Alphas of Red Moon Ranch(40)

Better this way. Holly had made it clear countless times that she didn’t want the Beast in her life, so he’d keep them separate.

Jacob was fine. Just fine. That’s what he told himself as he watched dawn peek over the sturdy mountaintops.





Chapter 30


Holly woke up to an empty bed, the sheets beside her crumpled and cold. She hit her alarm and flopped back against the mattress with a sigh. She vaguely remembered Jacob getting up at some point in the middle of the night, but she had hoped he would find his way back to bed eventually. Now, instead of waking up wrapped up in her husband’s strong arms, she started her morning off with a flurry of worry fluttering inside her chest.

Marking her was supposed to tame his Beast. He’d told her that. The marriage, the bite, these were all steps they’d taken together. Steps that were supposed to rein him in. And it had worked, for a little while, at least. But now…now it was just as bad as it had ever been. And then there was that thought, nagging, in the back of her mind—

What if this is it? What if her husband was damaged beyond all repair? What if he had already gone too far and there was no stopping his downward spiral into becoming a full-fledged animal?

Then she would stand beside him, Holly decided. For as long as she could, or as long as he would let her. Heck, she had stood beside Chris for fifteen years and he hadn’t even deserved her loyalty. Jacob…

Jacob was a breed of his own. Figuratively and literally. He was special and Holly wanted to be with him for as long as she could, in whatever capacity she could.

Which was what made waking up alone so hard. It was as though she had lost him already.

Holly took her time getting up. She rolled out of bed, cracked her stiff bones, and shuffled into the bathroom. There, Holly brushed her teeth, rinsed off, and then applied her makeup—a light coating of blush, a little dark blue around her eyes to make them pop. Then she braided her long ginger hair back and slipped into a navy striped shirt (with a floral collar high enough to cover the bite mark on her throat—she was going to have to get used to working around that) and dark pants. Satisfied, Holly made her way downstairs. She could smell the burnt-chocolate smell of brewed coffee and walked into the kitchen.

Jacob sat at the cherrywood table. He looked like he was having metal for breakfast; he had taken apart some oil-slick piece of farm machinery, and he was cleaning it with a dishrag before putting the pieces back together. Holly had to wince. On the cherrywood? Really?

Instead of complaining, she smiled and said, “Good morning.”

Holly pressed a kiss to his mouth. He kissed back, hands black and grimy, and grunted, “Morning.”

“Did you make breakfast?” she asked.

Jacob nodded as he cleaned off his hands on the towel (Going to have to trash that towel, she thought). “Yeah. There’re some eggs and toast on the counter.”

“Thank you.” Holly turned on the stovetop to heat up the eggs.

“Don’t mention it.” Jacob started to go back to his project just as Holly snagged a mug and reached for the coffeepot.

“Y’might wanna reheat that,” Jacob said, nodding towards the pot.

“How long have you been up?” she asked, casually.

He shrugged. Tried to brush it off. “Not long.”

That wasn’t going to fly. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated, and then added, “Just until I woke up.”

Holly poured her cup of coffee and then sat down across from him. She reached over and entwined his fingers with hers. “You’re going to have to talk to me about this eventually,” she told him. Before he could protest with a vague, monosyllabic answer she continued, “It took a lot of trust for me to drop everything I had in Sacramento and come out here and join your clan. It took a lot of trust for me to get this.” She tapped her finger over the side of her neck where her mark was still very visible. “All I’m asking for is a little trust in return.”

His shoulders sagged a little at that. “I’m tired,” he said. “I’m cranky. There’s not a lot more for me to say about the subject.”

“What does it feel like when you’re bear?” she asked, leaning in closer as she took a sip from her coffee. There was no judgment in her demeanor, just bare curiosity, like she was doing research for a thesis.

“It’s…uh…” Jacob fumbled for a second and glanced away. He let out a breath of a laugh. “I’ve never had to explain it to a human before.”

“I think you’ll find I listen better than most bears,” she pressed with a smile.