My Convicted Wife is My Mate (Bella and Kane) novel Chapter 17

chapter 16
KANE’S POV

“No,” I said. “You didn’t do anything strange.”

It was a lie.

When I carried Bella from the back seat of the car into the cabin last night, she’d slung her arms around my neck like a lost child refusing to let go. Her face was pressed against my shoulder and her breath was warm against my skin. I thought she was unconscious until I laid her on the bed and she held on tighter.

“Let go,” I had told her quietly.

But she didn’t. Instead, she pulled me with her. And before I could react, she rolled until she was on top of me.

I hadn’t expected it. For a man who built his life around control, that moment was chaos. Her hair brushed against my jaw. Her scent – jasmine and a bit of lavender - filled the air around me. My wolf rumbled at the memory even now. He gave a low, dangerous sound of approval that I couldn’t understand.

My wolf was a simple creature. He was driven by instinct, food, fights, and women. Any type of woman would do – human or shifter.

Wolves had standards, not attachments. Not truly. My only exception was Sophia, my ex fiancée. She was the only woman I had ever let close enough to touch what little remained of my heart. Since her death, I hadn’t wanted that again. Every other woman I’d been with since was temporary. I’d only had one night stands.

The women I had flings with all knew the score. No feelings. No promises.

But Bella wasn’t like them.

Her voice brought me back to the present. “What are you thinking about?”

I looked at her. She was sitting up in bed now. She had the blanket crushed against her chest. Her hair was messy, falling over her face, and yet she looked… calm. She looked curious. Her eyes studied me carefully.

I didn’t answer.

She tilted her head slightly, smiling. “You were lost in thought.”

“I was,” I admitted.

She hesitated for a second, then leaned forward and placed her palm against my cheek. Her hand was small and warm. I didn’t move. Her eyes locked with mine. She stared deeply into my eyes.

“Your eyes…” she whispered. “They’re so beautiful.”

For a second, it felt like I forgot how to breathe. What the hell was wrong with me?.

She spoke softly . “I really like your eyes.”

“Like?” I echoed.

I wasn’t surprised. I’d heard it before. Women had said they liked my eyes, my voice, my body. They always had something to say. But I preferred silence. Words meant expectation, and expectation led to disappointment. I’d learned that long ago.

As she watched me, my father’s voice came to mind.

I could still remember sitting on the stone steps outside the packhouse as a boy. He’d crouched in front of me, studying my face like he was trying to see through me.

“The kind of eyes you have,” he’d said, “are deceptive, Kane. They look emotional, but they’re the most heartless. I don’t know which you’ll become - emotional or heartless. Maybe both.”

As Alpha, I became both. I had to be. I had a bit of compassion when it benefited the pack and ruthlessness when it didn’t.

Bella’s groan pulled me out of the memory.

I stared at her for a long time. “No,” I said finally. “He doesn’t.”

I looked at her face and noticed the bruise on her cheek. It was dark now. Looking at it made me feel a type of anger I couldn’t explain.

“It would have been great if you’d arrived earlier,” she said quietly. “If you’d come sooner… I wouldn’t have been hurt.”

I didn’t reply. The truth was, I’d known where she was. I had men stationed outside that hotel long before I stepped inside. I wanted to know why she’d gone there. It was part of the game - this charade between us that I had started. But I hadn’t expected the night to turn out like that.

When I finally arrived and saw her bruised face, her trembling body, I wasn’t amused anymore. I was furious.

Bella reached out and took my hand.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “For coming for me. It’s good to have you here.”

Her words shouldn’t have affected me, but they did. She smiled, brushing her thumb over my hand. “I’m fine. It was just a slap. It’s nothing to me.”

It was nothing to me too but the bruise on her face made me feel something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I looked at her again - the woman sitting across from me with bruises on her skin, light in her eyes, and a kindness that shouldn’t exist after everything she’d been through.

She smiled at me like I was something worth believing in.

And for a moment, something inside me, something that had been cold and silent for years, stirred to life.