Beauty and the Rogue (Undergoing Editing)

Chapter 4

Audrey's POV

A short ride later, we were pulling up in front of my single apartment building. Clicking out of my seatbelt, Cole did the same.

"What are you doing?" I blanched as he got out of his side of the car and walked around to mine to open the door for me.

"I was going to walk you inside." He said in a matter of fact tone, motioning for me to hop down out of the Hummer. He paused, "Is that ok?"

Against my better judgment, I sighed and obliged him. He had promised not to murder me in the woods. While he closed the door behind me, I began walking up the sidewalk fumbling with my keys the entire way.

Without a word, Cole followed behind me up the suddenly ridiculously long sidewalk to the door. Picking out the correct key, I inserted it into the door and it unlocked with a click sending my heart into eradic, frantic beats. Something about Cole did something to my insides, and I was unable to tell if it was a good or bad thing quite yet.

Leading us both inside, I paced to the right into the kitchen space before placing my bag on the counter. Cole's steps were slower than mine as he took in the living room area, his eyes running over the mostly bare area.

"I still have things to unpack." I explained before he could ask. Granted, most of my belongings were already unpacked but he didn't need to know that. "Procrastination is one of my many gifts." That earned a chuckle from him.

"We have that in common, at least." He eyes settled on me now that he had made his way into the conjoined kitchen. "How long have you been here?"

I leaned against the counter with my arms crossed, debating on how much of the truth he needed to know. I didn't stay alive this long by spreading my business around for everyone to know.

"A little over a week." I settled on a small bit of the truth. He only nodded, taking a seat at my two top kitchen table. His large frame in the small wooden chair seemed to dwarf the dining area.

"Thanks for the ride home." I looked down at my feet. I wasn't one to apologize for my actions, especially when I didn't know quite how to explain what happened back at school.

"It's really not a problem. Do I need to have someone bring your car over here later?"

"I don't have one." I replied without thinking. The fact seemed to surprise him but he quickly reformed his cool expression. There were a few beats of silence.

"So where are you from?"

I didn't think he was trying to pry but the question caused my thought process to stall for a second too long.

"Not around here." Was the best I could come up with.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Audrey. You can be honest with me." He tried gently. My eyes involuntarily flickered up to his. They swam with an emotion that I couldn't read, the dark green seeming to swirl around his irises. When I didn't comment, he continued. "I just want to get to know you, where you come from. What happened to your pack?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?" I shot at him a little harsher than I had intended. My wolf and I felt cornered when people started trying to dig into my past.

"Because you're my mate. I want to know everything about you."

Again, there was silence.

Our eyes stayed locked, his looking for answers while mine wanted to find a way out of this conversation. Maybe letting him inside was a bad idea.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He repeated, stronger this time. "You won't be punished for what happened today with Kate. She's had that coming for a while now, I'm just glad someone else finally had to guts to stand up to her. She's a bully, and an entitled one at that."