Ty stopped halfway through the room. The line of his shoulders pulled back, tightened.
Mia tensed reflexively. She knew what usually followed when a man flexed like that.
Ty swiveled around. The look in eyes had hardened to polished steel.
Mia swallowed down a new shock of fear. It was too late now to take back her question. She knew from experience she couldn't run away. If she was destined to take her punishment, she might as well stand her ground.
"You want answers?" Ty's tone dripped with mockery. "You haven't said a truthful word since I carried you through that door."
"You can't blame me for that." Mia lifted her chin. "I never asked to be brought here. I' m—I'm a prisoner here."
"A prisoner with an unlocked door, and hours alone," he shot back. "A prisoner who begs me not to stop until she's filled with my knot and exhausted from hours of pleasure."
Mia tried not to flinch under the force of his words. She tried to be strong.
She lifted her shaking chin. "I have a right to know the truth."
Ty's nostrils flared, and Mia felt her newfound courage slip.
"And I don't?" His voice dipped dangerously low. The air between them crackled with tension. "Why didn't you tell me your lover left you bloody and broken by the side of the road for kissing a stranger?"
Mia's jaw dropped. "How do you know that?"
"Because that was my business down at the bar," Ty muttered. "I went to talk to the men who are looking for you."
Her blood turned to ice. "You told me Dustin wasn't here."
"I was wrong. Both your beta friends are—Dustin and Josh." He snarled their names. "They're helping the FBI track you down. At least they were."
Were.
Oh, God.
"What did you do to them?"
Ty curled his fingers into a fist and lifted his blood-covered knuckles up to the light. "Made it so they'll never hurt anyone else."
Her stomach clenched. Waves of nausea churned in her gut as she felt the blood drain from her face.
"You killed them?"
His glower deepened. "Unfortunately, no."
Mia wrapped her arms around her middle. Leaning over, she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God."
"Thank God?" Ty's roar echoed against the walls, making Mia bolt upright again. "For what? For saving the lives of the beta cowards who beat and ridiculed a defenseless woman before abandoning her in a ditch?"
Mia shook her head. Not because Ty wasn't telling the truth, but because she didn't believe that they'd committed a crime worthy of the death penalty.
"They were drunk," she said. "High as hell. I doubt they even knew what they were doing."
Ty's lip curled in disgust.
"Oh, they knew," he said with absolute certainty. "They knew enough to make up some bullshit story about how this was all your fault. How you ran away to the Boundarylands after getting your feelings hurt."
What?
Mia pressed her lips together. Their lie felt like another slap across the face, but she wasn't surprised. It certainly sounded like the kind of story Josh would come up with, one that painted her as the villain and took all responsibility off him. Mia drew in a shaky breath.
"I'm not saying they aren't assholes and cowards, but—"
"But what?" Ty strode toward her, stopping so close that she had to crane her head back to keep her eyes on his. Still, she didn't shuffle back. Not even a single step.
Mia had no idea where her courage was coming from. Ty was so much bigger than she was, so much stronger. He could crush her like an insect if he wanted to.
But he didn't …and somehow she knew he wouldn't. She'd never felt that sense of certainty around any other man before.
"But no one is a monster," Mia said, raising her hand and placing it against his chest. "Not them. Not you."
Even through the material of his shirt, she could feel the pull of his body. Like a primal urge, all she wanted was to be closer.
Ty narrowed his gaze. "You don't think I'm a monster?"
She shook her head. "Of course not. A monster wouldn't have tried to help a stranger on the road, the way you helped me."
Nostrils flaring, Ty drew in a deep breath. Her hand rose and fell with the swelling of his chest. "You didn't think so then. You hurt yourself trying to get away."
"That's because I was scared," she tried to explain. It only took Mia a heartbeat to realize he didn't understand.
Ty was an alpha. He didn't know fear, at least not the way she did. He'd never been hurt by someone bigger, never been afraid he was going to die.
"And what about now?" he asked. "After spending days locked up like a prisoner? Knowing that I can rip the heart out of your ex-lover's chest?"
Mia bit into her lip. She didn't know how to answer. Her thoughts were a messy jumble, her emotions clashing and conflicting with each other.
Yes, she wanted to run. But at the same time, she wanted to stay.
She answered the only honest way she knew how. "I still don't think you're a monster."
His mouth stayed flat, but the corners of his eyes barely twitched with unnamed emotion.
It seemed that she wasn't the only one having trouble putting a finger on what exactly was going on between them.
"You sure about that?" he growled.
Mia couldn't help the smile that flickered across her lips. Yes, she was sure. She didn't know why. All she knew was that she felt something powerful toward Ty. Something that she would never feel toward some thoughtless beast.
"A monster wouldn't care what I think," she said. "He wouldn't have drawn me a bath, or given me food. He sure as hell wouldn't have stopped himself from killing the people who angered him."
"Then tell me what I am." Ty moved closer. It wasn't much, just inches, but the pressure of his hard chest increased against her palm. The steady beat of his heart pounded beneath his breast bone, strong and rhythmic, like a
