The Mark of Betrayal (Samara and Roman) novel Chapter 72

Phoebe

Adrian took me to a room downstairs and closed the door. I immediately wrapped my arms around myself, waiting for the rejection.

“Who hurt you? Was it your mate? Is that why you look like you’re trying to pull yourself into the smallest bit of space possible?” he asks me.

I look down at myself, frowning. “Is that what I look like?”

“You look like you wish the ground would swallow you whole. I’m just not sure if it’s because of me personally, or because of whoever hurt you.”

“He was my mate. He used me and tossed me away,” I say, wanting to put it out there rather than delaying the inevitable.

Adrian growls. It’s not a quiet growl. A moment later, he’s in front of me, his arm wrapped around me, pulling me to him.

“You’re MY mate. No one else gets to have you.” I look at him, seeing that his wolf is forward. Sawyer’s wolf was forward as well. He wanted me, but Sawyer had other ideas.

I smile sadly. “You don’t want me. I’m used goods.”

“Fuck that. Whoever he was, he was an idiot to turn down a gift from the Moon Goddess. Or maybe he was always meant to be stupid so that you could be mine. I don’t pass up gifts from the Moon Goddess,” he says, his voice a softer growl now.

His fingers slide over my cheek, and those familiar tingles light up my skin and nerves, sending waves of heat and desire through my body. But I’ve been down this road before.

“I can’t accept you,” I say, pulling away from him.

“I won’t accept your rejection. Not now. Not yet. You have to at least give me a chance to prove to you that I’m not like him.”

“You don’t understand,” I say.

“Then explain it to me,” he says. I turn and look at him. His eyes are full of entreaty, wanting me to give him a chance.

“My mate was Sawyer Clark,” I say. That’s as far as I get before he snarls viciously. I watch as he walks to the wall and punches his fist through it.

He stands there for several moments, panting with anger before ripping his fist out of the wall and turning to me.

“Sawyer was an asshole who deserved to die for many, many reasons. Rejecting you, his fated mate, is just one more of the many reasons,” he says. “However, you’re looking at this all wrong, Phoebe.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Maybe the Moon Goddess put you with Sawyer to give him a chance to make things right. When he didn’t, she gave you an even better mate. I mean, I’m not an Alpha ...”

“I wouldn’t want another Alpha anyway after what I’ve been through,” I scoff.

“Good, because now you have a Gamma for a mate. I was a bit worried you’d feel like you were downgrading.”

I stare at him. Is he for real?

“I just told you that I was rejected by my mate and you’re worried that I might think that I’m downgrading?” I ask.

“Alpha to Gamma is a big jump,” he says.

“Who are you?” I ask him. Seriously, who is this man?

“I’m Adrian. I’m Alpha Roman’s Gamma. And I’m the lucky man who gets to call you his mate.”

He looks at me sheepishly. “I’m also the man who isn’t going to let you reject him.”

I just stand there, blinking at him.

“I know you may be wary of accepting me right away, but would you be willing to take a room on the Gamma floor? My wolf, Dawson, would be really happy if we could keep you close. That way we could make sure that you’re safe and your scent would be close enough that it would keep him from prowling all over the packhouse tonight.”

I frown at him. “You’re not going to try to get me to have sex tonight?”

“Well, Alpha said to take it slow and obviously you’ve had a bad experience with Sawyer. I mean, if you want to have sex, I’m all for it. But I’m sure Dawson would want to mark you. I mean I could keep him from marking you if you just want to have sex, but ... did you want to have sex?”

I struggle not to laugh. He might be the sweetest man I’ve ever met.

“Yes, Alpha?”

“Do I need to worry that there will be a problem with this?” he asks, gesturing to the child in his arms.

“No, Alpha. I would never make a child suffer because of their parents.”

“Good. Enjoy your evening. Let me or Samara know if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

“I’ve got her, Alpha. No worries,” Adrian says.

We say goodnight and then Adrian grabs my bags, still holding onto my hand and begins carrying them up the stairs.

He shows me to the room next to his, then we move to his room to have dinner. When we’re done, having talked about our lives and families over dinner, he asks me if I’d like to watch a movie and we move to his bed to watch the movie. He chooses a rom-com, something light and easy and for the first time in a long time, I feel calm and relaxed.

I end up leaning against him with his arm wrapped around me as we laugh and at some point I look up at him, surprised that he’s so much more easy-going than Sawyer ever was. When he catches me watching him, he leans down to kiss me.

The kiss deepens and the movie ends without either of us realizing it. He’s careful not to push too hard and he doesn’t ask more of me than heavy kissing.

After several hours of kissing, he asks if I’m ready to go to sleep. I nod and after pulling off my jeans, I lay on my mate’s chest, listening to his wolf purr at us.

He presses his lips to the top of my head. “Goodnight, Phoebe. Thank you for giving me a chance.”

“Goodnight Adrian. Thank you for being so kind,” I say.

“I’ll be whatever you need me to be for you, Phoebe. I’m your mate. I want to be everything you’ve ever wanted in a man and mate. We can have a really good life together.”

I snuggle closer to him, realizing that while I gave up on the idea of ever finding a man I could trust again, Adrian is making it very hard for me not to trust him.

It’s the last thought I have before I fall into the best, deepest sleep I’ve had in nearly a decade.