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sleep. I couldn’t sleep. I was too afraid he might come back. I was scared he’d find me vulnerable and initiate round two. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Typically, he’d be illegally inebriated by that time. My dad didn’t leave to walk it off. He left to seek his vices.
    As a wolf, our metabolism was faster. I was an anomaly. I was the one-off. Of course, that could be because I was nutritionally deprived. Regardless, we metabolized alcohol and drugs much quicker as a result. It took a lot to get my dad drunk or high. He still somehow managed it though. I didn’t know where he got the money when he was constantly losing his jobs, and I didn’t ask because I was afraid to know.
    Dom’s dad pulled the car in front of a gorgeous, sleek high-rise building. It put my apartment to shame. The outside alone ma de all the homes I’d ever lived in look like dilapidated shacks.
    A doorman opened the door as Dom’s dad got out of the car. Another man ran outside and slid into the driver’s seat in a flash.
    I looked up and found Dom standing beside my open door. I looked down to find I was already unbuckled. Was I that spaced out?
    He extended a hand towards me. “Take my hand, Soph.”
    Movement in the front seat caught my attention. I glanced over the seat to find the male, a wolf by his scent, in the driver’s seat frowning as he studied me out the corner of his eye. I wasn’t even inside and I was already drawing unwanted attention, creating a spectacle of myself.
    “I, um…” I slid my gaze back to Dom; his dad and Kris lingered behind him. Discomfort snaked through me. I didn’t want to embarrass him. No pack member would respect a future alpha with a weak mate. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
    “Bullshit!”
    I knew my eyes were wide as I gaped at him. He was scowling down at me, ferocity rolling his muscles, lighting his eyes as his wolf glared down at me.
    I swallowed hard. “I told you, Dom. I can’t be the wolf you need.” Damn my tears for returning now.
    He leaned into me, hovering inches from my face; his body crowded the car’s exit. Fire blazed in his eyes, burning into me. “You don’t know what I need because you don’t know me, because you won’t get to know me.” I heard the accusation in his tone. “Know this though, Soph. I need you. I will always need my mate.” He stood back. “Another little tidbit about me… I’m selfish. I don’t share. And I especially won’t share you with an abusive asshole.”
    I bit the inside of my mouth hard, stifling my tears before they could fall; calming my heart before it could sprint into overreaction.
    God, why was I fighting him? He was trying to help me. He was my mate for crying out loud. I knew he had the best of intentions. What that left was my own insecurities. I was the one holding us back; I was holding myself back.
    “You aren’t ashamed of me?” I asked. I had to know the answer.
    He softened. He squatted down, putting him self beneath me. No wolf ever lowered themselves in front of other wolves. It was a position of surrender, of submission; it was a vulnerable pose. He turned his gaze on me, waiting until I looked him in the eye. “We wouldn’t be here if I was.”
    “I don’t want to make things harder for you later,” I admitted.
    His lips curled up into a small smile; his dimples made themselves known. “The only way you could do that is by refusing to be my mate.”
    H ow did I get so lucky? Slowly, Nature’s wisdom was being unveiled before me. She knew I needed my mate now. She knew I needed to be rescued, because I never would have saved myself. She knew; the same way Dom just knew…
    I gave him my good hand and allowed him to help me out of the car. He went to place his arm behind me, but stopped himself. Kris flanked me on the other side as Dom’s dad walked in front of us. They were shielding me; they were already protecting me, just as they’d promised.
    Chapter 20
    Dominick
    Her gaze