Chapter 18
Ben burst through the back door. ”Delilah?”
He had to find her, make sure she was okay. Her breathing had finally evened out, but where was she?
There. Slumped on the floor in front of the couch, her blond hair splayed out beneath her head. He rushed over to her. Her heartbeat was steady; she had only passed out.
”Idiot,” he muttered to himself. He should have done this any other way. He had just been so afraid of her packing everything up and leaving. He’d panicked.
Marlana was going to be pissed. She had wanted him to wait before telling Delilah anything.
But Marlana had also said that earning Delilah”s trust was paramount. What better way to earn trust than with the truth?
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to her bed. He laid her down and started to lie down next to her before he realized that the last thing she would want to see upon waking was the monster that had scared her into losing consciousness.
He sat on the floor by the window and waited for her to wake.
It didn”t take long. The covers rustled and she sat up. She looked around the room until her gaze landed on him.
”That wasn”t a nightmare, was it?” she asked.
Ben shook his head, miserable.
Delilah nodded. He could sense that she was at war with herself. He could smell her fear—acrid and potent—but above everything else there was also confusion, sadness.
It was the fear that hurt Ben the most.
”You know I would never hurt you, don”t you?” he asked.
”I don”t really know anything about your...your kind,” she said.
“I should have told you before I shifted,” he said. ”We”re still ourselves, even when we let the animal take us.”
Delilah nodded. ”Why am I really here?”
He could give her a hundred reasons, but he was sure she only wanted one. ”McKenzie is one of us,” Ben said. ”We want you and her to feel comfortable in the pride. It will be important for her when she has her first change.”
”My baby girl?” Delilah said.
”Yeah. When she hits puberty, she’ll be able to shift into a mountain lion, just like Chase could. Just like me, and our entire family.”
”I feel like you’re trying to get me to join a cult,” she said.
Ben slowly stood up. He wore jeans but he hadn”t had time to put on his shirt—he had been in a rush to shift back to his human form and make sure she was okay. Delilah”s eyes traveled over his muscles, and he wondered…but no.
”It”s not like a cult at all,” he said. ”It”s more like a family. There are a lot of us here, and McKenzie is the first baby in about fifteen years. And after Chase died, well, we’re all really happy that you”re here.”
”I don”t think I can stay,” Delilah whispered. ”Am I free to go? With McKenzie? Is all that stuff about my house being unsafe just a ploy to keep me here?”
”It”s not a ploy, it”s not a lie,” Ben said. ”If you really want to stay in a hotel, you can. Or I”m sure any of the other pride members would take you and McKenzie in, if you want a different place to stay.”
She seemed to consider this. Ben remained standing against the wall, feeling like his heart was clawing its way up his throat.
”Before you make any decisions,” he said, ”would you be up for meeting some of the others? Public place, so you”re more comfortable?”
Delilah looked around the room. She seemed to be thinking hard about something. Finally, she said, ”This was Chase”s room, wasn”t it?”
”Yeah,” Ben grunted. ”Thought you’d be more comfortable, closer to him.”
She looked at Ben, her blue eyes shining. ”Chase and I were never in love. You know that, right?”
Ben hadn”t known. He shrugged, then shook his head. He wasn”t sure what that had to do with anything.
”Okay,” she said. ”I”ll meet your friends today.”