Bad Love an Alpha’s Regret by Elise Sinclair

Chapter 313

He holds out his hand and I take it, shaking.

His grip is firm and cool, and there’s something almost comforting about it.

“I’m Emily,” I tell him in return.

His smile deepens. “That’s a pretty name.”

I laugh at this.

Ronan might be too charming for his own good.

“I think it’s pretty basic myself, but you’re welcome to your opinion.”

He gives a quick, friendly laugh.

“So, Emily, what has you out here looking so down on a day like today?”

I take a slow breath, working out how I can explain without sounding crazy.

“Something bad happened to me, something traumatizing,” I begin, choosing my words carefully. “Something that went on for a long time. I finally got out just recently, and now my family are treating me like I’m fragile and broken. Maybe because I am.

7

But I don’t want to be. And I can’t stay with my family, I can see that. It’s just not going to work. They’ll hate me when the realize the truth of everything that happened to me. Except I don’t know what to do, and don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Ronan nods, listening with sympathy and understanding.

And I realize it’s something no one has bothered to do since I got home.

They all just assume they know what happened to me, and what they should do about it.

that

that wasn’t

now I know he–more than anyone–would be first in line to kill me if or when the truth

You survived that bad thing you went through. And maybe these might seem like

ever stopped

to me.

in the way

www

I can do things now that

not saying that makes it

I’d choose not to ever go through that, because I can’t

greater

I

can sense that you’re special, Emily,” Ronan continues in a sincere voice. “In a way that no one in

has actually seen me- in a way Aaron and Jessica and

they just not

are they simply so caught up in their own drama–and I was gone for ten years, so they’ve all moved on without me–that they just don’t care.

a spiteful way, I just mean in

kind of way.

not you,” Ronan says conspiratorially, leaning forward a little. “It’s also their loss if they can’t see any of that. You’re strong. You’ve proven that to yourself. You don’t need

I’m speechless.

what to say, but I’m

say to him,

as he gets to

hike these trails a few times a week,” he says. “Maybe

I reply, smiling, because I hope I

my feet, and we stand

forward and

seems surprised, but then hugs me back, and