Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret

Chapter 326

EMILY

I don’t bother asking Axel what his punishment will be if I disobey him and leave the house.

Instead, I turn on my heel and walk out on him, going to find wherever Jessica ran off to.

I half expect Axel to follow me, but he doesn’t, and I don’t know if I’m relieved or annoyed.

No, I tell myself firmly. I’m definitely relieved.

But even I’m not buying my own lie.

When Axel had pulled me up against him just now in the office, for a second, I’d thought he was going

to kiss me, maybe do even more than that.

My body had all but melted like ice cream on hot pavement.

I wanted him.

Even worse now that I knew what it was like to come apart in his arms.

But I hated myself for that. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Did I have no self-respect?

The man has made no secret about his negative feelings toward me.

Yet my body and my instincts—most especially my wolf—want me to surrender to him every time he

turns that heavy gaze my way.

I find Jessica, but she’s with other pack members and I don’t get a chance to talk to her.

I’m not sure what I would say to her anyway, how I might present the idea of getting rid of Axel in a way

where she might help me instead of running straight to Axel or Aaron to tell them what I’m planning.

Dinner comes and goes, and Axel is lurking here and there, always watching me closely as if he’s

expecting me to just get up and run off at any second now.

I ignore him, and it seems as long as I’m with Jessica, he mostly leaves me alone.

Jessica asks me if I want to watch a movie, and I almost instinctively look to Axel for permission which

just pisses me off even more.

Since when did I start thinking I needed his approval to do anything?

So I resist the urge to look over at him and tell Jessica I’d love to watch a movie.

We pop some popcorn and grab some soda pop like when we were teenagers and head into the

mansion’s theater room.

Axel leaves us be, but I’m sure he’s probably lurking in the hallway.

We watch a rom-com and we both cry and laugh and it feels like old times…exactly what I needed.

However, eventually the movie ends, and Jessica says she’s heading to bed.

I don’t want to go to bed, because I assume Axel is just waiting to lock me in my room again.

We walk out to the corridor and while Jessica heads upstairs, I tell her I want a book from the library.

At the end of the hall, Axel appears out of the shadows.

Lurking.

Just like I knew he would be.

“Where are you going?” he demands like the prison warden he is.

“I’m not tired yet, I want to get a book from the library,” I snap impatiently, stepping around him.

Axel doesn’t reply, just trails me into the library.

Inside, the room is as welcoming as it always is. There’s overstuffed chairs, cozy couches, a fire in the

hearth burning low in red and golden embers, and the pleasant smell of furniture polish and old books.

I spend some time walking up and down the shelves, until I find a book of poetry by Emily Dickenson I

must have read a hundred times when I was younger.

I didn’t always understand it at first, but I liked the way she put the words together.

I get it down and then decide to test a theory, going over to stretch out on the couch in front of the

hearth.

I arrange the pillows to get comfortable and even flip a soft knitted throw blanket over my legs.

Axel doesn’t say anything, but he does add some more wood to the fire, making the flames flare up

higher and more brightly.

While I settle in to read, Axel takes one of the chairs and picks it up.

He then pointedly positions it square in front of the French doors leading out to the garden.

After that, he sits down and crosses his arms, staying rigid and on high alert.

It can’t be comfortable.

I roll my eyes and settle down deeper against my own comfortable cushions.

However, I wonder if maybe for tonight at least I’ve outsmarted him.

Because if I don’t go to bed, then Axel can’t lock me into my bedroom.