Lone Wolf's Captive (novella) by Sherilee Gray Read Free Book Online

“I couldn’t leave you. I needed to be near you.”
    “I wish you’d come to me,” she whispered.
    “Believe me, I tried.”
    “What happened?” She spoke so quietly, he barely heard her.
    “I was beaten and thrown back out. Your father realised I wasn’t going to give up. I’d called his bluff. He hadn’t dragged me in front of you and ended my life. So he threatened to send you away, to tear you away from your pack, your family. I believed him.”
    “I knew he’d never let us be together. I could take the beatings he dished out because nothing wounded more than being separated from you. But I couldn’t let him hurt you. How could I let him send you away from everything you knew? I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t do that to myself. I needed to know you would always be there.”
    She stilled, wooden in his arms, her heart beating rapidly against his chest. “So you gave up on me?”
    “Fuck no.” He tightened his hold on her. “Never.” God, how could she think that? But then how could she think otherwise?
    He forced himself to continue. Now he’d started, he didn’t intend to stop. Laney deserved the truth, or as much as she could handle right now. “Anthony had me brought to him. He said I would never be good enough for you. I had no real pack, no money. I was weak and damaged. I wasn’t whole. You deserved so much more than I could ever give you…He confirmed all the shit that kept me up at night, all the shit I knew was true.”
    Goosebumps broke out across her skin as she lay frozen, trembling in his arms, her pain a tangible thing. “Fletch…”
    “I decided to make something of myself, to be a better man for you, to prove him wrong. Instead, I proved him right.” He tightened his hold on her. “After I left that last time, I wandered into Oakwood territory. One of their sentries caught me.” He’d known the price for trespassing, but he’d exhausted the game in the small patch of land he’d been living on. He’d needed food and didn’t want to stray too far from Laney. “Their alpha at the time agreed to let me go if I dealt with a problem for them.”
    She lifted up, looked down at him. “What kind of problem?” He drew in her scent, letting it wash over him.
    “One of the humans they were doing business with had been messing with the books, siphoning funds from the pack’s share of the profit. He wanted to send him a message. They didn’t want to risk one of their own getting caught, so they sent me.”
    “So you, what? Beat him up?”
    “Yes.” He didn’t try to sugar-coat it. “I was good at it, too. By then I was so full of rage, it was a relief to have someone to punish, to take the brunt of my pain.” He felt that familiar anger well up inside him and ruthlessly pushed it back down. He didn’t want Laney to see what he’d become. To see the cold disconnected side of him, the side that could break another man without flinching.
    “They started paying me for the jobs they sent me on. Then other packs hired me. They paid me well. I was young, naïve. I thought once I had enough money, I could come back for you, be in a better position to provide for you.” He laughed derisively. “You want to know where I’ve been? Here. I’ve always been here. How could I leave? I used to watch you, waiting for a glimpse when you finished work. Every damn time I would convince myself that today was the day I’d finally walk across that street and claim you. But then I’d see you, so beautiful, so fucking trusting…How could I ask you to become my mate after what I’d done, what I’d become?” He drew in a breath. “I’m nothing but a hired thug, Laney. I knew. I knew you deserved so much better.”
    She swallowed several times, looking both sad and really pissed. “You should have come to me.”
    “I couldn’t. Not after all the shit I’d done.”
    “We’ve been through so much, Fletch. You should have trusted me.”
    Delaney had always been there for