Chapter Seven #2
“Let me be clear.” His voice deepened ever more and rolled through her.
“I truly love you, Gia. I always have. I love you so much that I left when all I ever wanted to do was spend every single day of my life at your side. I left because I couldn’t bear the thought of so much as scratching your skin.
” His hand rose, and the back of his knuckles trailed lightly over her cheek. “Your perfect, silken skin.”
She shivered. “Did you magically stop shifting? Did you find some miraculous cure? Is that why you’re back now?”
“No. I will be a werewolf forever, just as I will love you forever.”
Gia choked down the lump in her throat.
“But I don’t have to worry that I will hurt you any longer. I learned that a werewolf can’t physically hurt his true mate. My claws or my fangs won’t ever be used against you.”
“What in the hell is a true mate?”
“It’s the person you love above all others. The person who owns your heart and who owns you. The person who makes you feel good just by existing. The person you would sacrifice anything for.”
Another swallow because that stupid lump had risen again. “You just gained this amazing knowledge that it was safe to be with me…when, tonight?” And he’d rushed to her door?
A shake of his head.
Her eyes narrowed. “When?” Bit out.
“Six months ago.”
Six months and he hadn’t come to find her—
“But I was being hunted by a pack out of El Paso at the time. Turns out, I’m something of an unusual beast.”
“Tell me about it,” she muttered. He was still touching her cheek, almost as if he couldn’t help himself. She was still letting him, almost as if she couldn’t help herself. I missed his touch.
“Werewolves are born. They shift when they hit puberty. Only a very few are latents—they have the genes, but the wolf was so far back in the family tree that they don’t ever transform, unless something happens.”
This was all news to her. She’d tried to learn more about werewolves, but when she’d made her inquiries—over and over again—the people she’d spoken with had all acted as if she was crazy.
Though she suspected many of them had been faking the reaction.
They just hadn’t wanted to talk to her because she was human.
“The bite changed things for me. The night I was attacked, that wasn’t an ordinary wolf.
It was a werewolf. The bite sent me into an immediate shift.
I’m…according to some, I’m an alpha. That means other wolves like to challenge me for dominance, and I have to kick their asses.
” A pause. “A lot. So while the line of challengers was chasing me down, going to you wasn’t something I could do. ”
“You are such a liar.” Her hands flew to her hips. Fisted. “If you wanted me, you could have come to me.”
His hand fell. “I always want you. But I also wanted you safe and happy. Living a normal life seemed like it would be best.”
“Do not tell me what’s best for me!” Gia exploded.
“You don’t know! I know! And being abandoned by the man I love?
” Shit, she’d slipped and used present tense.
“Loved,” Gia corrected angrily. “Being abandoned by the man I loved is not the best. It’s the worst. You have no idea what I have been through in the past year without you! ” She would not cry again.
“I know.” Grim.
Gia shook her head.
“I found out tonight. That’s why I’m back.
Because there is a threat to you that cannot be allowed to stand.
If I had known about him sooner, I would have instantly come to your side.
Your safety has always been what mattered most to me.
I left to protect you. I stayed gone to protect you. Now I’m back—”
“To protect me?” she finished, trying for a flippant tone but failing miserably.
A nod.
“How dare you?” Pain and rage twisted through her.
“Why couldn’t you just come back because you can’t live without me?
Because the world goes dark if I’m not at your side?
Because you love me so much that getting through each day without me at your side rips you apart?
” Because that was how it had felt for her.
But she’d lived through the pain. She’d moved on.
Even as danger had slipped deeper into her life.
A shudder rippled his big frame. “The world does go dark without you. Every single day without you by my side ripped out my heart. The idea of living without you? Let’s just say I know too well what this world would be like if you weren’t here—not just gone from my life because you’re off being happy somewhere else, but what it would be like if you were gone completely—”
She blinked at the rough grief that thickened his voice.
“And I know I can’t live in a world that doesn’t have you in it.
I love you. I loved you before, I love you now, and I will love you until the moment that I take my last breath.
You’re it for me, and if you give me a chance—please, baby, please, give me a chance,” desperate and rough, “then I can show you a whole new life. I can prove myself to you.”
She didn’t want a new life. She didn’t want some dream. “Crazy werewolf,” Gia said as her whole body leaned toward him. “All I want is my life back with you.”
He pulled her against him.
She wrapped her arms around him.
And she kissed him.