Chasing His Kickass Luna Back novel Chapter 217

Abby

“Need some company?”

Karl’s eyes slide over to the bottle in my hand, and a slight smirk tugs at the corners of his lips. He scooches aside and nods for me to join him. “Sure.”

I join him as he leans against the wall. Our shoulders brush as we stand beside one another, a familiar yet bittersweetly nostalgic current of electricity running up my spine. I tilt the bottle up to my lips and take a swig, then hand it to him. He does the same.

“So…” he starts, but then hesitates, the words hanging heavily in the air.

“What’s up?”

“We have a lot to talk about,” he says, peering down into the bottle as he swirls the wine around.

“Like what happened the other night?” The words escape before I can rein them in. A hot flush of embarrassment immediately rises into my cheeks; the alcohol tonight has made my lips looser than usual, and I hate to admit it, but I’ve been thinking about our kiss in the pantry a lot tonight.

A beat of silence passes between us.

“You mean the kiss,” he says softly, looking up at me, his eyes intense and unreadable. “Abby, I—”

“I want to apologize,” I interrupt. “I shouldn’t have—”

“Stop,” he says. “Don’t apologize. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have done that. It was insensitive and selfish.”

My eyes widen slightly at Karl’s words. I didn’t expect him to apologize like that. Apologizing isn’t exactly something that the old Karl ever liked to do.

I find myself turning toward him, taking the bottle from his hands. I take a big swig, then hand it back. Our fingers brush and our eyes meet.

“Karl, I…”

He shakes his head as though reading my mind. “Let’s not talk about it tonight, okay? Right now, you should be focusing on tomorrow. On your cook-off.”

His vulnerability strikes a chord in me. “I didn’t realize things were so complicated for you. You carry all this weight on your shoulders, yet you never let it show.”

He chuckles. “It’s part of being an Alpha. Showing weakness is not an option.”

“But isn’t it exhausting? Always having to be the strong one?”

He looks at me then, really looks at me, and for a second I see a glimmer of something raw, something vulnerable. “More than you can imagine,” he admits.

I reach out, my hand hovering in the air between us, before pulling back. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because...I trust you. Because you should know why I really might have to leave soon. I’ve been shirking my duties for too long. I need to go back and take care of my pack.”

“That’s a big responsibility,” I murmur. “But I know you can do it. You always have.”

Karl is silent for a few moments before taking another swig of the wine. He holds it out for me, but I shake my head, and he shrugs and takes another.