Chapter 40
Murphy stormed into the teahouse like a crazed beast, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled the stench of wolf. It filled the air, a stark reminder that their enemy had accosted his mate while he’d been away. He should never have left her alone.
It didn’t matter that Jasper had been with Nessa, that the enforcer was more than capable of protecting her from danger. What mattered was that Murphy hadn’t been here.
Nessa was his to protect, and he’d failed.
What if the wolf had attacked her? What if she’d brought backup, overpowered Jasper and taken Nessa?
What if Angela had killed her in retaliation for Dante’s upcoming punishment?
The possibilities had Murphy shaking with rage and thinly veiled terror, his bear pacing back and forth in his mind, as on edge as he was.
His gaze snapped in every direction as the door closed behind him, assessing the room for any hidden danger, the tinkling of the bell setting off his hackles.
Angela was gone; Jasper had informed him of that a few minutes ago via telepathy. Even if he hadn’t, the wolf’s scent was slightly stronger outside, indicating her very recent departure, though he hadn’t spotted her as he’d pulled into the parking lot.
Eyes locking onto Nessa, who was standing beside Jasper, a wide doe-eyed look on her face, Murphy stalked toward her. He needed to reassure himself she was alright. To hold her close and keep her from harm.
Reaching her side, he swept her up into his arms, a slight tremor wracking through his body as he fought back the incessant urge to shift and chase after the enemy.
He ran a hand through Nessa’s soft, long hair, breathing in her sweet perfume. She grounded him in a way nothing else could, alleviating the torrent of emotions running rampant in his heart and mind. “Are you okay? She didn’t scare you, did she?”
“Murphy,” Nessa said, her warm breath seeping into the material of his shirt and spreading across his chest. “Everything’s fine. Angela just came here to talk about Dante.”
He ground his teeth together at the sound of that female’s name. “Talk?” he all but sneered the word. “If that was truly her motivation, she should have come to me. You’re not involved in this.”
“I’m not?” Nessa pushed away from him, frowning. He mourned the loss of contact immediately, crowding into her space until she was pressed against his front. “I don’t think that’s very fair of you to say. And besides, how could she talk to you? You wouldn’t listen!”
Jasper cleared his throat, drawing Murphy’s attention. He jerked his thumb toward the front door. “I think I’m just going to—”
Murphy fished his car keys from his jeans pocket, tossing them to the male. He caught them with ease. “Go. We’ll discuss your lack of proper decision-making later,” he growled.
“Fuck,” Jasper cursed under his breath, leaving out the front door with a quick wave to Nessa.
His mate, who clearly didn’t understand how dangerous a position she’d just been in, planted her hands on her hips. “That was rude, Murphy.”
“Rude?” He bit out. “Rude is my brother letting a wolf shifter, an enemy to our bear clan, through these doors without a moment’s hesitation. Rude is allowing her to stay and spew whatever nonsense she could at you in the hopes of saving Dante.”
“Jasper objected to her being here,” Nessa countered, moving toward the front door and flipping the sign hanging from it to ‘Closed.’ “I told him to leave her alone because I wanted to hear her out.”
“That’s even worse, Nes!” Murphy pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath before he lost his temper. “He’s here to keep you safe—”
“From my brother, if he’s even here!” Nessa exclaimed, whipping around to face him. “Not from a woman who posed no threat—”
“She is a threat,” Murphy interrupted, furious that she would disregard her own safety so callously. “What did she say to you?”
Jasper hadn’t told him. In fact, he’d barely kept Murphy updated as he’d rushed to his mate’s side. He’d likely broken several traffic laws in his haste to get here, not that he’d worry about the repercussions of that right now.
“A lot,” Nessa answered, crossing her arms over her chest. She pursed her lips as if she wanted to say more before shaking her head. “She offered to trade places with Dante. She said that he was a good person and that he didn’t deserve to die because of her.”
Murphy scowled.
A good person? He’d thought so, too, until he’d seen Nessa covered in blood, pinned beneath a rabid wolf shifter hellbent on killing her. Hellbent on snuffing out her light, her life, on taking away the only female who’d truly made Murphy feel—
“Is that so abhorrent to you?” Nessa asked abruptly, misreading the disgruntled look on his face.
“That she wanted to protect Dante? Of course, she did, Murphy. That’s what people do for the ones they love.
You know that. You’ve done that for me,” she chastised, her voice softening. “So will you please calm down?”
He ran a hand down his face, letting out a small breath of frustration. Forcing his stiff muscles to relax, he nodded. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Nothing about this is easy. I just don’t want Dante and his mate to come between us.”
“They won’t, Murphy. No one will.” Nessa wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his chest as she held him to her. “Your heart is beating so fast.”
“I was frantic to get to you,” he admitted. He pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair. “I was already on my way when Jasper got ahold of me, but it felt like I was days away.”
“How about we go back to my place and relax?” she suggested. “I know you’re stressed about this, and I’m sorry that I made it worse.”
He cupped her chin, tilting her head back so he could look down into those deep pools of chocolate he cherished so much. “You only make things better, Nes.”
A small smile danced across her lips before she ducked out from under his arms. Ignoring his small grumble at the loss of contact, she moved quickly around the teahouse, cleaning up a few tables and straightening some chairs before she headed to the back office and grabbed her purse, along with a small, sealed cardboard box.
A cleaning company would stop by in the next few hours to finish the job, and by morning, her business would be spotless.
As they left, Nessa locked the door and then handed him her car keys, following him toward her SUV.
He helped her into the vehicle before moving around the car and climbing awkwardly into the driver’s seat.
His mate was petite, and she’d pushed the seat up as far as it would go, leaving him with zero leg room.
Adjusting it until he didn’t feel squished, Murphy began the short drive back to her place, the silence stretching between them only interrupted by the rumbling of the SUV. What was less than a ten-minute drive seemed to stretch on forever.
He didn’t like it. Nessa was a chatterbox by nature, and this wasn’t like her.
Not at all.
Was she upset with his behavior, or was she upset over something Angela had told her? Did she feel guilty?
He wanted to ask, but the thought of discussing Dante yet again had his upper lip curling into a snarl and a silent rumble building in his chest, on the verge of exploding from him like a bomb.
Nessa’s fingers began tapping a light rhythm on her knee, the movement quick. Frantic, almost.
As they pulled into her neighborhood, he couldn’t take it anymore.
“What’s wrong?” he asked sharply, fingers tightening on the steering wheel. The leather creaked in his hands, and he eased his grip, not wanting to damage her SUV a second time.
Nessa startled in her seat, turning her head toward him. “Nothing.”
“Nessa,” he warned, turning onto her street. “I know you well enough to realize that complete silence isn’t exactly normal for you.” She turned back to face the front, staring blankly out the windshield as he pulled into her driveway. Shutting off the car, he sighed. “If it’s about my behavior—”
“I think you need to spare Dante,” Nessa said in a rush, grabbing the handle of her door and pushing it open, exiting quickly.
“What?” Murphy snapped, only for her car door to slam behind her, leaving him stunned and alone in the vehicle. “What the hell?”
All but jumping from the SUV, he had barely closed the door before he hurried after her to the front porch, her keys held so hard in his hand the metal dug into his skin.
“You’re running from me,” he accused once he’d caught up to her.
She didn’t look at him, innocently waiting for him to let her inside. “No, I’m not.”
Muttering under his breath, he unlocked her door and ushered her inside, closing it behind him. “I’m not sparing Dante. He needs to die.”
Nessa hung her purse on the coat rack, the small box still in her hand as she pivoted to face him. “Why? Because it will make you look weak? I’ve thought it over, and I hate your reasoning. Who cares what other people think?”
“What kind of mate would I be if I let your attacker go free?” Murphy snarled, that same bitter rage festering to the surface like an infected wound. Aside from how others would perceive his pack for showing leniency to a traitor, how would they perceive him as a mate?
A failure? Unworthy? Nessa deserved to be cared for, protected and loved above all else, and if he couldn’t ensure that, what place did he hold in her life?
Nessa rolled her eyes. “He didn’t attack me.”
“He did everything to make it happen!” Murphy bellowed, upset at the topic and the memories it brought forth.
He swore he could smell the coppery tang of her blood in the air, that he could hear her small cries of terror and agony echoing in his ears.
“He laid the groundwork for your death, whether or not he intended for you to be there that night. You were. He is responsible for your pain and suffering. He will pay for that.”
With his life! No matter who might grieve for him. No matter how this might break Murphy or his clan.
“Then disown him or-or exile him. That’s a thing, right? Send him away to Angela’s pack and forbid him from ever coming back! That’s punishment enough!”
Irate that his mate would question his judgment, Murphy stomped from the entryway and down the hall, seething. Just as quickly, he spun around, stalking back toward her. She didn’t flinch, didn’t shy away from him, and that helped ease some of the raging emotions buzzing around inside of him.
She wasn’t afraid to argue with him, wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion, and for that alone, he’d listen to her.
Even if he didn’t change his mind.
“Why is sparing Dante so important to you?” Murphy asked darkly, his voice dropping to a low pitch. “You don’t even know him.”
“Because she’s me!” Nessa shouted, her breath hitching as her eyes began to water. She clenched her jaw, blinking quickly.
Murphy paused, confused. “Who?”
“Angela.” Her chin wobbled, and she looked away from him. “When I saw her, it was like looking into the past and seeing myself after I’d finally escaped Tony; broken and traumatized, but still trying to persevere. You don’t know what she went through, but I do,” she whispered hoarsely.
“She told me everything, but I didn’t have to hear a word to know she was a survivor.
Like me.” Nessa thumped her palm against her chest, balancing the cardboard box at her side.
“I lived something similar, and I know, Murphy, I know that if you had found me in Chicago, if you’d seen how Tony treated me, what he did to me, you’d have done whatever he demanded if it meant freeing me. ”
“I would have killed him,” he answered, fury coating every word.
“And if you couldn’t? If he knew how much I meant to you and had the power to take me away from you forever?
What would you have done then?” A tear slid down her cheek, another quickly following it.
“You would have done whatever he wanted. We both know it, so why are you pretending Dante is some evil man when he’s not? ”
Murphy’s chest tightened, and his throat constricted with emotion at the distress pouring from his mate. “Nes—”
“Unless you tell me right now that you’ll spare Dante, I don’t want to hear it, Murphy.”
He closed his mouth, fists clenched at his sides. Should he go to his mate, comfort her and tell her everything she wanted to hear? Or disappoint her with the decision he had to make?
Nessa nodded in defeat. “I’m going to go take a bath, and then I’m going to bed. It suddenly feels like a really long day, and I just want to sleep.”
“Nessa, wait—” Murphy began, his lungs burning and his heart in his throat.
She pushed past him, only to pause briefly, thrusting the small box into his hands. “I know how much you love sweets, so I got this for you.”
Then she left, hurrying down the hall and toward her bedroom. He heard the door open and shut behind him, the soft sound nearly deafening in the silence that followed.
He stared down at the box for the longest time before curiosity eventually got the best of him. Lifting the lid, the scent of chocolate and fudge had his stomach growling with hunger despite his foul mood. He was surprised he hadn’t noticed the rich scents before.
His mate had gotten him a cake. His heart clenched painfully, the ache increasing the longer he looked upon the box’s contents. Such a small gesture, yet he felt her love a hundred-fold with this gift.
And he’d unknowingly repaid it by making her cry.
“Son of a bitch.”