Mated to Two Bad Boy Alphas
Chapter 79 – Caught–2
–LIA’S POV–
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Zane’s body tensed a bit. “No, Lia. Don’t say that. You don’t owe me anything.”
“You keep saying that but it won’t change the facts. You rescued my life, Zane. I have your blood running through me, healing me, keeping me alive.”
“No, love. You just needed a little help. It’s not my blood keeping you alive anymore.”
“Does it matter?” I scoffed. “You gave me a second chance at life. That is as real as what I feel for you, and what you feel for me.”
Zane gently led me away from himself to look at me. His blue eyes held an emotion I couldn’t quite decipher. I had to blink to keep myself from drowning into them. “Lia… do you love me?”
I stared up at him, my eyes widening slightly.
For some reason, the words would not leave my lips, even though I felt the answer in every bone of my body.
Zane tucked my hair behind my ear, his fingers brushing my cheek, sending tingles through me. “Answer me, please.”
“I…” I trailed off, closing my eyes. I took a deep breath, trying to
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gather the courage to say it. It was frightening to admit it loud. It was Zane Adams. Leader of the Hounds. The boy who was complicit in my bullying for ten years.
“Why are you scared?” he asked, cupping my cheeks.
I met his gaze, and a hot tear rolled down my cheek, surprising
- me.
Zane frowned, brushing it away.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, my heart pacing.
“No, you do. But you don’t want to hurt my feelings.”
I sucked in a breath.
How could he read me so easily? It was like he saw right through
- me.
“Are you still afraid of me, Lia?” he asked, his eyebrows
pulling together in a sad frown. “Have my friends and I really traumatised you this bad?”
I swallowed. “I…”
“Say it, my love,” he pushed. “There is nothing you can say to me that I wouldn’t deserve to hear.”
I gathered the guts to say it. “A part of me… somewhere deep
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down, is scared that…”
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He waited, watching me.
“If I say it, you will laugh. The Hounds will walk in through that door, Ajax will have a camera to record my misery, and for the rest of my life, the entire town will know me as the nerd who thought Zane Adams could love her.”
I heard the hammering of his heart again.
Zane stared at me dumbfounded, his mouth parted slightly. His blue eyes slowly welled up, and a tear slid down his cheek. I frowned. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, wiping it away. “I—I didn’t mean to–”
“Shh,” he pressed his finger to my lips, closing my eyes. Zane sniffed and met my gaze again. He removed his finger from my lips and cradled my chin. “I deserve this, Lia. I deserve to have to wait for years to be able to hear you finally say it.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not like that.“.
“But it is,” he replied. “I deserve this for being a jerk to you. For being a jerk to anyone at all. The Hounds and I were wrong, Lia. All these years, we were pieces of shit, honestly. We… we thought we were superior than human beings. We thought that being stronger, having sharper senses made us better. And we punished you guys for it, as though it was somehow your fault.”
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I sniffed, lowering my gaze.
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He gently tipped my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eye.
“I think I know now,” he said, lightly rubbing my cheek with his thumb.
“Know what?”
“Why the Goddess gave me a human mate. And that too one I would have to beg for the heart of.”
“I’m sorry, Zane.”
“Don’t be. Because every moment I get to spend with you, trying to convince you that this isn’t some prank, this isn’t a trap set. out for you by the Hounds, is a penance and a treasure in itself. I should not get to be with you Lia, until I have redeemed myself for the years of shit I put you through.”
“It was your friends, mostly,” I pointed out.
“I wish I could agree with that. I am their Alpha. If I’d said the word, they wouldn’t look at you ever again.”
I swallowed, nodding slowly.
“I deserve to wait for you. Although, this is the best kind of punishment.” He chuckled.
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“Why?”
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“Because I get to win your heart the human way. I get to learn about you, know about you before I can proudly call you mine.”
I smiled, another tear leaving my eye.
“Stop crying now,” he scolded playfully, wiping it away.
I laughed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said, giving a me a quick peck on my forehead. “It might sound cliched, but you look beautiful even when you cry.”
I glanced towards the mirror, and snorted at my reflection. “I do not, in fact, look beautiful.”
“That’s cause you’re a human with weak vision. You can’t even see the bug on the corner of your wall.”
“Where?” I asked, tensing up.
“Relax. It’s a very small one.”
I deflated.
“Anyway, you don’t have to say it until every part of you is ready
to.”
“Thank you,” I said, “for understanding.”
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“Thank you for giving me a chance.”
“Thank you for saving my life.”
“Thank you for not dying on me.”
I laughed. “You did that, not me.”
“You fought too, my love. You wanted to live.”
“Not for you, though,” I teased. “I wanted to live for my parents.”
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“I don’t care,” he shrugged. “You can live for whoever you want as long as I get to be a part of your life.”
“And if I don’t let you be a part of it? Would you be okay with me dying?”
His eye gained a mischievously dark glint to them. “Why do you think you’re gonna have a choice?”
A shiver crawled through me. I blinked at him, my breath hitching. “So what Sheila was true, wasn’t it?”
“That I’d kill the boy you fall in love with if it’s not me?”
I nodded.
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“No. I’d simply kidnap you and lock you in my bedroom until you’d agree to love me.”
I gaped at him. “I can’t tell if you’re serious and it’s not funny.”
Zane smirked, not even bothering to deny it.
“Zane,” I scolded, slapping his shoulder. “You’re scaring me.”
He laughed. “If scaring you a little gets you to be with me and keeps you away from all other shitheads trying to get your attention, I don’t mind.”
“There are no shitheads trying to get my attention. You’re really lucky your mate is a nobody. Imagine how tough it is for Aaron.”
“Sheila is crazier about him than he is.‘
“Really?”
He nodded.
“Cute.”
“It is. Although I hate it.”
I laughed. “Why?”
“Cause I’m jealous.”
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“Of Sheila or of Aaron?”
“Good question.”
I smacked his shoulder again.
“You know you’re pretty violent.”
I shrugged. “Have to be when I’m with an animal.”
“Did you just–”
“Yes.”
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“Oh you asked for it.” Zane began to tickle my sides, and I screamed, making him immediately stop and clasp his hand over my lips. “What is wrong with you?” he whispered, glaring at me. “Your parents will hear you!”
“You should’ve thought about that before tickling me!” I tried to scold, but the words came out all muffled.
“Quiet,” he whispered.
I froze, hearing the sound of footsteps. Zane did too.
Before either of us could react, Mom barged in.
She gasped, her eyes wide.
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Zane and I were in my bed. He was hovering over me with his hand over my lips.
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