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I knew what I wanted. I wanted to go back to the pack. I wanted to go back to the only real home I’d known since my parents died. And I wanted to stay with Caleb.
“I loved living in the valley. It was an incredible gift that your family gave me, allowing me to practice medicine. It was like regaining the use of a limb. And I belonged for the first time in years. I had a family. People who valued me, looked me in the eye. I was a person again.”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” he said.
“But it’s such a big decision,” I said weakly.
“Because you’re scared.”
I nodded. “That would be a massive understatement, yes.”
“By something I’ve done?” he asked, his expression faltering.
“It’s not you. Trust me, it has nothing to do with you. But I believe Glenn when he says he can find me. It’s only a matter of time, really. If I came home with you, I could be bringing all that trouble with me, right into your pack. And I couldn’t stand it if someone in your family got hurt because of me or if he caused trouble for the pack. It’s the reason I left in the first place.”
“What if he wasn’t part of the equation?”
“What do you mean?”
“I could kill him,” Caleb offered quietly, toying with the lapels of my robe. “I could track him down, snuff him out before he even saw me coming. I could make it look like an accident. It would never be traced back to you.”
I stared at him for a long, silent moment. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t considered it. And it would be so easy to let the word yes slip from my lips, to let Caleb give Glenn all of the pain he deserved and somehow keep my hands relatively clean. All I had to do was nod, and I would have the ultimate revenge on my bastard ex-husband.
But I couldn’t do that. I’d spent most of our time together griping at Caleb about his tendency to act without mercy. I couldn’t exactly turn around and ask him to kill for me.
“No.”
Caleb protested, “But—”
“No. I love you too much to make you a killer.”
Caleb pouted. “Not even a thorough maiming?”
“No.”
“OK, then, forget your ex. Forget everything but what you want to do right now, what you know in your heart is the right thing for you. Just for you. What do you want to do?”
I leaned my forehead against his and pressed my lips to his. “I want to go home with you.”
Red-burn was going to be so pissed at me when I told her I didn’t need that ID after all.
Whooping, Caleb dragged me down to the floor and kissed me. He nuzzled at the place on my neck where he’d bitten me all those months ago, and it tingled a bit. I pulled away, rubbing at my former hickey. Caleb noticed the gesture and pulled himself back up to a sitting position. “So you know how things work with us, right? The mating thing? The claiming bite?” I nodded. “Well, I hope that’s something you’re willing to consider.”
“Are you sure we know enough about each other to be mated?”
“I know that you’re strong, you’re adaptable, and you’re smart, all qualities that make for a fantastic mate.”
Somehow I was both touched and slightly insulted that he hadn’t mentioned me being at all pretty.
“But I won’t put the claiming bite on you until you’ve finished your business with Glenn. Divorced, separated by church and state, lock, stock, and barrel.”
My mouth dropped open. “But that could take years.”
He shrugged. “I’ll wait.”
“Is this some sort of bizarre stall tactic?”
“No, this is about you getting closure before we start something new. I think it’s important for you to finish this on your own terms. And frankly, I’d like to put your real legal name on our marriage certificate, not an alias. That means that you can’t be married to someone else when we file it. Werewolves don’t file a lot of legitimate government paperwork. We take the marriage licenses pretty seriously.”
