“I’m fine.”
“I heard what happened and I came, you know, when I heard about your loss of control.”
“Oh, yes, right. I think I saw you. I’m doing fine. No reason to worry or to stress. I’m not going to start killing everyone.” She frowned. “You know, I don’t think there has ever been a documented case of a rogue wolf terrorizing her own pack.” She shrugged. “I think I’ll be safe. Gage told me that it can happen to late bloomers.”
Constance had no idea why she was talking with him. They had never shared a conversation together.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“What for?”
“I want you back.”
Constance frowned. “Huh? What?”
“You heard me. I want you back. I want you for myself.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not how this works.”
“Damn it, I have tried, okay? I have tried to stop having feelings for you, but it doesn’t work. I think about you all the fucking time. Even when I’m fucking Tiffany. I imagine it’s you. That day, I have never been so scared in all my life. I missed up. I want you.”
“No.”
“Damn it, Connie. I’m the one you’re meant to be with.”
“Do not ever call me Connie.” Hearing that name from his lips was wrong. “No.”
He had stepped into the room, and she made sure to keep her distance.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Damn it, Tanner, I don’t know what this is all about, but you rejected me, remember?”
“Yes, but I made a mistake.”
“So being mated to the ugly fat girl wasn’t so repulsive to you after all.”
“I can’t stop these feelings. Seeing you with my dad, hearing you with him.”
She saw his hands clench into fists.
“It’s more than I can bear.”
“Oh, right, so when you thought I would be left alone in a corner of nowhere, freezing cold and pining for you, that was okay?”
“Fuck, no. That’s not what I meant.” He groaned.
“Then what? You see that someone can actually want to be with me, and you’re not happy with that, and you want it now.”
“I wanted you, okay? For the past three years since I turned. I have wanted you every single day. You were the only one I wanted.”
She stared at him in shock.
“Wherever you were, I needed to be. I didn’t want to admit that I craved you. Do you know how embarrassing that is?”
“I don’t know. Try being told how ugly and disgusting you are in front of the entire pack. How about being so completely humiliated on your first transition where your body has been broken and shattered to turn into a wolf, only for the guy who was supposed to be yours to reject you. Not only did that all happen, but I then lost my job and my parents kicked me out. I didn’t have time to recover. It all happened one after the other. Do you want to know what the real interesting fact is?”
She stared at him, feeling the fire in her stomach. When it came to Tanner, she had no feelings. Yes, he had hurt her and humiliated her, but she was over that. “I never wanted to be with you either, Tanner. When I realized who you were and what you were, you simply got to the rejection part first. I don’t want you. I don’t find you or any part about you attractive.”
“What?”
She laughed. “Wow, you’re shocked by that?”
“I’m the alpha’s son.”
“But you are not Gage. You will never be Gage. You are not kind, sweet, caring, loving, a true leader, a gentleman. He is all of those things.”
“So that’s what this is about. You don’t want the runner-up, you want the main prize.”
“Even now. No, it’s not about Gage being an alpha. Do you think I want that kind of pressure? Do you think how easily the pack wanted me gone, I wanted to be by his side, knowing at any moment they could turn so fast on me?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want that. I don’t want any of that.” She pressed her lips together. “I … I’m in love with your father. I have been for a long time, Tanner. You and I, it was never going to be.” She licked her lips. “You can try. I believe there is some law that states we have to, but I don’t want you, and I know deep down that you don’t want me either.”
They stared at each other. Silence rang through the room.
The sound of a deep voice clearing had her gasping. She saw Gage standing a little behind Tanner. She had been so focused on telling Tanner what she felt, she hadn’t looked to see if he was there, but he was.
“Gage.”
“I’m fucking out of here,” Tanner said. Within seconds, he was gone.
Folding her arms beneath her breasts, she looked at Gage. She’d been dancing to try to distract herself from the fear of why he was avoiding her. Was Tanner the reason?