Bad Love an Alpha’s Regret by Elise Sinclair

Chapter 345

I can’t bring myself to name what I’m feeling.

If I do, it’s putting too much power behind the emotion.

“Axel, why did you break the bond?”

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I didn’t mean to blurt that out, but once the words are out there, I

watch him flinch.

But he keeps walking.

Axel?” I try again.

He doesn’t answer right away, and I swallow down the lump in

my throat. But I don’t turn back. I follow him into the annex. To the

far end, pushing into the bathroom after him and not caring if he

wants his privacy or not.

He washes himself in the sink. The blood sluicing off his arms and

chest.

I wait as he cleanses away the remnants of the fighting. I want to

help him. To take the towel from his hand and care for him myself,

but I know it’s not what he wants right now.

“Why, Axel?” I repeat. “Is it because of what happened to me?

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Because you knew I would be some broken, fragile mess?”

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He hurls the last of the rags aside and steps forward. He catches. my upper arms, his expression fierce.

“I don’t think that about you at all, Emily,” he says in an intense tone. “I think you’re strong and resilient. I think you’re amazing. Instead of being broken by what you went through, you let it make

you stronger. Not many people can claim that.”

I let a wan smile tug at my lips.

Not many people have been through what I went through, and I

Axel’s assessment

looking up at him,

the

second and I think maybe he’s not

me after all.

where to go from here if he can’t be truthful

seems to give in to whatever thoughts are

inside his

me closer still, holding me properly now, his

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daring to lift my hands and rest them

his chest, enjoying how I’m in his embrace in a way

mate,” he says, and a shadow enters his gaze, one that’s sad and haunted. “I’m centuries old, and in all the time, the Moon Goddess never once granted me a mate. I understood why. I live a dangerous existence. And I’m immortal. What good would it do to have a mate for a single, mortal lifetime, only to lose. her and then maybe lose myself in the process. How would I go on living and upholding the peace between

I’ve never considered

perspective.

makes total sense why

was trying to save both of us from the inevitable pain.

sounds very lonely,” I tell him in a quiet voice, and a hint of gratitude crosses his face at

wasn’t all,” he continues.

my long lifetime, and I will no doubt make many more

I had a mate, any of them could easily threaten or

in countless terrible

I realize that all this time, I thought Axel’s

had been selfish, that he was

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who simply didn’t want

like I am.

he was trying to

rejecting me were the least

up

and I realize it hurts that my

position, and there’s nothing I can do

him.

if he

what to do with

I nod emphatically.

do is

doing these past weeks.”

“I played my part in it

well.”

for a moment,

trust and

between us.

won’t be in

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