Chapter 163

Third Person POV

Nan staggers backward, ignoring the sting on her cheek and the blood in her mouth. She watched as Chester landed blow after blow in Tyler’s face, making him barely recognizable. Nan’s wolf whimpered at the sight of their mate and his clear anger.

Wait…

Chester??

What was he doing here?!

Chester’s hands were red and blistered from the force he was using to destroy Tyler’s face. For a moment, Tyler did try and fight him, but Chester was much bigger and stronger. Nan was so frozen that she couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

It was Mac’s scream that brought Nan’s attention back to reality.

“Tyler!” Mac cried, rushing towards them, Kelsey hot on her trail with equal panic. “Let my cousin go, you animal!!”

Mac tried to get Chester off Tyler; Chester was the kind of guy who would never put a woman in danger, so the second Mac was near him, he paused his rampage on Tyler’s face.

“You’re going to kill him,” Mac cried. “Who the hell are you?”

Kelsey glared at Nan, her eyes almost deadly and accusatory.

“Do you know him? Why aren’t you saying anything.”

Nan’s eyes never left Chester; she was frozen and beyond confused. She was in a different country, so how was it possible that Chester just happened to show up here out of the blue?

Chester was breathing deep, his rage palpable.

“Get this fucker out of here before I kill him,” he said through his teeth, his eyes on Mac’s pale face.

She could feel that he had Alpha blood boiling through him, and she knew better than to argue with an Alpha, even if he wasn’t an Alpha to any pack directly.

Chester released his hold on Tyler, who was broken and whimpering, barely able to see out of his eyes.

“Are you just going to stand there?” Kelsey asked, her eyes remaining on Nan, who remained frozen. “Tyler is your boyfriend!”

Chester growled furiously at her, the ground shaking under the force, drawing Kelsey’s attention to him.

“I suggest you leave immediately,” he said through his teeth, trying desperately to real in his anger.

Kelsey shot Nan one last look before Mac grabbed her arm.

“Help me get my cousin out of here,” she pleaded.

Kelsey pressed her lips together.

“You aren’t the same girl I thought you were. Stay away from us,” she barked, grabbing hold of Tyler’s other arm and helping Mac get him away from Nan and Chester.

Tyler’s blood remained on the ground, and Chester was red in the face with fury, his body rigid as he watched them go. Nan knew he was fighting against his wolf, who wanted to take control and finish Tyler off. She wasn’t sure why, though; wasn’t Chester sleeping and having relationships with other women? So, why did he care about what Tyler did to her?

What was he even doing here?

But Nan couldn’t voice those questions; she remained frozen, staring at Chester like she was looking at a ghost.

He finally started to calm his wolf enough to relax his body a bit, and he turned to look at Nan for the first time since he arrived. His eyes narrowed when he saw her swollen cheek and the blood on her lip. His wolf nearly surged forward again; anger flashed in his eyes. His eyes trailed down her body, noticing the bruise around her wrist, and a low and deadly growl left his lips.

“I should have killed him,” he said through his teeth, his tone trembling as he fought, once again, for control.

Nan continued to stare at him, her mind whirling.

“What are you doing here?” She finally asked him, her voice coming out almost hollow as she thought of any possibility of why he would be here.

“Because you’re here,” he told her, standing fully to his feet, his height making him tower over her. “Did you really think I wouldn’t follow you?”

“You were the guy in the lobby just now?” Nan asked, her eyes staring up at him, remembering the guy in the lobby who was arguing with the front desk clerk, asking for Judy’s room number.

His cheeks flushed at her words.

“Y…you heard that?” He asked, his eyes narrowed.

She nodded and glanced at the ground.

“Tyler was dragging me out here to talk,” she murmured, embarrassed.

“Yeah, we are going to address that later,” Chester said, his tone low and deadly as Tyler was brought back up. “But for now, let's get you cleaned up.”

His eyes scanned her face, the blood on her lip, the bruise on her cheek and wrists. His eyes darkened at the sight.

She nibbled on her lower lip and nodded as she guided him away.

After walking through the resort and suffering an awkward ride in the elevator, they finally reached the suite.

Chester put his suitcase down; it wasn’t a big bag, but big enough to indicate that he wasn’t planning on leaving any time soon.

“This is a strange suite,” he pointed out.

Nan nodded.

“Yeah, it’s like a studio apartment,” she said, glancing at their beds. There’s a kitchen, a living room area, and a large bathroom.

“Is it cool if I crash on the couch?” He asked.

Nan nodded; he did come all this way, after all. It was only right that he was allowed to sleep on the couch.

“It pulls out,” she told him.

He seemed to have relaxed. He soon cleared his throat and turned to her.

“First aid kit?” He asked as he headed towards the bathroom.

“It’s behind the door,” she said softly, sitting on her bed.

Chester returned a moment later with the first aid kit in hand. He grabbed what he needed and sat beside her. His eyes were dark with anger as he cleaned up her lip and applied a cream on her swollen cheek.

The silence stretched on, making Nan uncomfortable.

She tried to avoid looking into his eyes, but he was so close to her that it couldn’t have been helped.

“Who was that guy?” he finally asked after what felt like an eternity of silence.

“A distraction,” she whispered without hesitation. “But he went crazy.”

He didn’t reply right away; he allowed her words to sink in fully before he nodded slowly.

“Did you sleep with him?”

Nan’s eyes snapped back to his.

“Why does it matter?” She asked.

“Because you’re my mate—”

“You’ve slept with any woman that walks by you!” Nan practically shouted. “So again, I ask… why does it matter who I sleep with?”

A low growl escaped his lips at her words.

He knew he was wrong for being upset because she was right. He wasn’t a big fan of monogamy, and he made that quite clear to anyone and everyone, including his mate. He dates women, leads them on, sleeps with them, and never calls them back. Harper was the only one he truly spent more than one night with. Now he had a mate, and things were confusing for everyone involved.

He spent the past week trying to convince Harper to let him go, but she doesn’t seem willing to do so. He had a moment of weakness one of the nights last week and slept with her, telling himself that it would only be one more time. It seemed to have set Harper off, though, and she’s adamant about keeping him in her life romantically because she’s “in love with him…” her words.

Chester made it clear he couldn’t be with her after he woke up the next morning riddled with guilt. His wolf was miserable without Nan. Judy told him where they were going to be before they left, and he went straight there. The only issue was he didn’t have Judy’s room number, so he had to ask the front desk clerk.

But they refused to give him the information without Judy’s permission.

His wolf picked up on the danger with his mate right away and knew she was in the area, so after his argument with the front desk clerk, he let his wolf guide him to where Nan was. He saw Tyler raise his hands to her, and then he saw fucking red.

He couldn’t control himself anymore until he realized others were now there and attempting to stop him.

He couldn’t bring himself to fight them, too, because they were women, and he was against hurting women. He had no choice but to calm down and let Tyler go… but if he had it his way, Tyler wouldn’t be alive right now.

Why would Nan choose to spend time with him? The dude was a jerk.

“I slept with Harper after you left,” Chester found himself saying bluntly, making Nan’s attention snap to his face.

She hated that she felt hurt by what he had said. She blinked back tears as she stared up at him.

“It was only once, and I felt guilty about it. I booked a flight here, and a few days later, I was on the plane,” he continued, his voice casual as he put the supplies back into the first aid kit.

“Why are you telling me this?” She asked him softly.

He shrugged.

“You’re my mate, whether we like it or not. Stuff like that shouldn’t’ be kept a secret if we want to make this work.”

She blinked at him, confused.

“And do you want to make it work?” She asked him.

There was a beat of silence, and when he didn’t answer, she let herself let out a breath that she had been holding.

“I didn’t sleep with Tyler,” she whispered. “He tried, but I denied him. We had gone on dates and did other things, though.”

His jaw clenched at the image of her doing “other things” and going on dates with Tyler, but he nodded slowly, keeping himself under control.

When he didn’t say anything else, she took a deep breath and decided to ask him the question that she’d been wondering since the day she found out she was his mate.

“Are you going to reject me?”

His eyes flashed to her; truth be told, he had thought about it on many occasions. But now that she was asking this question and sitting right in front of him with her big, pretty eyes and her innocent expression, he was even more conflicted.

And all he could muster was a whispered, “I don’t know.”