Too Beautiful for the Alpha

I immediately close the door behind me and turn to him with wide eyes. His scent is muffled and I can't tell if I am imagining him or not. "W-What are you doing here?"

James nears me and my heart begins to race. The sight of him makes me feel secure, a warm feeling spreading throughout my shaking body. The darkness of my bedroom shadows his face, making him a figure in the night, something my eyes could be playing tricks with. Once close enough, the moonlight from my window lightens up his face and my throat grows dry. He reaches out to me, takes my hand in his, showing me that he is indeed real. "I'm here to finalize things, Rae," he says, his voice less smooth than it has been in the past.

I struggle to speak, bringing me back to when I first met him. "You're going—you're going to reject me now?"

I can see his jaw clench. "Yes."

A shower of sadness rains down on me in one abrupt wave. My entire body is weighed down and my chest struggles to rise. My eyes can do nothing else but look up at him, hoping he sees that I am unwilling. My lip quivers like a lost child's. "Don't."

It's all I can't muster and he lets out a breath, his glaze tearing from mine. "Rae—"

"No," I murmur, quiet so no one downstairs hears me, but also quieted by my swelling throat. "Just don't. Not yet? I'm not ready yet." I'm not ready to let go.

"When? When will you be ready?" He asks, not really asking, though.

"I won't. I don't want you to reject me."

James looks down at me as if he's trying to figure me out, a puzzle he just can't put together. "When I told you that you had to go home, you agreed. You left without a problem."

"Because I didn't know if you wanted me there. I'm not going to stay somewhere I'm not wanted."

"I don't want you there," he says calmly.

With nothing to lose, I ask, "Why?"

He sighs and drifts further into my bedroom, not focused on anything around him. "Because I don't want to hurt you anymore. You need to be somewhere you can be happy."

"But I—"

"You cannot tell me that you were happy at my Pack, Rae. You weren't. You were miserable. You were doing anything to get out."

I don't know how to make him understand because I hardly understand it myself. Maybe it was that one hint of kindness that gave me hope. "Do you want me there?"

He stays quiet.

"So if I were to come back, you would hurt me again? Would nothing change? Is this what you want? To reject me? If this is what you want, I'm not going to try and change your mind. You can reject me right now then."

There is a pause before he says, "It doesn't matter want I want."

"But do you want me there?" I press. "Would you treat me the same?"

into darkness.

you wouldn't change? What about my things? What about in

"Enough."

back here and I've been miserable. Stop acting like you don't want me one minute, then that you need to send me away for my own good the other. Just tell me what you want. And not what you feel

from downstairs. "Aren't you coming back

call back, "Yes,

as I look back to James. He sits on the

treat me how you want to treat

to the diary on my desk and I hope he doesn't

did you

fighting the need to bite down and pay for what I had said. "Theresa and Gail told me you are like your

me. Where did you hear about my

he's lied to me, but I hold it back

My mother calls again, slicing

head to the door. "Just wait here. I'll be right

the door behind me. Now worked up, the sight of my mother and her friend and Noah irks me. I wish I could yell about how I'm dealing with something important upstairs. They smile. "You're not even changed?" My

is just everywhere,"

coming back down,

course. It was nice meeting the both of you, hope we can really get into things next time. Sorry for my spotty presence." The two look somewhat pleased. "I better

"Your towels are in the

the door. He is sitting on the bed again with something in his hands. My heart thumps hard when I realize it's the diary. He doesn't look up from the pages when he asks, "Where did you get

door against my back. "I found

"Where?"

upset or not, I proceed cautiously. "In the

heart race even more. "You went into a blocked off room and took her—what—her diary? Does that not seem like a boundary to

to distract myself. You're the one

tosses it beside him on my bed. "Your bedroom is different than my dead mother's diary, Rae. And if I remember clearly,

"About your mother?"

You've been reading her struggles for entertainment for a while

thing that gave me a sense of clarity. It was someone to relate to while you stomped

as James looks to be off in thought. I stand at the door watching him, waiting for something. The sight of him on my bed is bizarre to me, some weird mix of my old life and my new one. They don't

her, aren't you?" He

away from the door, closer to him. "At the beginning,

"Why's that?"

with my words. "Your

James sighs shortly. "No."

He let her in and she just took it and tried to act like