Chapter 38

Axton

That steak with the twice-baked potatoes looks really good. No one has ever put that much effort into cooking anything for me. Actually, no one has ever even half-assed made me a noodle cup.

“You are a straight jackass. Axton, look at the time she put into making us dinner. She has open wounds on her back and stood up the entire time cooking while carrying our pups, and you couldn’t even sit your simple ass down and at least eat it?”

What the hell did Khan expect me to do? Play nice and make up? I think the fuck not.

“That’s exactly what your dumb ass should have done. Don’t you dare deny you still love her because you know you do.”

I am going to get what I have to say out before he gets a chance to block me; he needs to see reason. She’s put us through hell and is the reason my grandfather is dead.

“That’s not the point, Khan. She slept with that vampire the entire time she was gone.”

Khan growls at me. “You dumb fuck. She didn’t willingly sleep with him, and you know it. Did Jake just chain her up for shits and giggles then? Alisha just tripped and broke her own neck, too, huh?”

I hate how he keeps doing that.

“Hate what? The truth? Of course, you don’t want to hear the truth because you’d have to admit you are wrong and always have been from the beginning. I’m so sick of your shit, you know that?”

“I’m sick of you, too, fleabag. Everyone knows we can’t be compelled because we are werewolves,” I retort, feeling smug.

“Fuck you, you fucking meatbag. In wolf form, you dipshit. I can’t be compelled when we are shifted. But you can, you big dummy!”

Wait! What? How the hell did I not know this?

“You think everyone even knows that? Well, newsflash, they don’t. What do you think I’d been doing half the time I took over? I was reading up on our mortal enemy and looking for Elena.”

Wait a minute. He agreed we would kill her if we found her.

Khan answers me before I can even ask. “No, I merely told you what you wanted to hear, dickwad. You are such an irrational lovesick creature. If I had told you the truth, you would have gone apeshit.”

Now I am pissed; he has been keeping shit hidden from me. “What the fuck, Khan?! How could you keep that from me?”

Khan snarls back at me. “Same as you hiding how you really feel about Elena. The guilt you try to hide and cover up with justifications. Deep down inside, you know this is your fault. You would rather blame her for your mess than take responsibility for nearly killing her, and our pups, twice. Let’s not forget Alisha. Her blood is on your hands and no one else’s. You can’t even pin that on Jake. Derrick even thought he was human and gay, like you could tell the difference. They smell just like what they eat, you fool.”

I’m sick of him blaming me for all of it. I didn’t tell her to run from me.

“No, but you sure created the conditions for her not to trust you or stay. What other choice did you give her? Now get your shit together, eat that food she made, and appreciate that she doesn’t hate you the way she should.”

With my shoulders slumped, I let out a sigh.

“Put your big boy pants on and go back out there to her right now, or I’ll do it for you.”

With a growl, I walk out and down the hall and enter the dining room to find it empty. The plates are gone, and so is Elena. I make my way to the kitchen to find everything cleaned up and put away.

“Look what you did, you unappreciative swine. Yep, brain on empty, that’s for sure.”

Just as I am about to head back, a sticky note catches my eye on the microwave.

Left this for you, just in case you change your mind and get hungry. — Elena

Khan pushes forward. “I hope you feel real proud of yourself, dummy.”

Like clockwork, he blocks me from saying anything back.

I do feel like shit for making her eat alone after all the effort she’s put in. I walk to the back of the apartment, wanting to apologize, knowing my wolf will hound me until I do. Just as I am about to knock, I hear her sobbing, and Khan shoves forward, snarling in my head.

“Don’t. You’ve done enough. Just leave her be. I don’t trust you not to make things worse,” Khan tells me.

Putting my hand down, I return to the kitchen to eat my food alone. I dig my fork in after reheating it. Goddess, it’s so good, making me feel more of an ass than I do already.

Khan pushes forward. “As you should, dummy.” Then blocks me out again and refuses to talk to me for the rest of the night.

Exhaustion takes over, and before I know it, I force myself to bed and fall asleep.

Khan

I can’t wait for him to go to sleep; he’s irritated my soul to no end. I don’t give a fuck what he plans to do, and I have to convince him not to do the nanny interviews. I saw him message Eli asking what time the first woman would arrive to be interviewed.

I want Elena, and I need her; I am wolf enough to admit it. She doesn’t deserve Axton being a dick to her on top of everything she has been through. I already know the truth. That fucking vampire compelled and commanded her. I need to hear it from her; if not, her wolf will tell me. I make sure Axton is tucked away behind a barrier, none the wiser about what I am doing as I use his itchy-ass skinsuit to walk down the hall to her bedroom. Gripping the door handle, I open it, finding her in her bed.