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“She read my mind.” Finn’s words carried, the sound of a door closing echoing down the hall.
They were alone. Finally. He didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. But having those big hazel eyes look at him, full of all the things she shouldn’t feel for him, could only be good.
“Olivia.” He took the fork from her hand. “We need to talk.”
She frowned, shaking her head. “Are you sure? You’re tense. I mean, we could eat pie and go to bed. Anders said there’s a cherry pie in the refrigerator. Now that the whole full moon thing is over, there’s nothing urgent. Except I’m hungry. Really hungry.” She paused, studying him. “Or is there? Is that it? Is something else going to happen?”
He stared at her, stroking her long auburn hair from her shoulder. He ran his knuckles along her jaw. So soft. A whisper was all he could manage. “Only if you want it to.”
...
A flare of nerves settled in the pit of Olivia’s stomach. He was worried. Angry. Frustrated. Impatient. All normal for Mal. But not worry. If Mal was worried, she should worry. “What is it?” she whispered back.
He didn’t say anything. Those big brown eyes stayed fixed on her, intense and troubled.
“You’re sort of freaking me out, Mal.” Her voice wavered.
He ran a hand along the back of his neck, stared up at the ceiling, and rolled his head. When he spoke, his voice was gruff and low. “Finn has a scar on his stomach, a puncture wound from the bone that infected him. Jessa has the same scar.” He paused. “Because she’s his mate.”
A bond Olivia was in awe of. There was no denying Finn’s total adoration and devotion to Jessa, or Jessa’s love and respect for him.
“She felt it happen, the wound—lived through it.” He cleared his throat. “It’s how we—a wolf—bonds.”
Olivia went completely still. His words, their meaning, left her reeling.
“Now, no matter what, they’re stuck together. No leaving, no moving on. Even when he’s an ass and she knows she could do better. There’s no one else. Not ever.” He glanced at her, then away, his jaw clenched tight.
She couldn’t look away. “Are you warning me?”
His gaze returned to her, the slight flare of his nostrils answer enough.
He was warning her. “Why?” Don’t hope. Don’t hope.
“So you understand…” The anguish in his voice squeezed her heart. “We can’t do this. I can’t hurt you.”
Her pulse was racing then. “Losing you is the only way that could happen. I want this.”
His gaze didn’t waver.
“You, Mal. Us.” She wanted to touch him, to remind him of the connection they already shared.
He stared at the ceiling again, his jaw muscle ticking in agitation. “It’s not that easy.”
“You don’t want me as your mate?” It was hard to get the question out.
He looked at her then. “I do.”
She’d expected resistance, a fight, something. She was speechless—and confused.
“Finn—” He broke off, the uneven rise and fall of his chest giving away his internal struggle. “His first shift was bad. All his wolf wanted was to kill. I held on to a tree limb, trying to pull myself up while he tore through my Achilles tendon and severed the muscle from bone. Anders, Dante, then Hollis. I bled out. I’d never known that sort of pain.” He shook his head. “And woke up to an ugly world.”
She could piece together images, pulling from the snippets she and Mal had shared during the bite. So much fear and pain, confusion and terror, left her shivering. Finn was their friend, and the monster he’d become would’ve felt more nightmare than real.
“I know how to live in that world.” He ground out the words. “I know pain. You shouldn’t.”
“Mal?”
His hands gripped her shoulders. “Then you show up. And every fucking step of the way you make me want more.”
