Page 29 of Awakening the Beast
“Tell me, Arlo.”
He takes a step back with a snarl before turning around, showing me his back. “Fucking leave it, Wren.”
“I won’t leave shit, Arlo. Tell me right now,” I shoot back, my frustration mounting.
He rapidly turns around with a fierce glare. “I said, fucking leave it!” he yells in my face, trying to show his authority as always, but unfortunately for him, I’m a different woman now.
“I refuse to accept any more lies between us. You said we're in this together. I can’t, no, I won’t put up with this shit, and if you loved me, you would understand,” I say firmly, my chin raised in defiance.
As we stare at one another, his jaw is tenses, his orbs angry, reflexing my own. When he realizes I'm not backing down, he sighs and presses his brow against mine, his eyes clenched shut.
“This is going to change everything, and I don’t want to hurt you any more than you already are.”
My gaze wanders over his face, my confusion growing, and I begin to fear the worst—that maybe there’s someone else I am unaware of.
“There’s someone else?” I ask, my words trembling.
His eyes widen, and he jerks his head back, his face scrunched up. “Fuck no! What the…”
My body relaxes slightly before he takes my cheeks with his large hands, tilting my head back. “You're the only woman for me, Wren. Always,” he declares with seriousness.
Relief floods through me, but the stress remains. “Then what is it, Arlo? What could be so bad that you can’t tell me?”
He searches my eyes once more before releasing my face and straightens to his full height.
“Everything,” he admits. “You, me, our families, the Elite world, and probably a whole lot of other shit.”
His words echo and he glances away, shaking his head as if trying to clear his thoughts. “Is it selfish of me to say I don’t want shit to change, but I want to tell you everything because you’re my entire world and you deserve to know the truth?”
The raw vulnerability in his words makes my chest tighten. This isn’t just some passing confession—whatever he’s about to say has the power to shake the foundations of everything we’ve built. I let his words settle, allowing their gravity to sink into my bones. Then, slowly, I reach up, cupping his cheek with my hand, and when my fingers make contact with his warm skin, his eyes return to mine.
“Nothing or no one on this fucking planet can change how much I love you, Arlo Hayes. Nothing will change our precious family, and from where I’m standing, that’s all that matters.”
As I let my hand drop away from his face, he rubs his palm over it before he lifts his head, locking eyes with me once more.
“And what if it’s something to do with your family?”
My brow pinches, confusion and worry twisting inside me.
“What are you talking about?”
His jaw tightens, the muscles ticking beneath his skin as he glances away, withdrawing into himself.
“Does this have anything to do with my father?”
He now looks at me, his gaze unreadable, before turning away, reaching to turn off the shower.
“Come on,” he says with a sigh. “Let’s get you dressed and out of here, and then we’ll fucking talk.”
I nod in silent agreement, following him out of the bathroom.
As I dry myself off and get dressed, my mind races with a thousand possibilities, each one worse than the last, but I force myself to stay calm, to keep my focus on the man in front of me. When I finish dressing, I sit on the edge of the bed, my eyes never leaving him as he paces the room, the glass of whiskey in his hand almost forgotten.
“Did anyone ever tell you who runs the Elite underworld in the States while I was dead?” Arlo asks as he stops in his tracks, his eyes avoiding mine.
I pause, mulling over his question, trying to remember information I’ve picked up over time.
“I believe one of the Elites mentioned it was someone who likes to remain anonymous.”
