Free Unleashing the Beast by Lacey Thorn Page B

won’t,” Laura assured him. “Would you ever physically hurt Kenzie? Ever?”
    “No,” he barked out. He looked toward her house in the distance. “I’m going to leave you here then. I think you need to make the rest of this trip on your own.”
    She’d picked up the scent of her mate as they’d moved closer toward her house. Finn was there, waiting for her. Gabriel must have picked up on it, too. Thank God, he was giving her the chance to meet her mate on her own and not demanding he go with her to protect her. He dropped a kiss on top of her head then turned to head back toward the main house.
    “Gabriel,” she called out. He glanced back at her with a brow lifted in question. “I love you, too.”
    He smiled, nodded then continued walking, leaving her to venture the rest of the way alone. Her heartbeat increased with every step. If her mate still wanted to rip her throat out, she’d bare it for him. She took a deep breath and mounted the porch steps.
    * * * *
    Finn had planned to follow his brother, but he couldn’t force himself to leave. Not when he was cocooned in his mate’s scent. It was everywhere, practically permeating from the walls of the house. Despite his brother’s parting words, he knew Murph had brought him here for a reason. That reason was heading this way now. He felt the pull between them as his beast reached for hers. She was here. Laura. His mate. His.
    He turned and entered her front room as she opened the front door and stepped inside.
    “Finn.” His name was a whisper from her lips, but it hit his chest and almost sent him to his knees. There was pain in her, seeping from every pore. He charged toward her.
    “What is it? Who hurt you?” he demanded.
    She shook her head, reaching for him with shaky hands but stopping just short of touching him. Her eyes sparkled with tears that began to leak down her cheeks.
    “I left you… I didn’t… I couldn’t… I don’t deserve you now. You should hate me.”
    Finn stared at her. He felt a lot toward her at the moment, but hate wasn’t a part of it.
    “Why did you leave me there?” Finn asked. “Why didn’t you stay with me? Even if you thought it was only to be with me while I died. Why let me die alone?”
    Her voice caught on a sob. “I thought I’d lost you. I felt you slipping away from me. I swear I felt you take your last breath, felt your heart stop beating. Your eyes closed, and I felt as if the world crashed down around me. I tore out of there and swore I’d shed as much blood as I could to avenge you.”
    “You kissed me,” Finn murmured, and she nodded, her lower lip trembling. “You looked at me and told me you would have loved me. I’ve heard you whisper those words over and over again in my head. Did you mean them?”
    “Yes,” she promised. “You’re my mate. My other half. Our love is written in the stars.”
    Finn smiled at her choice of words. “Where did you go when you left me?”
    “I was searching for another party when I came across the one that had you. A group of hunters had taken a young female. I left as soon as the information came in. I knew there was nothing good planned for her.”
    “Did you find her?”
    “I did. I managed to save her and the two males being held with her.”
    Finn sensed there was more to her story than that, but they’d get back to it later.
    “Would you have left me if you’d known I was still alive?”
    “I tell myself that I would have. You were in no condition to go with me. I couldn’t sense your animal at all. I knew I had a limited window to get to the girl.” Her watery gaze met his. “That’s not the truth, though. If I’d known you were alive, nothing would have made me leave you. It was only the burning rage of vengeance that got me out of the room in the first place. I don’t blame you if you hate me. I hate myself.”
    “You’re my mate,” he whispered. “I don’t think there’s a part of me that would ever be able to hate