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Chapter 17
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The Hybrid Mate Chapter 18
Bella awoke back in Victor’s room, wearing only a thin white linen shirt that was far too big. To her amazement, his door was completely repaired. It was almost as much of a shock as the fact that she was there at all. She glanced over at the nightstand, but the sketchbook was missing from the top of the stack of books. “Looking for this?” asked Victor, stepping in from the balcony. The curtains billowed behind him as he approached, holding the sketchbook in his hand. Bella cast a wary glance at the door, then back at him. He was in front of her in an instant, which shouldn’t have been possible. “It was careless of me to leave it lying around,” he said, flipping through the pages until he landed on the one he wanted. She could guess which one it was. He glanced between her and the pages with a critical eye. “I can see that my rendering does you no justice now that I’ve met you in person. The proportions are all off. You’re far more enchanting in
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 19
Bella’s assumption that Darian was the one with the temper vanished as she watched in horror as Victor grabbed the end table, books and all, and hurled it through the balcony door like it weighed nothing. “Victor—” she began, terrified. “No!” he roared as he continued to rip his room apart from one end to the other. Whether his rage was directed at her or some other target, she didn’t care to stick around and find out. The trust that had only begun to form between them evaporated entirely as she put every ounce of energy she had into reaching the door. To her amazement, he let her go. Maybe he was just too distracted by his rampage to bother pursuing her, but she wasn’t going to give him the chance to change his mind. Her breaths came In fearful gasps as she searched the hallway for Darian’s door. It wasn’t where it should have been. In fact, when she looked back, Victor’s door was the only one in an otherwise empty hallway that s
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 20
Bella felt her cheeks grow warm. He knew. Somehow she had truly called out to him in her dreams, and he had responded. Guilt and shame threatened to resurface, but she pushed them down, reminding herself that she was free to kiss whomever she wanted, dream or not. “It was just a nightmare,” she said, relieved that it wasn’t a lie. “I have no idea how you heard me, though. How did you know it wasn’t just a dream?” “I didn’t,” he replied with a shrug. “But I wasn’t going to take that chance.” Bella didn’t know how to respond. The library was becoming busy again, and she needed time to think. “Can we talk about this later? I’m the only one working today, and I don’t want to get into trouble.” He stepped away from the desk and scanned the area. “Sure. I’ll just wait at one of those tables and look at books or something,” he said, his expression grim. She arched an eyebrow. “You mean read?” “Whatever.”
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 21
She was expecting some sarcastic remark, but he just smiled. “If I had it my way, you’d be laughing all the time.” She swung the café door open so hard she was worried a hinge might break. The place was dead on Sunday nights, so they had their pick of tables. She pointed out a booth in the back and Darian shook his head. “A table is better,” he said, walking over to one. After he pulled out her chair and took the seat across from her, she could see why he didn’t want a booth. As it was, he would already have to hunch over the low table. “Everything I’ve had here is good, the wraps especially,” she told him. She doubted he was a picky eater, though. He scanned the menu earnestly. “They don’t list calories.” She blinked. “You count calories?” “Yeah, it’s hard to eat enough with all this low-fat granola bullshit going around,” he said. “I need to stay fueled for, uh, security.” “Wow. Is the job really that intense?” “The
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 22
Bella’s back straightened, and she felt a strange twinge of some unfathomable emotion at the thought of Darian with one of Victor’s submissives. It couldn’t be jealousy. That was just absurd. The back of her hand burned, almost like something had stung it, and the pain wouldn’t go away no matter how hard she massaged it. Despite her best efforts to hide her strange reaction, Darian picked up on it quickly. “Are you jealous?” he asked, sounding far too pleased. “Of course not,” Bella mumbled. “We’re not together, that would be ridiculous. Anyway, I know you’re a Dom. I’m sure that implies… things.” “Things?” he laughed. “Sometimes it involves sex, but not always. Why don’t you come down to the Lodge, and you can see for yourself?” “You know how I feel about that, Darian,” Bella sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, this was nice, but—” “But you wish this was all there was,” he said knowingly. He thought about it for a moment. “Is that the on
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 23
The next few days came and went like a hurricane. Prentice was right about the difficulty of Monday’s lecture, and about half the class stayed after the period was over for the special two-hour study session he had arranged. A few of them scheduled tutoring appointments for the next week, which was good news for Bella’s bank account. By the end of it all, she was exhausted, but she agreed to go out for coffee with Sandra once she managed to get ahold of her. While Bella had been avoiding her for a day or so, Sandra had made herself an even scarcer commodity lately. She was hardly ever in the room, and when she was, it seemed to only be for ten-minute intervals that “mysteriously” occurred during times when she knew Bella would be away. To her relief, she was the same old Sandra when they finally got together. They talked briefly about the competition, and Bella apologized in person for blaming her, but so much had happened since then. What had seemed li
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 24
“Never said it was your fault. When a man leaves home on a business trip and comes back not even a week later to find everything turned upside down, he gets curious.” He looked up and removed a thick pair of reading glasses, motioning for her to come forward. “Let’s have a look at you.” His eyes were shrewd and green, and it felt like they were looking through Bella. They widened sharply as he looked her over, and he rose suddenly from his chair. Bella took an instinctive step back and hit the wall that was Darian. He put his strong hands on her shoulders and kept her steady. The longer the Alpha watched her with those piercing eyes, the more she felt like returning to the Lodge had been a mistake. Just when she was sure she was about to find out whether Darian’s protectiveness over her extended even to the man he revered so deeply, the Alpha composed himself and straightened his back to reach his full height. He had to be at least six feet tall.
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 25
Bella glanced at Darian, hoping to unravel the enigmatic comment, but he appeared just as bewildered as she was. “Well, the damage is done, and it seems you won fair and square,” Ulric stated. “There’s no reason for you not to keep the prize money.” “That’s the thing, Sir. I don’t believe I won fairly. There was another contestant named Maverick, and he would be much better suited for the title and the other… prizes.” “Other prizes?” Ulric frowned. “You mean the membership?” “Uh, no,” Darian interjected, clearing his throat. “The guys voted and decided to put the winner on the cover of that magazine Brendan runs, plus a session with you. I think it was their attempt at matchmaking since you’re retired.” “Did they now?” Ulric narrowed his eyes. “That brilliant idea was Brendan’s brainchild, no doubt. I’ll have a talk with him later.” He shook his head, appearing utterly exhausted. “I have no time for that sort of thing anymore. Bella, keep the money, a
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