Page 21 of Healer’s Betrayal

Has she ever heard herself speak?

I ignore Ransom’s comment in my head. “I know.” She’s not telling me anything I don’t know.

“So, you can see how we’d be worried about a gentle healer being mated to you,” Raechel adds.

Ava turns to her. “We’re not all wall flowers, you know.”

Raechel nods. “Yeah, okay. Well, you’re a little different. But Sam and Rose are gentle and—”

“Sherese isn’t,” Ava counters.

“Okay, well, you get my point,” Raechel says, exasperated.

“Not really,” I find myself saying, ignoring the dark looks from Bryce and Max.

“My point is,” Raechel pauses and looks me dead in the eye. It almost impresses me. “Can you be what she’s going to need? What if she’s soft and quiet and weak?”

A growl rises in my chest, and I don’t bother pushing it down. I’m too angry. “My mate is neither soft nor quiet and certainly not weak. From the little I know, she’s made it when all odds said she shouldn’t have. She got her and her brother out of what seems like a terrible situation, and she landed on her feet. She’s already the strongest person I know, and I barely know her.” I take a step closer. Her mate growls a warning at me, but she doesn’t back away. “I will learn to be everything she needs me to be. But make no mistake, Kayla is mine. I will protect her and take care of her and make sure she has everything she needs and that most of all, she’s happy. And I will kill anyone that stands in the way of that happening.” My last few words come out in a low growl.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it’s not for her to smile at me. She takes a step towards her mate and wraps an arm around his waist, never looking away from me as she does so. “He’ll do just fine.”

I stare at her, trying to make sense of things. “That was a test?”

She shrugs. “Just wanted to see where you’d land on things.” She takes in my expression. “What? You’re the leader of the rogue wolves, who up until a few months ago were our second greatest enemy. Now, suddenly you’re here, mated to one of our sisters. We know next to nothing about you, none of our guys will let us get close to you because they don’t trust you, and you’re not exactly nice. Somebody needed to see where you were really at on things and what kind of a person you truly are. I figured, it might as well be me.”

Bryce gives me a wry grin. “On that note, we’re going to take off. You have a few days; make them count.”

I watch them walk away and can’t help but feel like I’m in way over my head. “Well, that was fun,” Ransom says. “Reminds me why we left the pack life behind.” I ignore him and walk back to the car. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve got an Italian restaurant to find.”

Chapter 10

Kayla

I pull out the only dress I own. It’s a simple knee-length black dress that I bought at the secondhand shop in town. I’m thankful now that I bought it when I did. I slip it on and breathe a sigh of relief that it fits. I didn’t try it on that day at the store and then hung it up in my closet and forgot about it. I love the butterfly sleeves; it takes it up a small notch. I don’t have anything other than flip flops and sneakers, so I slip on my black flip flops. They’ll have to do. I put in the small gold hoops I have, the only earrings to my name. I add some lip gloss, powder, and mascara before trying to wrangle my thick hair into something that resembles a hairstyle. The brown doesn’t throw me off as much as it used to. I miss the blond at times, but the brown makes me feel like a different person. I need that sometimes. After I manage to get it into a neat bun of sorts, I step back from the mirror. “That’s as good as it’s going to get,” I mutter. I hear a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Noah says, starting for the door.

“No, don’t!” He stops and turns to me, and I realize how panicked my words sounded. “I’ll get it.” I need to make sure it’s not the men that have been here to get money. I glance out the peephole and breathe a sigh of relief when I see Renee. I open the door for her. “Thank you so much for coming on such late notice.”

“No worries. Hey, Noah.” She drops her bag on one of the two chairs.

“Hey,” he says back quietly.

She turns to me. “So, who’s this hot date tonight?”

I smile. “It’s Cole; he works at the garage where my car gets fixed.”

“What did he have to do to score a date with you?” she asks with a smirk.

“Maybe I just said yes because I wanted to,” I counter.

She leans against the kitchen counter and lifts an eye. “Did you?”

“No. He fixed my car and only charged me for parts.”

“I knew it.”