I just hoped my nipples weren’t hard when Madoc saw me.
Ace brought me back up to his room and carefully dropped me down on his bed.
I instantly covered my hot face with my hands and groaned. “Did Madoc see anything?”
“He better not have,” Ace grumbled. “I’d rather not have to kill him.”
“I’m sorry,” I continued, speaking into my hands. “I-I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t know he was here. I was looking for you.”
Ace gently grabbed my wrists and pulled my hands away from my face. I was relieved to see he looked more worried than mad.
“You’ve been crying,” he said as he took in my red-rimmed eyes. He searched my body for any signs
of damage. “Why? Did I hurt you? Are you in pain?”
I shook my head. “No! No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Then why are you crying? Are you getting a migraine?”
I did have a headache but that wasn’t why I was crying. “I…I had a nightmare,” I admitted softly. “A nstead of comingbad one.”
“Doe,” he whispered as he cupped my cheek. “My poor girl. Is that what woke you up? You were sleeping so soundly when I left. I didn’t think you would even notice I was gone.”
I nodded. “I was confused when you weren’t in bed, so I went to find you. If I’d known Madoc was here, I would have put clothes on …or just avoided going downstairs altogether. I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t worry about Madoc. He didn’t see anything. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here to comfort you when you were scared.”
He wiped beneath my eyes with his thumb as if to dry the tears that had been there before. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I searched his face. I was more concerned now about the conversation I overheard downstairs, but the nightmare was still weighing heavy on my mind, replaying over and over.
I took his hand in mine. “Do you remember the car accident I was in when I was fifteen?”
Madoc was sitting
to see he looked
of damage. “Why? Did I hurt you? Are you in pain?”
I shook my head. “No! No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Then why are you crying? Are you getting a migraine?”
I did have a headache but that wasn’t why I was crying. “I…I had a nightmare,” I admitted softly. “A bad one.”
“Doe,” he whispered as he cupped my cheek. “My poor girl. Is that what woke you up? You were sleeping so soundly when I left. I didn’t think you would even notice I was gone.”
I nodded. “I was confused when you weren’t in bed, so I went to find you. If I’d known Madoc was here, I would have put clothes on …or just avoided going downstairs altogether. I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t worry about Madoc. He didn’t see anything. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here to comfort you when you were scared.”
He wiped beneath my eyes with his thumb as if to dry the tears that had been there before. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I searched his face. I was more concerned now about the conversation I overheard downstairs, but the nightmare was still weighing heavy on my mind, replaying over and over.
I took his hand in mine. “Do you remember the car accident I was in when I was fifteen?”
