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"For making you go through the trouble of looking for me." Her shoulders tremble again and grief overwhelms her face. "If my brothers hadn't tied me up and..."
The rest of her words die because I reach forward again and kiss her. This time, it lasts longer. A burst of ecstasy surges through my body and instead of Adeline trembling, it's my body that quivers in response, the hunger to explore her hitting me like a fiery sea.
When I pull away, Adeline beams. Her tears have stopped flowing and she appears relaxed, as if the kiss has driven away whatever piercing cold of fear she had inside her.
"Adeline, I know you didn’t cause this. I always suspected the women of your pack didn’t have much involvement in this mess."
Adeline brushes a strand of her hair from her face and sniffles aloud. "But they’re my family."
"You don't have to be with them." I squeeze her hand and make sure my gaze doesn't leave her face. "You've seen what you mean to them. They don't love you. A loving family would never have done that to you."
"I have no idea when they got so evil." Adeline appears to rack her brain as though remembering the very point in her life when her family became cruel would wipe the reality of what they truly are.
I rub a thumb over a smear on her cheek. "It doesn't matter. They chose to be heartless and destroyed so many lives. It's not your fault."
"My dad." Adeline's voice fades. She starts crying again. "I don't know what changed him. I'm guessing it's my mother's death."
I leave her side to grab a bottle of beer from Fena's refrigerator. Adeline is still talking about her father as I pour drinks for the two of us. She talks about how he’d been so broken after her mother's death and the unfortunate incident must have driven him nuts.
"I don't think you should talk about your family now, Adeline." I hand her a cup. "The important thing is that you're safe and your brothers can't touch you again."
She sips her beer and closes her eyes, suddenly looking drowsy. Resting her head on my shoulder, she sighs. "You’re right. I can never be a part of the High Ridge pack again."
Chapter16
Adeline
Someone walks into my room.
I hear the footsteps first and then the sound of chains rattling on the wooden floor. My brothers are back. Their stench floods my nose and the rough hands of Lawrence yank me from the comfort of my bed, pulling me back into the cellar, where I'll be chained for all eternity.
"No!" I scream, sitting up instantly, kicking the sheets away from me.
"Hey, hey, it's me!"
Strong arms close around me, a familiar, comforting smell seeps into my mind, and when I look up to see who’s holding me, Luke's soothing smile greets me.
I’d been dreaming, plunged into a nightmare of being captured by my brothers again. Waking up to realize I truly had been taken makes me shudder.
"Oh, thank God." I collapse in Luke's arms. "Thank God you're here."
He kisses me tenderly on the head. "I'm never going to leave you."
The room in the cabin where Luke had tucked me in last night is brightly lit and it takes me a few seconds to note it's already morning. Sunlight floods the room through the sash window, the occasional chirping of birds in the trees also filtering in.
"I made breakfast."
Luke begins to pull away but I hug him tighter. "Don't leave me, please. I'm scared."
He doesn't speak again. He just sits with me. His touch is tender and every kiss on my forehead speaks a language of affection.
I close my eyes and imagine our lives are perfect, free of my family's troubles and his heartbreaking past. I picture what it would be like waking up beside him every morning or walking with him along the shore of an ocean.
It's a beautiful life, one I hope that I'll have one day. We don't deserve what's been hitting us lately. We’re only two wolves in love.
"Luke?" I open my eyes and raise my head to look at him. "Do you promise to stay with me forever?"
His intense gaze gives me an answer before he even opens his mouth to speak. "Yes. I love you, Adeline. There's no doubting that."
