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After all, pack always came first.
A knock at the door caught her off guard, and she quickly ran to the door. He was early. Throwing the door open with the hopes of catching his wolf still in the clearing, she was instead greeted by the man she’d been longing to see.
Draven stood on the porch in nothing but a loincloth made from the furs she’d left out for him when he hadn’t returned. He had scruff on his chin, but was cleaner than she expected. In fact she’d almost swear he’d showered somehow with the way his wet hair clung to his forehead.
Flora jumped from the doorway into his arms, wrapping her arms around him. She buried her nose in his neck and inhaled his fresh pine scent, melting into the calm that settled in her soul.
“So you missed me?” His chest shook with laughter. “I’d say that’s a good sign.”
Flora pulled back and smacked her hands across his chest. “You weren’t supposed to stay gone for three days!”
“You said you needed time,” he countered incredulously, his smile reaching his eyes and nearly making her swoon.
No. She needed to remember she was pissed off at him. He couldn’t come waltzing in there like he hadn’t just ghosted her.
Flora untangled herself from his arms. “Like a few hours, Draven. Maybe the night. Not three freakin days.”
“I had my own soul searching to do.” Draven took a step back and fell to his knees. He took her hands in his and looked up at her, a new emotion she couldn’t quite place shining in his eyes. “From the moment I met you, I knew I wouldn’t be able to shake you. Those big blue eyes, and that determined grin you get when you’re trying to hide the fact you’re afraid, but willing to stand your ground. It’s one you give me often.”
Her stomach swirled with butterflies. She’d felt the same connection the instant she’d laid eyes on him in The Howler. He’d always been something more; even if she hadn’t known it then.
“You challenge me, Flora. Push me to think beyond my world and what I’ve been taught. Your ability to demand the best from everyone around you while still having compassion is incredible. I said before that my wolf longed to claim you, but that wasn’t the whole truth. He isn’t the only one. I wish to claim you, but my mistake was thinking that meant owning you.”
He brought her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss on each palm. “Though you grew up in the supernatural world, mine isn’t one you are familiar with. The things that just make sense to me, don’t to you, nor should I expect them to. You aren’t one of us, and I never want you to be. I want you to be my equal. I want you to question my authority, not only because it makes my dick hard, but because it forces me to be better.”
A stray tear fell from her cheek and onto his hands. He reached up and wiped another away, leaving his hand to cup her cheek. She leaned into his touch, taking from him every ounce of warmth he was sharing.
“I can’t promise to be the perfect mate. I’m going to fuck up. Probably a lot. But I can promise that you will be loved and cherished. I can promise you will be protected, and anyone who thinks to lay a hand on you will have their head removed from their body. I can promise we will take things slow, and I’ll teach you the ways of our pack, and when something doesn’t work, we’ll fix it together.
“Flora Valentine, please forgive me for being an insensitive ass. Will you be mine? My mate to explore this life with?”
Her vision blurred, too many tears falling freely down her cheeks for even Draven to catch.
This was it. It was the ultimatum she didn’t want to give, but knew needed to be addressed.
“Turn me,” she whispered, barely loud enough to hear.
But of course he heard her.
“That’s your answer?” His hand dropped from her cheek, and he ran it through his tousled hair.
“Draven, I want to be your equal. I want the pack to see me as a warrior. I want to live your life with you in every aspect, not just the length of mine. I know what I am asking. I have considered the ramifications of losing my humanity. You made sure of that. I still promise to live, I just want it to be beyond this fragile frame and ticking clock. Plus, I would get all wrinkly.”
“Your vanity is showing.” Draven scoffed, a single eyebrow raised in jest.
She gave him a pointed look, saying she wasn’t impressed.
Draven let out a deep sigh. “Flora, I—There is a reason I can’t turn you. I can’t be responsible for what happens afterward. I have to do better… I have to be better than I’ve been in the past.”
“What do you mean in the past?” Jealousy she had no business feeling coursed through her. Of course she wouldn’t be the first person he’d turned. He was nearly a century old, and obviously she wasn’t the first girl to come into his life. Why wouldn’t they have asked to be turned.
“Joseph thought he—Joseph was a human who went to the boarding school Kade, Mateo and I attended.”
Joseph? It was a guy?
She wasn’t sure if she was relieved it wasn’t another woman or worried that she knew so little about the man in front of her.
He waited for her to say something, anything, but instead of asking about him directly, she asked the first question that popped into her mind. “Humans went there?”
