Page 40 of Two Years Gone

“You broke that girl.”

My face shot up to see Sophie standing in the doorway. I hadn’t even heard her walk in.

“Sophie, I—”

Sophie raised a hand.

“I need to say this, and I need you to listen.”

I watched her sit down and take a breath, choosing her words carefully.

“Things got bad for her when you left.”

“I’m beginning to realize that.” I shook my head.

“She doesn’t know that I know, but the night after you rejected her, she could feel you through the mate bond. She felt you have sex with that horrible girl.

“It just about tore her in two. And she felt it every time you were with her for those two weeks before you left.”

My jaw dropped as she spoke.

“I—”

“Let me finish,” she interrupted.

“For months, she would lie awake at night, hoping that bond would go away. It finally began to fade, but it affected her in more ways than just the hurt of rejection.

“Mariah made sure Ella never forgot that you didn’t want her, that you rejected her for Mariah. Every day she would make some jibe about Ella being nothing, about being a little omega.” Sophie’s eyes began to well with tears.

“I wish I had been born to a better place. Ella shouldn’t be an omega. She’s so much stronger.

“But she was born to omega parents, and she has had to spend years making herself small. Now she believes she is, she believes Mariah when she tells her she’s nothing.”

I shook my head. Today was too much.

“I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad. I’m telling you this because if you want to win her back, you’re going to have to step up and find a way to make her see that she isn’t nothing.”

Sophie stood and turned to walk out.

“Wait, you want me to fight for her?” I asked, confused at her change of heart.

Sophie shrugged.

“I know what it’s like to lose a mate. Neither of you will ever be whole if you both don’t drop your pride and stubbornness and give in to each other.

“Like I said, make her trust you, prove to her that she isn’t nothing. Show her that she’s everything.”

Sophie left my office, and I spent the rest of the day sitting there, trying to figure out how to do exactly that.

When I finally emerged, it was almost time for dinner. I walked to the kitchen to see Ella working furiously to finish everything. I sat down at the island and watched her.

She almost seemed to dance around the kitchen, her black leggings hugging her body like a second skin and loose T-shirt giving just the smallest glimpse of her cleavage.

I watched the wisps of her hair falling on her face as she moved, the flush of her cheeks from the hot kitchen—I wanted to hop over that counter and wrap my arms around her.

“Can I help you?” Ella’s words snapped me out of my trance, and I met her hazel eyes.

“Nope, just watching.” She gave me a curious glare before starting back on her work.