Chapter 8 #2
The sound that wants to escape me isn’t human. It’s the howl of an animal watching a stranger near its mate. Every muscle in my body locks tight, trembling with the effort of staying still. Of not crossing the room and tearing him away from her.
I force words out through clenched teeth. “Why are you out here at seven in the evening with a strange man?”
The human’s eyes go wide. He glances between us, and I see the exact moment understanding dawns on his face. His hands come up, palms out, the universal gesture of surrender.
“Oh! Oh, no—I’m her realtor.” He takes another step back from the table, putting more distance between himself and Violet. “I’m helping her with an apartment lease. That’s all.”
I blink. What?
Violet’s expression shifts from shock to fury in a heartbeat. She slams her hand down on the table, the sound sharp in the sudden silence.
“He’s my real estate agent, Darius.” Her voice is cold. Controlled. But I can see the rage building behind her eyes, can smell it mixing with her scent. “And why the hell are you following me around like this? Are you stalking me?”
The accusation stings because it’s true. I open my mouth. Close it. I have no defense. No explanation that won’t make this worse.
She gets up and advances on me. I find myself backing up despite being bigger, stronger, more dominant. Each jab of her finger into my chest punctuates her words.
“Well?” Jab. “Are you going to answer me?” Jab. “Or are you just going to stand there like an idiot?” Jab.
“I was worried about you,” I mutter.
“Worried?” She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “You were worried, so you followed me? Stalked me to an apartment I’m trying to lease?”
“I didn’t know—”
“You didn’t know because it’s none of your business!” Her finger jabs harder. “My life is none of your business!”
“Violet—”
“I don’t need your concern, Darius. I don’t need you to play hero. I don’t need anything from you!”
The realtor clears his throat awkwardly. “I’m going to step outside for a moment.” He edges toward the door, giving us both a wide berth. “Take your time.”
He practically flees, pulling the door closed behind him. Leaving us alone.
I turn my full attention to Violet. She doesn’t back down. Doesn’t shrink away. Just glares up at me with those blazing, hazel eyes.
“Why are you looking at property in a human-owned area?” The question comes out harsher than I mean it to. “You could live among your own kind. At the estate. You have a home.”
“Are you an idiot?”
I stiffen at the insult.
“I belong here. Among humans.” Her voice drops, turning bitter. “They don’t discriminate against me for being weak. They don’t care that I can’t shift. They see me as a person, not a failure of nature.”
Each word is a knife sliding between my ribs.
“Besides, I don’t want to stay at the estate.” She wraps her arms around herself, a defensive gesture that makes me uneasy. “I prefer my solitude.”
I stare at her for a long moment before forcing words out. “If you want your own place, I can give you a better one than this. Better security. Better location.”
“I don’t need your charity.”
The word “charity” makes me flinch as if she has struck me.
A look of guilt suddenly flickers across her face. She looks away, her arms tightening around herself.
“Please just leave me alone,” she whispers.
The defeat in her voice destroys me. “Do you truly hate me that much?” I ask quietly.
She looks back at me, and what I see in her eyes makes my breath catch. She is haunted. And tired. So tired.
“I don’t hate you.” Her voice is barely audible. “But I know you’re just like everybody else. So, I don’t trust you.”
The knife twists. My wolf claws at my ribs from the inside, desperate and frantic. I swallow the howl of an animal watching its mate walk away.
“I’ve tried apologizing,” I say.
“Apologies are just words to me.” She meets my gaze directly. “Words mean nothing when actions prove otherwise.”
“Then let me prove it. Let me—”
“Why?” The question explodes out of her. “Why do you care so much? It’s not like I matter to you.” Her voice cracks. “My own mother can’t tolerate me. Why are you trying to get me to believe you care?”
“Because I do.”
“If I’d had my way, I never would have returned to the pack.” The words come faster now, sounding desperate. “If I could have, I would have preferred to die alongside my brother and my father. Not live this miserable existence.”
Terror floods through me. Ice-cold and absolute terror.
“You want to die?” My voice shakes. “You can’t. Violet, you can’t—”
“I don’t want to die.” She looks at me, and the emptiness in her eyes is worse than any anger. “But I don’t care much about living, either.”
The world tilts.
Pain explodes in my chest, sharp and visceral, like the mate bond itself is being torn apart. My knees nearly buckle. I have to lock my leg muscles to remain standing, have to dig my nails into my palms to keep from reaching for her.
“Go away, Darius.” She sounds so tired. So defeated. “Let me make something out of this shitty existence. Whatever game you’re playing with me, you win. Now, please. Please just leave me alone.”
She takes hold of my arm and turns me toward the door. I let her. Let myself be shown out.
Because I can’t process what she just said. Can’t reconcile her words with the bright, hopeful girl I remember. The one who used to smile at me like I was the most important person in her world.
She shoves me out into the hallway. The realtor is standing there. He’s been waiting patiently, giving us space. When our eyes meet, he looks almost apologetic. Pitying.
Violet’s voice comes from behind me, inside the apartment, clearly addressing him. “You can come back in now.”
The agent glances at me, and I see him hesitate. He’s weighing whether he should leave a clearly distraught woman alone with an aggressive stranger or stay and get caught in the middle.
“It’s okay,” Violet says, louder now. “He’s leaving.”
The dismissal in her tone makes the decision for him. He moves past me, and I watch as he slips through the doorway.
She closes the door with a soft click, and I stand there, staring at it.
“I don’t care much about living, either.”
Her words replay in my head. They’re not a death wish. Not quite. But maybe something worse: indifference. Complete and utter indifference to her own existence.
The pain in my chest intensifies. I press my fist against my sternum, trying to diffuse the pressure, but it doesn’t help. The mate bond screams at me, demanding I go back in there, demanding I fix this, demanding I make Violet see that her life matters.
For once, my human side and my wolf are in complete agreement. She needs a reason to live. We have to give her one.
I want to break down that door. Make her see that she matters. That her life has value. That she is everything.
But I can’t. Not when she has made it clear she doesn’t want me anywhere near her.
I have to find another way. I’ll protect her. Provide for her. Show her she’s worth something even if she can’t see it.
I force myself to turn around, walk down the hallway, and go down the stairs and out to my car. But I don’t drive away.
I sit behind the wheel, staring at the building. I find the third-floor window that must be apartment 304. The mate bond pulses with every heartbeat, a physical ache that won’t fade.
Eventually, I pull out my phone.
Ethan answers on the second ring. “Darius? What’s—”
“I need you to find a penthouse. Human district. Close to my place.” The words come out clipped. Controlled. “Buy the building if you have to.”
Silence on the other end.
“Tonight,” I add. “I need it tonight.”
“Okay…” Ethan’s voice is wary. “Any particular reason for the urgency?”
“Find out who Violet’s realtor is. Get his contact information. Convince him to show her the penthouse instead of the mediocre apartment she’s looking at right now.”
“Darius—”
“Make the offer attractive. Ridiculously low rent. So low, she’d be stupid to refuse it.” I can hear my voice getting rougher. “Everything she could possibly need. Secure. Modern.”
There’s a pause before Ethan speaks again. “Why are we doing this?”
“She’s my mate.” The words come out raw. Final. “She deserves only the best of the best.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
“I’ll handle it,” Ethan says quietly. “Give me two hours.”
“One hour.”
“Darius—”
“One hour, Ethan. Please.”
He sighs. “One hour. I’ll text you when it’s done.”
I end the call and lean back against the seat.
The ache in my chest hasn’t faded, but at least I’m doing something. At least I’m not just sitting here while my mate decides her life isn’t worth living.
My wolf settles slightly. Still restless, though. Still demanding more. But for now, this will have to be enough.
I start the car and drive away from the apartment complex, but I can’t escape her words.
“I don’t care much about living, either.”
They echo in my head. Over and over.
Not a death knell. A challenge.
And I’ll be damned if I don’t find a way to make her see that her life matters. Even if she hates me for it.
Through the glass wall of my office, I can see Violet sitting at her desk.
She’s been glancing at the clock every few minutes for the past hour, a restless energy in her movements that’s completely unlike her usual controlled demeanor.
Her fingers drum against her keyboard between typing bursts.
She checks her phone, then the clock again.
She’s anxious about something.
The moment the clock hits noon, she’s on her feet. She grabs her bag and practically runs to the elevator, moving faster than I’ve ever seen her move in this office. The doors close behind her before anyone else has even stood up from their desk.
What the hell?
I’m still staring at the empty space where she was sitting when my office door opens without a knock.
Ethan.