Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 129756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Dominic leaned forward. “Call Dean.”
Adele licked her lips. “I don’t have his number. I—”
“He’s not going to walk away from you, Adele. Just as Joel’s drawn to Mila, Dean is drawn to you. The difference is that Joel doesn’t want Mila, but Dean sure as fuck wants you. And since Dean’s little plot didn’t pay off, how long do you think it will be before he takes Joel out of the equation himself?”
The color left Adele’s face in a rush. “Dean wouldn’t do that.”
“Would you bet Joel’s life on that?” Dominic tapped the table. “Call Dean.”
“I told you, I don’t have his—”
“Call him.”
Adele pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped at the screen with her thumbs. “I don’t believe he did this,” she said, putting the phone to her ear.
“I hope you’re right,” said Mila.
After a few moments, Adele’s brows snapped together. “He’s not answering. He always answers.”
“Try calling him again,” said Dominic.
She muttered under her breath but did as he asked. “He’s still not answering.”
Just then, Mila’s phone rang. She whipped it out of her pocket. “It’s Vinnie.” Swiping her thumb across the screen, she answered with, “You have Dean?”
“No, I have news.” Vinnie sighed heavily. “Rosemary Pierson tried to hang herself in her cell.”
Mila’s mouth went slack. Shit. Mentally fumbling, she asked, “Is she okay?”
“No,” replied Vinnie, grimly. “She’s alive, but she’s in a coma. And the docs don’t expect her to wake up. Her brain went without oxygen for too long.”
Mila shoved a hand through her hair, feeling a momentary pang of sympathy for the woman.
“Does Adele know where Dean is?” Vinnie asked.
Mila met the female’s eyes. “No, and he’s not taking her calls.”
“Tell her I expect to see her at the antique store in an hour. She and I are going to have a long talk.” The line went dead.
Pocketing her phone, Mila said, “Vinnie wants—”
“To see me in an hour,” finished Adele, her expression pained. “I heard.”
“So did I.” Dominic sighed, giving his mate’s neck a gentle squeeze. “I guess we should have expected Rosemary to try something like that. She’s never been good at facing reality. Not to sound insensitive, but this will feed that media circus I mentioned earlier.”
Mila puffed out a breath. “Her father will now officially want us both dead and buried.”
“It will never come to that,” Dominic said, his voice low and menacing. “I’ll kill him before I let him touch you.”
“Not if my cat gets there first.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Three weeks. It had been three weeks of “lying low” while they waited for the protests outside pack territory to stop and for the media attention to die down. If Emmet Pierson had been feeding it by making statements to reporters, the drama might have dragged on. But he’d been extraordinarily quiet since his daughter’s attempted suicide.
Rosemary was still in a coma, and Mila imagined that her father felt partially to blame for it. If his past behavior was anything to go by, Emmet would eventually displace that guilt onto someone else—probably Dominic.
Dean had also lapsed into silence. According to Adele, he still wasn’t taking her calls. If he had, she probably would have told him that she’d finally told Joel the truth. Mila only knew this because Joel had told Luke everything while in a drunken stupor at a local bar.
Joel had moved out of the house he shared with Adele, although only temporarily—he needed space to “think.” From what Luke said, Joel was mostly upset that Adele had been communicating with her true mate behind his back, just as Mila had anticipated.
Each time Mila’s phone rang, Dominic tensed, and she knew he was expecting it to be Joel; expecting the other male to declare that he wanted Mila. While she doubted that would ever happen, Dominic wasn’t so sure. He also wasn’t so sure that they should be going out tonight, but Mila was done “lying low.” He’d tuck her away in his sock drawer if he could. “We all agreed that this is the right move,” she reminded him.
Sitting on the bed, he watched her through broody eyes. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Crossing to him, Mila straddled his lap and linked her fingers behind his nape. “I know why you’re worried, and I get it. But my cat is chomping at the bit. She won’t last much longer if I keep her confined here. Don’t think I can’t sense how edgy and restless your wolf is, Dominic.” Her cat was the same. The feline had been seriously moody, lashing out at Mila and just about anyone who came too close. “We’re hurting our animals by keeping them here.”
“And we could hurt them by leaving.”
Mila sighed. It was hard to be annoyed with him when she could feel his tension just as easily as she could feel her own. The strength with which she felt the echoes of his emotions had increased over time, and she knew the imprinting bond was close to forming. Could almost taste the promise of it.