I picked up my clothes off the floor as Blake dried off and hung the towel in the bathroom. He walked in and got his clothes. I watched him as he began to get dressed. My happy and satisfied feeling was being ruined by the nervous knot that had started to form in the pit of my stomach.
I was nervous that he was leaving and it wasn’t only because I was going to miss him. It was much more than that. When he was with me, I could keep him safe; but when he left, I wouldn’t have any way to protect him and that made me scared. Loving him was the happiest I’d ever felt but I knew as quickly as it came it could be taken away. Losing someone you loved was crushing and I feared that losing Blake would be something I would never recover from.
“Don’t look so worried,” he said, pulling me out of my thoughts as he dropped a soft kiss on my lips.
“I can’t help it.” I shrugged, trying to shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen.
“I’ll be back before you know it,” he assured me with that signature sexy smile of his that made me want to kiss him.
I tried to push the bad thoughts out of my mind as I followed him to his room so he could pack some stuff. But it didn’t help. I would be on edge until he came back.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Keri
It was hard not thinking about him after he left. I felt like I was missing something important and nothing helped that annoying feeling. But there wasn’t time to mope around; I had things I needed to do. On my way to meet up with Curtis, I bumped into Kyle.
“Hey, you,” he greeted with a knowing smile, and I glared at him.
“What?” he asked innocently.
“I’m not talking about it,” I stated as I walked past him. I knew he wanted to talk to me about Blake but anything Blake and I shared wasn’t something I was willing to talk about with anyone else, even if I was starting to consider him a friend. He’d weaseled his way into my heart somehow when I wasn’t looking.
“Eww,” he said as he followed behind me, looking disgusted. “Who said I wantedthosedetails?”
I just shook my head and continued my way to the medical center. Just outside the door, Kyle stopped me with a hand on my wrist.
“I just wanted to tell you that you deserve all the happiness you’re getting,” he said in a more serious tone.
“Thanks,” I said, feeling awkward.
“He’d better make you happy or else I’ll make him sorry,” he told me, and I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips.
“He will make me happy,” I assured him. Despite everything we’d gone through, we’d managed to put it all behind us and get to the point where we were. We were mated and we were happy.
“So where is he?” he asked.
“He had to go back to his pack,” I informed him.
“He shouldn’t be leaving you on your own with the whole crazy ex-beta guy still stalking around and trying to get his hands on you,” he said with a frown.
“He needed to go back,” I insisted and I pulled my wrist free.
“Why?” he asked, sounding a little angry now.
“Because he needed to tell Cade that he’s leaving and joining my pack,” I explained, feeling annoyed that Kyle had automatically assumed Blake had done something wrong.
“Really?” he asked, sounding a little shocked.
I nodded my head.
“He really is stepping up, isn’t he?” he murmured thoughtfully.
“Yes, he is,” I replied, feeling uncomfortable at sharing this information with him.
“I’m glad he’s making you happy. You deserve it,” he said, throwing an arm around my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go see what Curtis is up to,” he added as we walked into the medical center.
Despite how hard I’d tried to keep Kyle at a distance, I now considered him a friend and it would be hard when he left. I would miss him.
