Free Alphas Unleashed 3 by Cora Wolf Page A

by that window at that exact moment he would have turned right around and walked back in to the forest. It was his impression that I had been ignoring him, and getting close to Marcus instead, that had driven him away, after all. And I knew then, in that moment, that I had been mentally distancing myself from Marcus ever since Connor had left, unconsciously walking myself back from the thing that had made Connor leave.
    But it felt so good, to have Marcus there, with his arm around me, reassuring me just with his presence that everything would be okay. But why had it taken him five days to do this?
    As if sensing my thoughts, he said "I'm sorry you've seen so little of me over the last few days. The truth is that I wanted to come to you and be with you but I thought that you might blame me for Connor leaving."
    "No," I said right away, "I don't blame you at all."
    He seemed to relax a little at that, and I was surprised at how heavily it had seemed to be weighing on him.
    "The truth," he said, "is that ever since all three of us spent the night together I haven't been able to stop thinking about you Sara. Ever since my wife and family were taken from me I have been completely singular in my desire to take revenge on those that killed them. I never expected to have romantic feelings again. And so I was caught completely off guard when I suddenly developed them for you. I still feel compelled to see my revenge on the vampires through, I suspect that that will never change for me, but I want you to know that regardless of what happens with Connor, you always have a place at my side, with me."
    "Thank you," I said, not wanting to say more. I would need time to digest all that. Could I come to love Marcus the way I had fallen so completely for Connor? Maybe, in time. But Marcus' pain was much more personal than Connor's ever had been. He was defined by it. Despite what he said, I wasn't sure he could ever make room in his heart for anything else. And if he did ever manage it, he might come to resent the person that had taken that pain away from him.
    In many ways Connor and Marcus had been two opposites who, when they came together, made a whole. Marcus cool and removed, Connor hot and passionate. Together, they made sense, but apart they seemed incomplete. Especially Marcus. He didn't seem to make sense without Connor there to compliment him.
    But I held on to his arm across my chest all the same, grateful for any comfort that was being offered, and silently prayed that Connor would find his way back to the two of us. To me.

Chapter Two

    The next day, and still no sign of Connor, I went looking for a distraction, to get myself away from the window, away from the gazing out at the outside world and feeling trapped in my own sadness.
    I went exploring in the mansion.
    It was a big enough place that just going around and poking my head in to all the rooms took a long time. But for the most part none of it was very interesting. There were bedrooms and bathrooms, a library, a whole second kitchen, other rooms that probably had some official function or name that I wasn't familiar with.
    But all of the furniture had sheets over it, and all of the lights were off, and everything was covered in a fine layer of dust that hadn't been disturbed in years, and I didn't want to be the one to disturb it. It felt like it would be disrespectful to Marcus to do that. Instead I only poked my head in and witnessed what was there, and moved on.
    Soon I had made my way back to the room that Connor had shown me, the one with all the pictures. I went inside and quietly closed the door behind me. Then I went to the other side of the room and threw back the heavy curtains and let the light come pouring in.
    It seemed as if the room had been a bedroom once, now that I really had a chance to look around. There was a bed and a side table and a door which I discovered was an attached bathroom. And the stacks of boxes. I took the lid off of the top one and