The Alpha Men's Secret Club 3: Fallout: A Scorchingly Hot BBW Shifter Romance (10 page)
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Authors: Dawn Steele
21
Kate’s flight was at three, and so she
was all packed up and ready to go by noon. Rust still hadn’t called or showed up, and when she rang his cellphone, it went directly to voice mail.
Truth be told, she was worried.
She didn’t know Rust’s parents’ cellphone numbers, and so she asked Hector to check in on whether Rust had returned to the house.
“He hasn’t,” Hector confirmed. “Don’t worry, Ms. Penney. Mr. O’Brien will
show up soon enough. He is having the human equivalent of a hangover.”
Only it was a lot more than a hangover, wasn’t it? It was a lot more serious than that.
“Has this happened to him before?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“And when did he show up . . . the day after?”
Hector hesitated over the line. “This happened
a long time ago, of course, when he was still living in New York and working at Bellevue. But after such a party, he showed up after three days, Ms. So I wouldn’t worry about him if I were you. He has a way of taking care of himself.”
“I’d hate to leave without saying goodbye to him.”
That went without saying. She was worried about Rust. Worried about the way they had left it – with his bite and claw marks on her body and him feeling guilty about it. They needed to talk about it. Process what had happened. She needed to assure him she was all right about the whole thing, and she knew that it was only a temporary lapse.
“I’m sure it isn’t goodbye, Ms. Penney. You’ll be seeing him soon.”
She hoped.
Still, when she went downstairs to the reception, Hector was waiting for her. But there was no sign of Rust.
Hector saw her despondent face.
“
We can try calling him again,” he offered.
“No.” She had to shake herself out of this.
Stop waiting by the phone like a lovesick puppy.
Hell, she was a lovesick puppy where Rust was concerned, but she didn’t have to act it!
She raised her chin. “We should go to the airport.”
*
At the airport, Hector helped her check into first class. “He will call you, Ms. Penney. I’ll remind him next time I see him.”
“Thanks, Hector.” Any boyfriend who needed reminding wasn’t
a real boyfriend. And her spirits had already sunk to an all time low.
She shook hands with Hector, and turned to walk through the Departure Gates.
“Kate!”
She swiveled, her heart leaping. It was Rust’s voice!
He came bounding up. His hair was wild, and he had a T-shirt on with a pair of jeans.
“Rust?”
She dropped her bag.
“Kate.” As he reached her, people all around them turned. Rust was always quite a breathtaking sight himself, and the cliché of the situation was not lost on her. There was concern in his marvelous green eyes. “Are you . . . all right?”
“Yes. Rust . . . I was so worried.”
“
You
were worried.” Relief flooded his voice. “I was worried about what I did to you.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Do you have time? Can we talk?”
She was early anyway, and so she nodded.
They moved aside to a seating area.
“Kate, I have something to tell you.” His expression was very serious
. A cold dread clasped her chest.
No, no, don’t let him tell me what I think he’s going to tell me
.
But he did. He was going to tell her the very thing she feared.
He said, “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be with you.”
The
dagger to her heart was as sharp as a lance. She knew it was coming, and yet when it did come, the actual pain of it took her by shock.
“No,” she whispered, “don’t say that.”
“Please . . . listen to me. I . . .
like
you.” He tumbled over the word ‘like’. “I
like
being with you. We have great sex together, and when we’re not having sex, I like being with you too.”
He paused awkwardly. She could sense that he was not used to saying such things to anyone.
He went on, “But I’m not human. I’ll only hurt you, and I won’t be able to stop myself from hurting you. I’m . . . not who you think I am. And to keep you safe . . . I have to stay away from you.”
“No.” The tears were forming in her eyes now. She knew what he was referring to.
I can’t control the animal side of me from manifesting
, he was saying. “Rust, I want to be with you. It doesn’t have to be this way. It wasn’t you. It was that place! You said it yourself . . . it magnifies everything.”
“It’s not just Aaron Mitchell’s house. It’s me.” He looked at her desperately. “
It’s happening to me more and more lately when I’m around you. I can’t control myself, and I don’t mean my sexual urges. It’s not
safe
for you to be around me, Kate. You’d best stay as far as you can away from me and find someone nice . . . and normal. Someone you deserve to be with.”
“Rust, no, please . . . don’t do this.” The wetness trickled down her cheeks.
“Kate, don’t cry.” He wiped a tear gently away from her cheek. “You know what I’m saying is absolutely right. I’m bad for you. And in many ways, you’re bad for me too.”
Yes, she had cost him his job.
“So we’re psychoanalyzing each other.” A sob choked her throat. Her heart felt like it had splintered into a million pieces.
So he was breaking up with her.
In public.
But she knew he was right.
And wrong!
He loved her, she was sure of it. He loved her in his roundabout, twisted way. He couldn’t help loving
her, she knew that too, even though he tried not to. He couldn’t stay away from her, and that was what got him into this mess. She had already cost him his job. What more would she cost him?
What more would
he
cost her?
“You came here . . . to tell me this,” she said in a small voice. “You came to say goodbye.”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t there something . . . a drug or herb or something . . . you could take?”
“No. I tried. But no.”
A commotion was happening
somewhere in the airport. Heads were turning. A group of men and women in suits were striding through the airport crowd, heading straight for where Rust and Kate were seated.
Both Rust and Kate looked up.
The man in the lead was slender. He had a face which was all angles, as though his cheekbones were cut out of glass. His hair was close cropped, and he wore razor stubble on his sharp jaw.
“Rust O’Brien?” he said. “Kate Penney?”
Rust stood up. “Yes?”
“We would like you to come in to the station to answer a few questions, please.”
Kate stood up too. The dread was like a dark cloud in her stomach.
“What is this about?” Rust demanded.
“Where were you last night, Mr. O’Brien?”
“I’ll answer that only when I know what this is all about.”
“Very well.” The man took out a badge from inside his jacket and flashed it. “I’m Detective Lance Horner from the NYPD. We’re investigating the murder of Teddy Mitchell. His body has been found in the woods near his home in Long Island this morning. We would like
both
of you – ” he paused significantly as he took Kate’s pale face in “ – to come with us.”
Teddy Mitchell!
Kate was stunned.
How could Teddy Mitchell be dead? They were just
all together last night at his father’s house.
She caught sight of Rust. The blood too had suddenly drained out of his face. She was instantly very scared.
What exactly had happened to Rust and Teddy last night?
Rust managed to compose himself, but the detective already shrewdly caught sight of his face.
“Yes, sure,” Rust said, managing to keep his voice even, though Kate knew him well enough to know that he was unsettled. “I have nothing to hide.”
As they both went with the NYPD, Kate wondered for the first time if either of them
could even account for everything they did anymore.
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Wanted by the Alphas (An Extremely Sensual Paranormal Shifter Romance)
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The Alpha Men’s Secret Club (A
Scorchingly Hot BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance)
The Alpha Men’s Secret Club 2: Desire Games (A
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