Page 74

I flinch. “I could hurt you.”

Nora’s expression softens. “You could also love me.”

My breath catches.

Nora searches my eyes. “You’re so determined to protect me from the worst thing that might happen that you’re willing to throw away the best thing that already has.”

Fuck.

I turn away from her, taking exactly one step before her hand catches mine.

“No. No more disappearing.” She comes around in front of me. “You don’t get to decide I’m safer without you. You don’t get to decide I should have a life I don’t want because losing me scares you.”

I look at her. “That isn’t⁠—”

“Then what is it, Hewit?”

I drop my gaze to the floor. “If I bite you and you change⁠—”

“We’ll deal with it.”

“You say that like it’s easy.”

“I don’t think it’s easy. But I do think it’s worth the risk. You are worth the risk.” She tugs on my hand until I look at her. “I’m not letting you walk away from me because you’re too afraid to trust me with my own choice. Because you’re too afraid to embrace the wolf. Your wolf.”

The wolf presses close beneath my skin at her words. For the first time, I don’t shove him back.

Nora watches my face. “You keep talking about him like he’s separate from you.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Then explain it.”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I’ve spent years explaining the wolf as something outside myself. The wolf wants. The wolf needs. The wolf is restless. The wolf is dangerous.

Anything to avoid saying I.

Nora seems to see all of it.

“You’re not two things stitched together,” she says quietly. “You’re Hewit. And your wolf is part of you. You’ve spent years punishing yourself for becoming something you never chose. And now you’re punishing me by making a decision I never chose.”

“That isn’t what⁠—”

“It is. And now you have a choice.” Her other hand moves to rest over my chest again. “To stop treating your wolf like a punishment. I love every part of you. And you need to wolf up.”

I stare at her. “Did you just tell me to wolf up?”

Nora shrugs. “Man up. Wolf up. Same thing where you’re concerned.”

Despite myself, a rough laugh breaks free.

“Fight for this, Hewit. Fight for me. Fight for you.” Her palm slides up to my jaw. “And fight for him too.”

She’s right. Fuck, she’s been right all along.

I’ve spent years fighting against the wolf, blaming him for every instinct I couldn’t explain and every feeling I was too afraid to own. But he’s never wanted anything I didn’t want too. And he wants Nora. We both do.

My wolf shudders beneath my skin, pressing closer.