Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
“You think that makes it okay?” Mallory propped her clenched hands on her hips. “Tell me the truth. Did you love her?”
“No. My ego was bruised, even though I knew she was right that it would be a bad idea for a member of the team to get involved with one of the Hounds’ staff. That’s all it was.”
“Then how come Sherryl told me you were so determined to change Casey’s mind that you thought you’d try making her jealous? If it had worked, you’d have left me for her, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you?”
Preston shoved his hand into his hair. “I’d like to think not. Honestly, I didn’t really believe it would change her mind—she’s more stubborn than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“But you wanted to hurt her, and so you used me to do it.”
Adrian stepped between the couple and shot her a pointed look. “Not sure you’re in a position to judge him too harshly on that one, Mallory. How many times have you done such a thing to others? Seems like karma came knocking on your door.”
She gaped at her Alpha. “Now hang on a minute—”
“You’ve tested the endurance of your bedsprings with a lot of males in this pack,” Adrian forged on. “Do you think that’s any easier for Preston to live with than this will be for you? I don’t recollect any of those males being his cousins, but I know that at least one of them is his friend.”
Mallory winced. “He still should have told me. She should have told me.”
“Like you told Casey about the times you slept with her ex-boyfriends? And what about the times you lured males away from her?”
Mallory’s mouth bobbed open and closed. “That’s different. None of them were her mate.”
“Just as Preston wasn’t your mate back then. He was a single male, free to do as he pleased. He didn’t betray you.”
“But he did lie to me. They both did.”
As his mate’s guilt traveled down their bond, Eli cut in, glaring at Mallory, “You do realize all this is fucking pointless, don’t you? What he did was an asshole-move—I’m with you on that one. But you’re both exactly where you want to be. If Casey had originally told you about what happened, you would’ve broken things off with him—presuming you even believed her—and you wouldn’t be mated to him now. You might be pissed at him, but you wouldn’t want to undo that even if you could.”
“Eli’s right,” said Adrian. “It’s Sherryl you should be angry with.”
Some of the staunch leached out of Mallory, who suddenly looked unbelievably sad. “She was laughing when she told me. Laughing.”
No doubt feeling the extent of his mate’s pain, Preston squeezed his eyes tightly shut for a moment. “She doesn’t find any of it funny, Mallory. She’s bitter and angry and it’s twisting her up inside. She laughed because she wanted to get you all riled up and itching for a fight.”
“Well, it worked.” Mallory looked at Eli. “I noticed you don’t seem surprised by any of this. Casey told you?”
“She told me,” Eli confirmed. “At the time, she was agonizing about the fact that she hadn’t told you. I’ll say to you what I said to her—there was nothing to gain from her telling you. All it would have done was hurt you, which was the one thing she wanted to avoid. Everything she’s done or hasn’t done was all in an effort not to cause you any pain. Going by the shit you’ve done to her in the past, I don’t think you’d have been so concerned about her feelings if the situation were reversed.”
Shoulders slumping, Mallory averted her gaze and swallowed hard. Preston put his hand on her shoulder, offering his silent support. She didn’t shake him off this time, but she did stiffen.
Sensing that her cousin was no longer on the verge of snapping, Casey said, “For what little it’s worth, I am sorry that you’re hurting. You’re a real bitch, but I still wouldn’t purposely hurt you.” Much. Most of the time.
Preston stroked his mate’s hair. “And I’m sorry, honey. So fucking sorry.”
“But I’m certain Sherryl’s not,” Adrian cut in. “And she needs to be dealt with.”
“She will be,” said Casey, face hardening. “I warned her to back off and she hasn’t. I don’t think she has any intention of doing so. There’s only one thing for me to do now—I’ll have to challenge her. But not until after the games are over.”
“Why wait?” asked Eli.
“If I do it before then and I end up killing her, there’ll be so much rage circulating among her pack and mine that it will filter over onto the teams and then there’ll be a bloodbath on the damn field.” That sort of thing had happened before, and Casey didn’t want to see it happen again.