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 of me.

why?” I whisper this time, looking up at

for the

and I

after

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

to give in to whatever thoughts

his

wasn’t about you at all, Emily,” he says gently, pulling me closer still, holding me properly now, his touch tender. “Well, it was,

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I say, daring to lift my hands and rest

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

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.

to realize I’ve never considered

perspective.

it makes total sense why he rejected me.

trying to save both of us from the inevitable

and a hint of

he continues. “I’ve made many

lifetime, and I will no

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

in countless

realize that all

been selfish, that he was

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simply didn’t want to be with damaged

like I am.

he was trying to

the least

come up with.

I realize it hurts that my mate

in such a terrible position, and there’s

him.

he whispers, as if he can’t quite

do with

I nod emphatically.

want to do is make your life harder,

been doing these past weeks.”

Emily,” Axel replies. “I played my part in it

well.”

for a moment, we

trust and depth of

between us.

won’t be in my life

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