The Light in Us

45. Zeke

45

Zeke

I turn off the engine where Fallon directs me. My truck is parked up the street, but my eyes land on the house she points out.

It looks nondescript. A little shabby, even. As though nobody bothered to spend any money on the outside. I’m desperate to know what the inside looks like, to imagine how Fallon spent her days before she met us, but I swallow that urge.

“You can still change your mind.” My tone is a plea as I turn to my mate. She’s staring out of the window, that fucking dress that feels like a symbol of everything wrong with her world covered up with one of my hoodies.

She looks small, and terrifyingly breakable. But her spine is like steel as she casts me a smile. “They don’t scare me. Not anymore.”

Nodding, I glance at the house again. Curiosity prickles at me. “Who are they? What do they do?”

Fallon shakes her head. “Later. I – I need to get inside. They’ll already have questions.”

My lips press together at that. The time we spent arguing – every minute made it worse for her. None of us realized she had to be home by a set time until she confessed it to me a few minutes ago. “I can walk up there with you right now. They won’t say a single damn thing to me, sweetheart.”

“No,” she whispers. “I don’t want an argument, Zeke. I don’t want to see that, or hear that. It’s one more night sleeping under that roof, and I’ll never see them again. I can slip away without any arguments, and I’ll leave them a note to tell them.”

Her voice shakes.

“And you’re… okay with that?” I keep my voice as gentle as I can. She wouldn’t be the first person to want to stay in a situation that causes her harm, as awful as that truth is. Not that I would ever let that happen to Fallon, but it’s worth broaching now.

“Yes.” Her eyes are shining. “I didn’t expect any of this, you know. I sat in that restaurant yesterday, and I – I wished you were mine. That I could be part of something, instead of always on the outside.”

My heart hurts. “You’re going to be the center of our world, Fallon Matthews. I promise.”

“Don’t make me cry,” she breathes. Her fingers brush my cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning. You don’t need to wait.”

“I will be right here,” I rumble. “Where’s your room?”

“On the other side, facing the back.”

Damn. “Remember what I said. Get to a room on this side and flick the lights on and off. But either way, I’m coming through that door tomorrow morning if you don’t come out.”

She nods. Points. “That corner is the kitchen. Living room on the other corner and R— one of their rooms in the middle.”

My muscles lock into stone, my hands clamped around the wheel.

“I have my own bedroom,” she says gently. “That’s never been something they’ve used against me. They’ve never hurt me that way.”

“Then why the heat-blockers?”

Her face flushes. “I never wanted them near me during my heat. I fought them the first time they tried. Apparently, I nearly lost my mind. I don’t know why. They began getting me the medication after that. It wasn’t forced on me.”

I can’t hear anymore. “Go now. We’re losing time.”

My voice is guttural. “If you don’t come out, I’m coming in. Okay?”

She takes a breath. “I know. I trust you.”

Such a simple gift, handed over as if she doesn’t have every reason never to trust an alpha again. But she’s gone before I can respond around the tightness gripping my throat, the faintest scent of orange blossom and my folded hoodie on the side the only sign she was here at all.

I watch as Fallon moves down the sidewalk. She doesn’t look back.

I wonder if she’s aware of how her shoulders tighten, how her arms lower to grip her body like protective armor.

The steering wheel cracks under my grip.

My mate disappears inside that dilapidated house.

And all I can do is wait.