In Her Heat - Ainsley's Story

In Her Heat - Chapter Thirteen

I was overwhelmed by the torrent of emotion that was vigorously coursing through my body. Disbelief was a top runner. Not that Aidan had killed my parents, but that Reese, Ashton's best friend also believed it to be so. Reese thought the father of his best friend had deliberately killed my parents to gain Alpha status. He hadn't admitted it, but he hadn't denied it either.

I shook in Reese's arms. My brain was so clouded with emotions that I barely noticed Reese had scooped me up and was carrying me away. I didn't care where he took me - I was too exhausted to care. My skin tingled noticeably at Reese's touch, but I was too tired to analyze that as well. The past few minutes had seemed to suck all my energy from my body.

It wasn't until I felt the cool breeze of air conditioning against my overheated skin that I realized I was in a cabin. Not my own, or Connie's so I guessed it to be his. I gave the room a spare glance. I was right, it was his - the clothes he'd worn the night he and Ashton had kidnapped me lay across the back of a chair. At the thought of Ashton, my stomach and heart clenched, and I gave a low, melancholy moan.

Reese sat down on the couch and placed me on his lap, my body angled so I was facing him as much as possible without actually straddling him. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, seeking comfort, something to soothe my ragged nerves. He leaned his face against the top of my head, nestling it in my hair. His warm hands ran up my back, spreading heat there. One stayed there and the other went to my hair, stroking it and running its fingers through the loose strands of my dark black hair.

We stayed there like that for a while, not saying a word. The sounds from outside his cabin seemed hushed, faded, as though they were just outside of a world containing only me and Reese. When I stopped breathing raggedly from my sobbing, our inhales and exhales became synchronized, our bodies moving in harmony against one another. I relaxed into Reese's body, as the room grew dark. This felt right, good. Whether as my mate or not, I knew Reese would always be a part of my life.

After more long moments, Reese spoke. "I'm guessing you talked to Connie." It was a statement.

I nodded against him. "We're related, you know. Through my dad." My voice sounded dead and devoid of life but I was struggling to hold back my tears.

"Yeah, she was your dad's cousin, I think."

Another silence.

I forced myself to push my next question past my lips. "So is it true?"

Yet another silence, this one, heavier than the last. I heard Reese sigh and his hand lifted from my back. I imagined him running his hands through his hair repeatedly before I felt it come to rest once again on my back.

"That's a matter of opinion. Some people don't think the story that went public was what really happened. Some people thought it was a little suspicious."

"Okay, what about you?" I asked him. "What do you think?"

"Ainsley-"

"Don't 'Ainsley' me, Reese. I know you don't want to feel like you're betraying Ash, but these are my parents, Reese. Don't you think I deserve to know the truth?"