The Awakening: Britton (Entangled Covet) (20 page)

She didn’t know.

At least he’d been honest, though, which had saved her from making any more of an idiot of herself.

She’d walked out of that tent this morning with a sense of giddy excitement, wanting to see him, touch him.

Talk to him.

Now it was all about saving face. She refused to be the only woman he was awkward around because

he picked up on her hurt feelings. His other women somehow found a way to keep emotions and Britton

separate. She’d find a way, too.

Dea
, she hated that phrase—
his other women
. As if she had reduced herself to belonging in that pitiable

group.

Hell
, no.

Up ahead, the honeymoon cabin came into view. Relief surged through her. Why? She didn’t know.

He’d want the bathroom to get ready for his hot date, and she’d be trapped, waiting in the living room while

he primped for another woman.

She climbed the stairs and walked inside, then noticed that Britton hadn’t followed. She turned around

to find him a few feet away from the cabin on the phone.

Her stomach twisted violently.
Dea
, was he already on the phone with
her
? He glanced up at her and

something she couldn’t decipher crossed his expression. It almost looked like pain…but that was

ridiculous.

“I understand, Councilman. You have our word.”

The knots in her gut loosened as he hung up. “What did he say?”

“Not much, really. Just reiterated that we are not to track anymore.”

“What about the samples from MASK?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s not sending them. They have a lead. All they want us to do is

wait.”

“So we sit?” She’d much rather crawl through a patch of poison ivy than sit around this cabin, waiting

for Britton to return, or even worse, being trapped here with him after he did.

“Clear orders straight from the elder.”

She blew out a frustrated breath. The elder didn’t issue stand-down orders often. If he had, he must

have a reason, and as SPAC agents it was their job to wait for instructions from their superior.

Silence fell between them, then he cleared his throat. “I need the keys to your car so I can head home.

I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

She worked hard to keep her jaw from dropping. He was so excited about his date he wasn’t even going

to get ready here. Talk about a slap in the face.

“Won’t Olivia get suspicious if my car is parked in your driveway?” she managed.

“Already thought about that. I’m going to park it at Liam’s old cabin. I shifted yesterday. It’d be nice to

take a run through the woods.”

And already be naked when Olivia arrived.

Val tossed him the keys, barely refraining from throwing them in his face. “Have fun.”

She turned and stalked inside. Before she completely lost it.

…

Britton parked Val’s car in front of his cabin and turned off the ignition, but remained behind the

wheel, staring at the trees in front of him. Driving away from Val like that had been the hardest thing he’d

ever done. He wasn’t sure how he would even get through the next twenty-four hours, but thankfully the

deadline was tomorrow afternoon. One way or another, the case would be over.

Val would go back to work. He’d go back to being a human. And it would be as if nothing had

changed.

But everything
had
changed.

Hiking behind her the last few hours had been excruciating. He’d wanted to take away the stiff set of her

shoulders, the jerky motion of her gait. The pain of betrayal in her heart.

He’d hurt her. Badly.

It was one reason he’d decided to leave as soon as they’d returned. Since she was “out of town tending

to her sick mom,” she had to stay at the cabin. He didn’t. And after the hell of the morning and afternoon,

she deserved some peace—from him.

He glanced at his watch. It was closing in on six. On his way home, he’d called Olivia and canceled

their plans, begging off because of his supposed back pain. She’d offered to come over and wait on him

hand and foot, but he’d politely declined. There had been shock in her voice when she’d said, “Britton

Townsend is actually saying no?”

Man, if that hadn’t painted a flattering picture of his reputation. For the first time he’d been truly

bothered by it. Bothered that Val had accepted what he’d said so easily because of his past actions. Things

at the PD were about to change.
He
was about to change. He might not have a future with Val, but he

couldn’t go back to the way he’d been. Not now. Not in front of her.

He’d finally been able to convince Olivia he was still hurting too much to be any kind of company, and

she’d relented, ending the call with a peeved, “Hope you feel better soon.”

He didn’t see that happening. The pain wasn’t something physical that would heal. No, it was a deep

ache that constricted his chest, suffocating him.

Every part of his being wanted to return to Val and make up for the hurt he’d caused her.

But he couldn’t.

He flung open the car door. What he really needed was a run. A long, exhausting one.

Then a shower. Change of clothes.

Regroup.

Because he would need all his strength to face Val tomorrow morning or he’d never be able to keep up

this charade of indifference.

…

Maybe she shouldn’t have called Miles. But half of the doctor’s business card had fallen out of a pair of

Britton’s pants while she’d been straightening up. The other half was still in the pocket. The card had been

torn straight down the middle.

The silence in the cabin had consumed her, beating her with images of Britton entwined with Olivia,

and Val hadn’t been able to handle it anymore. Then she’d found the torn card and taken it as a sign. Before

she could change her mind, she’d picked up the phone and asked Miles if he wanted to come by for dinner.

Biting her bottom lip, she walked around the couch and handed Miles a glass of wine.

Unfortunately, the handsome doctor’s presence hadn’t banished Britton from her thoughts as she’d

hoped. Maybe she just needed to try a little harder.

She sat on the couch close beside him, and he stretched his arm behind her and toyed with a lock of her

hair. “I’m really glad you called.”

Smiling, she feared it came out as more strained than actual delight. “Me, too.”

She glanced at the clock. Almost eleven. Miles had been here for about three hours. When she’d called

him and invited him over, he’d casually asked if Britton was there.

No, Britton was off fucking another woman.

She hadn’t said that, of course, but it’d been on the tip of her tongue. Instead she’d admitted Britton

was on a date. The doctor’s businesslike tone had changed then, becoming flirty. When he’d shown up,

he’d picked up steaks from a local steakhouse, along with two bottles of wine. Clearly a mind reader.

She’d immediately started drinking. Little good it had done. Britton was still everywhere she looked.

While she and Miles ate, the conversation had been nice. He was easy to talk to. And she’d searched for

any spark of chemistry between them, desperate to find any semblance of one. She never did. And she still

hadn’t after a round of pool. All she’d found was the memory of Britton bent over the table, cue stick

between his fingers…and what those amazing fingers had done to her last night.

The man was enjoying Olivia’s company right now. Had most likely taken her the same way he had

taken Val last night. Maybe more than once.

But she still wished Britton was here instead of Miles.

And that pissed her off.

She tiptoed her fingers across Miles’s forearm. “What do you say we move to the hot tub?”

Interest lit up his hazel eyes. “I don’t have a suit.”

“Who says you need one?”

A smile came to his lips. “I like the way you think, Detective.”

This was wrong. Felt all wrong.

Which only pissed her off even more. It
wasn’t
wrong. Britton had made it clear that last night meant

nothing to him. He was still going to screw other women. She shouldn’t feel like she was somehow

cheating on him. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. Not even close.

“I’ll go grab some towels.”

After she pushed off the couch and went to the bathroom, she peered at her reflection in the mirror over

the sink. “You want to save face, Val Calhoun. This is your chance. Forget about Britton Townsend. That is

one fine man out there waiting for you. Go get him.”

Nodding at her reflection, she stripped down to her bra and panties, then returned to the room to find

Miles standing in his boxer briefs. He really was an incredibly attractive man. Strong, muscular. And he’d

not once mentioned another woman or bragged about playing at work.

But not even a tingle of arousal hit her.

When his heated gaze raked over her and still she felt nothing, she realized she couldn’t go through with

this. It wasn’t fair. Not to either of them. Not with Britton looming in the back of her mind like a freaking

chaperone. Damn him. She hugged the towels to her chest. “Listen, Miles—”

The front door crashed against the wall.

Eyes blazing violet, chest heaving, Britton surveyed the scene, fists clenched at his sides.

Then he pinned her with his gaze. “What the
hell
is going on?”

The question was asked slowly, tightly, and she tensed at the barely contained rage behind those words.

What right did he have to be so angry? None.

She squared her shoulders. “Miles asked for a rain check, and since you were busy tonight, I thought

I’d offer him one and maybe have him check me out a little more
closely
while he was here.”

Britton stepped inside, slamming the door behind him. “Did you fuck him?”

“That’s not any of your damn business.”

Body shaking, he stormed forward. “Did. You. Fuck. Him?” Without waiting for her answer, he spun

and charged Miles. “You son of a bitch! I’ll fucking kill you!”

What the
hell
? Why was he acting like an awakened shifter?

She dropped the towels and ran forward, putting herself between the two men. A mistake. Huge one.

Britton’s gaze dropped to her bra and panties, and a feral growl erupted from his chest. He shoved her

behind him and stalked straight at Miles, who took a couple of steps back. “Hey! Look, man, I had no idea

you guys were a thing. Sorry, I’ll just—”

“A thing? A
thing
?” he said the words with disgust. “She’s my goddamned
mate
, you asshole!”

Gasping, she clamped her hand to her mouth as she stared hard at him. Holy. Shit. He
was
awakened.

She
had awakened him?

That couldn’t be right. He’d just been with another woman. He told her so himself. But shifters didn’t

go around making claims like that unless it was true, and he sure was acting the part of a jealous shifter—

defending his own.

So, why would he have gone to another woman? Or…had he?

But if he hadn’t, how had he been able to say he had? The instinct would have been in overdrive, his

beast furious, and it would have been a huge struggle to utter such a lie to his mate. He hadn’t struggled.

Not at all. He’d looked her right in the eye and talked with ease about being with another woman.

Or…maybe not…

Dea
, she didn’t know. She’d really stopped listening after “hot date” and had simply wanted to get away

from him.

One thing was clear though, if she really was his mate, he
hadn’t
been with Olivia. He couldn’t have

been. It would’ve been impossible. He was now ruined for any other woman but Val. Though she felt

immense relief that he hadn’t left her bed and jumped into another woman’s, the verdict was out on the

being-his-mate thing—that she couldn’t wrap her mind around.

Britton continued advancing on Miles. The muscles of his back were rigid, his hands clenching and

unclenching at his sides. Miles retreated until he ran out of space, hitting the wall with a
thud
.

Val shook herself out of her stupor and again inserted herself between the two, shoving her hands

against Britton’s chest. “What do you mean I’m your mate?”

The unholy glow of his beast stared down at her…through her. Then suddenly, the blue flickered in,

spread, and his beast’s presence vaporized.

Horror replaced the rage as he jerked back, away from her.

She stalked after him, needing to hear him say it again. To confirm it. “What did you mean, Britton?”

He turned his back on her. “I wasn’t supposed to say that,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, well…we’ll get to the reason for that in a minute. I want an answer to my question first.”

He finally turned and she was stunned by the regret pinching his face. “Last night, when you kissed me,

you awakened the
Drall
, Val. You’re mine.”

Out of all the verbal blows Britton Townsend had ever thrown at her, this one had a punch that made

her see stars.
His
mate? Yeah, she liked the man she’d gotten to know the last few days, was extremely