Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Ripper pointed at her. ‘That’s exactly it.’ He stepped out onto the porch.
‘I hope it doesn’t work out that way. I know what it’s like to have an . . . absence in your life. A gap where a particular person should be.’
Yeah, she’d know. She’d suffered several losses. Her mother and grandmother had died. Her father had abandoned her. And her mate had turned Rabid and left her. ‘You took longer than most people do to declare the mating over,’ he noted.
She shrugged. ‘I guess taking that extra time made me feel less guilty about forfeiting it.’
‘There was nothing else you could have done. Moving on isn’t about replacing a person or forgetting them. It’s about finding peace. He’d want you to have that.’
She gave him a wan smile. ‘Take it easy, Rip.’
Rip. It was the first time she’d abbreviated his name. Few people did it, and he found he liked that she was now one of them. ‘You too.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Stalking into his clan’s bar Sunday evening, Ripper felt his mouth thin at what he saw. He’d received a call from the bartender to warn him that a fight might potentially break out. It turned out he’d been right, and Ripper hadn’t arrived soon enough to prevent it.
Grunts, curses, growls and the sounds of flesh smacking flesh filled the air. One male was very clearly dominating the fight, but he was in no rush to end it – punching, stalking and shoving his opponent into things.
Glasses smashed. Chairs hit the floor with a bang. Table legs scraped the floor as they skidded.
Spectators appealed for the two males to stop, but no one jumped into the fray. He couldn’t really blame them. Getting between two fighting werewolves was never a good idea – they could both as easily turn on you.
Hence why the bartender had called Ripper.
It wasn’t rare for werewolves to get physical like this – they generally welcomed the rush. As such, he’d shown up here many times in the past to break up fights. Quite often, he would arrive to discover that they were over and the fighters were cleaning up any mess they’d made. They’d often buy each other a drink in apology, and then it would be forgotten.
Tonight, it wasn’t going to be that simple. This wasn’t a mere drunken brawl or a case of wolves getting into it over something petty. Two people had swanned in here knowing that it would set another person off. This had been the result.
Ripper strode over there, shouldered his way through the crowd, and planted himself between the fighters. ‘Stop,’ he ordered, his voice firm.
They did, their chests heaving, their gazes still locked, their faces set into glowers.
‘Pull back. Both of you.’
Each male did as he ordered, neither looking at him.
‘Logan, go cool off in the office.’
Swiping at his split lip, his brother angrily stalked off without a word.
Ripper turned to the other male. Given that his face was a mass of bruises and cuts, he was no doubt regretting his decision to rile up Logan.
After leaving Emberlyn’s house on Tuesday evening, Ripper had tracked down his brother. The guy had been sitting on his private pier, knocking back beers. He hadn’t ranted at or blamed Ripper for CeCe getting together with Neal. Nor had Logan pushed Ripper to finally cave to CeCe’s demands.
Quite the opposite.
Logan had claimed that he was ‘done’. Knowing she was now sleeping with another guy, that she’d been able to move on so fast so easily, had hit Logan hard. He hadn’t been expecting it. The fact that she’d chosen someone she didn’t even care about over him had crushed Logan.
‘I’m not gonna hunt Neal down and kick his ass,’ he’d told Ripper. ‘Let him have her. I’m not interested anymore.’
He’d meant it because he’d been positively gutted. And during the days that had followed, he’d made a pointed effort to avoid the couple.
Had tonight been a case of him incidentally seeing CeCe and Neal about town, Logan would have hidden his pain and turned away. But no, nothing about this had been ‘incidental’, so Logan’s reaction was not only understandable but justified.
‘Neal, go to the restroom and clean yourself up,’ Ripper instructed. ‘Then you’re gonna clean this mess and get the fuck out of here. I’ll deal with you tomorrow.’ He wanted to talk to his brother.
Neal’s back snapped straight. ‘Why isn’t Logan being forced to help? I didn’t throw the first punch—’ He cut off as Ripper got right into his face.
‘Don’t play fucking innocent with me,’ Ripper growled.
Neal’s gaze dropped to the floor.
‘You came here with the sole purpose of setting Logan off. You started the fight just by walking through that door. You knew exactly what would happen.’ Ripper flicked his gaze to CeCe. ‘And so did you.’
Her eyes widened. ‘What? No!’