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Dimly, deep in my mind, I’m aware the old me would have been mortified to be reduced to tears and begging for forgiveness in front of my mate, but I’m no longer that man.
I’m a broken man who regrets every act of unnecessary violence I’ve ever committed, especially with her, this woman I didn’t realize I loved more than life itself until it was too late.
But maybe it’s not too late…
Just maybe…
“I forgive you,” she whispers, “on one condition.”
I hold her gaze. “Anything.”
“You shift for me, right now,” she says, her stern tone at odds with the tears flowing from her eyes. “This very second, no more back talk.”
Hand falling from her face, I pull in a breath, drawing on the last of my strength to summon my wolf.
At first, it feels like he’s vanished, abandoned me when I need him most—cut out like an organ stolen in some seedy black market warehouse—but then I feel him, wounded as I am, but there, clawing his way back to the surface. He comes through whimpering and twitching as claws push through my skin, forming paws to take the place of my ravaged fingers and toes.
But almost instantly, I feel better.
I’m still beaten and bruised and too weak to do much more than lie on the table and pant as Willow fetches some things from the cabinet across the room and shoves them into the dark black bag Gray uses for his tools, but the pain isn’t going to engulf me. I can float on top of it, holding onto consciousness as Willow slings the bag over her arm before returning to the table.
“Good work,” she says, turning her back and glancing over her shoulder at me. “Can you bring your front paws over my right shoulder? And your back paws over my left? I think that will be the easiest way to carry you.”
Moving slowly, I do my best to obey, but I still need Willow’s help to scoot to the edge of the table and I’m not at all sure this plan is going to work. Even as a wolf, I’m not a small creature by any stretch of the imagination and I probably weigh nearly as much as Willow does in her human form. The chances that she’ll be able to carry me out of this hole, let alone however far we’ll have to run to reach safety, are slim to none.
But I’m too broken to resist as she hefts me onto her back and starts for the exit, her footsteps slow, but methodical.
She staggers under my weight a bit on the stairs and struggles to pick me up again after putting me down to throw open the heavy door at the top, but once we reach the forest outside, she gains speed.
After my time in the pit, I’m so stunned by sunlight and fresh air and the sounds of birdsong and insects humming around me that I lose track of how far we travel before we reach the cliff.
My ability to focus on one thing at a time returns only when Willow sets me down and kneels in front of me to whisper, “We have to jump. I can’t carry you down while I climb so it’s the only way. I’m almost positive I’ve found a place where the river is deep enough for it to be safe, and I’ll dive in right after you, okay? So don’t worry if you’re not able to swim just yet. I’ll fish you out ASAP and we’ll keep going.”
Her words are at odds with the anxiety tightening her voice, but if she says jumping is the only way, I believe her. I wish I’d given her my trust sooner, but she absolutely has it now.
I summon the strength to push weakly to my feet, earning a relieved smile from my mate. “Good. Just walk to the edge, and I’ll give you a good hard push.”
After my time with Gray, the thought of being shoved off a cliff to my possible death doesn’t faze me in the slightest. Returning to my pack and plotting revenge on those who wronged me is preferable, of course, but as long as I know Willow’s on her way to safety, death doesn’t sound so bad.
It would be an escape of sorts, too, after all.
When she pushes me and I start to fall, my pulse barely registers the danger. I simply stretch my front legs forward, close my eyes, and prepare myself to hit the water, knowing the river will be far gentler with me than anything that’s touched me in God knows how long.
Anything except Willow…
