Chapter 50
Gavin’s POV
Gavin couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
Erin was still breathing heavily after their intimate moment when he pulled away from her. She stared up at him with such seriousness and regret on her face.
“What?” He asked, trying to keep his wolf under control.
Was she actually being serious? She left him because of her father? What did that even mean?
“My father threatened your future…” she explained, her face growing red as she stared down at her hands. “He told me if I didn’t leave you, then he would revoke your scholarship.”
“For college?” Gavin asked, narrowing his eyes at her. “You lead me to believe you left me because I was poor.”
“I didn’t know how else to end things,” she explained. She met his eyes, and he could see the sadness lingering within them. “I’m so sorry for hurting you…”
She reached her hand out to touch him, but he retracted his body from her reach. He was way too hurt to be touched by her right now.
For years, he thought she left him because he wasn’t good enough for her. He thought he was mediocre when it came to her and that he needed to be better in order to get her to take him back. He blamed himself and lived with this regret for YEARS. Now, she’s telling him that the reason she broke up with him was because of a threat her father had made?
He couldn’t keep the betrayal off his face; tears welled up in her eyes, spreading across her features.
She was now covering her naked body with her arms; she was growing embarrassed being this vulnerable in front of him.
“How could you lie to me like that?” He asked, his lip curling up in disgust. “How could you make me think less of myself for all those years?”
“It worked out for you, did it not?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. She slid off his desk and went to search for her clothing. “I mean look at you, you’re a powerful Alpha now. You set out to accomplish your goals and you achieved them.”
“I suppose I have you to thank for that?” He spat at her.
She pulled on her pants and grabbed her shirt off the ground; or what was left of her shirt.
“I’m not saying you need to thank me, but it ended up working out in your favor.”
“You are my mate, Erin. Do you have any idea how painful it was for me to be rejected by you? How painful it was to go through life with a smile on my face when my heart was in pieces.”
“It was painful for me too, Gavin,” she snapped; she was no longer crying, but her face was red with anger. “You weren’t the only one who lived through life with a fake smile. I was faking it too.”
“Then, why didn’t you just tell me the truth? Why couldn’t you just talk to me instead of rejecting me?”
“Because I cared more about you than I did about my own feelings. If I didn’t leave you, my father would have taken away your scholarship and you would have remained poor.”
“I would have figured it out,” he hissed, fury rising through him. He hated being angry at her; it was a rare occasion for him to be angry at her, but he couldn’t help himself. “I would have done anything to keep you in my life.”
“I would have done anything to make sure you succeed in life,” she said in return. “It worked out for you.”
“No, it didn’t,” he said, shaking his head. He grabbed his own clothing and started to put them on as well. “I would have thrived even further if I had my mate by my side. Instead, I had to watch you play house with another man. I had to live in the same universe knowing that you didn’t want me. Thinking it was because I wasn’t good enough for you. I had to prove that I was good enough and even then, I still felt inadequate.”
“Gavin, I never wanted to hurt you…”
“What did you think would happen?” He asked. “I was in love with you, Erin. I wanted to spend my entire life with you. Hell, I was going to propose to you. I was ready to settle down with you by my side. I didn’t care about attending that stupid college; I cared about you.”
“You wanted to be the head of the council and now you are…”
“Yes, but it wasn’t because I excelled in college,” he said to her. “It was because I’m a powerful being and I always get what I want.” He paused as he stared around her shocked face. “Well, maybe not always because the one thing I wanted was off with someone else doing goddess knows what.”
“That isn’t fair,” she said. She stepped toward him, but he recoiled away.
“I think you should just go back to your room,” he said, looking away from her. He couldn’t even look at her right now.
“Gavin—”
“I need space,” he said, stopping her words. “I just can’t do this right now…”
She stayed where she was for a short while, staring around at his serious and hurt face. She didn’t argue with him though; eventually, she quietly turned away and left his office.
“You were so cruel to our mate. What has gotten into you?” Max growled; he was furious that Gavin turned Erin away after they spent so long trying to get her back.
“She spent a decade lying to me,” Gavin said in return, shaking his head in disgust. “How can we trust her after that?”
“She’s still our mate and now we have an even bigger chance at getting her back. We know now that she didn’t leave because of how poor you were. She left because she loved you. She still loves you. When are you going to grow the fuck up?”
Gavin was at a loss for words; his wolf was right.
He sat back at his desk and buried his face in the palms of his hands, growling in aggravation.
He shouldn’t have turned Erin away like that. What if he scared her off forever?
There was a frantic knock on his office door, bringing him back to reality.
“Come in,” he muttered, leaning back in his chair as Beta Seth ran into his office.
He looked worried; his eyes were bugging and wild and he seemed to have been out of breath like he had run for miles in his human form.
“What’s going on, Beta?” Gavin asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index fingers.
“You are needed at the hospital, “Seth said breathlessly. “It’s an emergency.”
He was serious.
Gavin stood to his feet, narrowing his eyes at his Beta.
“What is it?” Gavin asked.
“The is on fire,” Beta Seth explained. “It’s burning to the ground.”
