He apologized.
Lilliane tried to think of Victor apologizing, and the very thought made her laugh. Men like Victor didn’t saysorry. Even if they were wrong and terrible and real assholes.
Atlas was grumpy, but he wasn’t an asshole.
He made her hot chocolate and let her drool on his lap. Oh, god. That lap. Hard with muscle yet comfortable. When she woke up with his morning hard-on right in her face, she wanted to laugh. Instead, she had stared at it a bit too long before waking him. Immediately, she could tell he was uncomfortable with her proximity to his erection.
Embarrassed like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Lilliane understood it was morning, and as a virile young man, Atlas would have morning wood. It wasn’t because she was touching him. Nope.
At least he was going to let her stay.
Lilliane knew she had to tell him. Be honest. The longer she waited, the worse it would be. She was bringing all kinds of trouble to the wolf alpha. She should have the decency to tell him.
Maybe she deserved whatever Victor would do to her when he found her again. He would probably want more than a marriage now that she had thoroughly embarrassed him by running away not once but twice.
Shivering at the thought, Lilliane decided to wear an oversized sweatshirt as a tunic paired with black leggings. It was warm and comfortable and had the added bonus of being sandalwood and pine-scented because the sweatshirt was only oversized for one reason.
It was Atlas’s sweatshirt. She took it from the closet and hoped he wouldn’t say anything.
She made her way down the stairs and found him sitting at the kitchen table with a laptop and a few stacks of papers. He looked up at her, his eyes lingering on her legs … or so she thought.
“You’re making yourself comfortable, I see,” he said, glancing back at his computer. “Stealing my clothes now?”
“I wanted something comfy,” she explained. “Are you working? Am I bothering you?”
He turned down the laptop screen with a sigh. “Just going over some pack accounts. Boring stuff.”
“An alpha does the books? I can’t imagine Reece doing the books.”
He chuckled. “Same. He’s good at other things. Your sister is with a good man.”
She nodded. “She tells me all the time how good he is. At first, I thought she was trying to convince me because there was something wrong with him, but now I see she’s just completely in love with him.”
“Being with your mate will do that,” he said almost reluctantly.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” he flipped the computer back up.
“No. It’s a mate thing. I’d like to understand.”
He heaved out a heavy sigh. “They’re mated. They are linked, connected, and bonded. All in these permanent ways. Mind, body, soul. A mate is so much more than love.”
“It sounds a bit scary.” She pulled out a chair and sat next to him. “Like it could swallow you whole.”
“I guess that’s right.”
“Isn’t it dangerous to let someone have that much power over you?” She thought of Victor and what he expected of her. “I don’t think I would ever be okay with being mated. No offense,” she quickly added. “That’s so insensitive. You must want to meet your mate.”
He licked his lips, avoiding her gaze. “Sometimes, a mate will die or leave, and it leaves the wolf … broken. Madness sets in. I won’t mate my mate.”
“You’ve met her, then!” she gasped. “Oh!”
“How do you figure?”
“You saidI won’t mate my mate. That sure sounds likeI don’t want to mate her even though I know her. Oh, my god. Do you have a dud? I mean, I love my sisters. They’re amazing and beautiful, and I gave up my life for them. Maybe yours just doesn’t measure up. Is she boring? No personality?”
