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“You really do want to be with me. You really don’t care about my scars or my past.”
“I don’t, Kammie. They made you who you are. If you weren’t part of a shifter group where physical scars are considered a weakness, you wouldn’t be an omega. I wish I had known you back then. I would’ve done my best to stop him. To save you.”
He stroked the tears from her cheeks gently. She was amazed to see both sides of him at the same time, the tender male who touched her as if she were made of glass coupled with the violent male who would slaughter anyone who hurt her, past and present.
“I want to go home, Row,” she said, nuzzling his palm.
“Me too, baby.”
They found her clothes and returned quickly to their vehicles. They hadn’t spoken any more, but they hadn’t needed to. There was a peaceful silence between them, and she needed the time to think. The idea of showing him her scars still worried her, but the bone-deep fear she’d always had of being naked in front of someone wasn’t there. She didn’t want his pity, but she wasn’t sure that he actuallydidpity her.
Several weeks ago, she’d had a similar conversation with an omega male named Jeremiah. He’d told her that her scars weren’t a weakness, but she hadn’t believed him. Jeremiah, a shunned male himself because he couldn’t shift, was sensitive to her body issues because he had them, too. But Row wasn’t ashamed of his scars, and when she’d touched the scar on his leg, she hadn’t pitied him either. She’d been filled with white-hot rage toward the male who hurt him. Towardallof them.
As she parked on the street in front of her house and Row pulled in behind her, she decided that she could move forward with her mate physically. She was already half in love with him because of his protective and possessive nature. Her wolf wanted to slaughter anyone who looked at him cross-eyed. The emotional bond between them would strengthen the longer they knew each other, but the physical pull to her mate was like a writhing creature in her belly, full of need and desire.
She was tired of being weak, of feeling unworthy. Row’s behavior made her want to be strong for him, but also for herself. She was going to be mated to a strong male, and she didn’t want their children to view her as weak, or to be automatically considered weak because of her.
She could do this. Shewould. She would make Row her mate, and he would be the first male to see her completely naked. Fear slithered through her, but she shoved it away. Row was worth it, because the only future she wanted was one with him by her side. They could iron out the details later. For now, she had some claiming to do.
CHAPTERFIVE
Getting out of his truck, Row shouldered his bag and strode to the driver’s side of Kammie’s small car. She seemed to be lost in thought, wrestling emotionally with something. Fear would tighten her face and then she’d shake out of it, her jaw clenching with determination. She looked at him through the window for a heartbeat, then turned off the engine and pushed open the door.
Her eyes flashed to the amber of her wolf as she stood, moving close to him so she could shut the car door. The sweet scent of her arousal spiked in the air between them.
She put her hands on his chest and he could feel their warmth through his shirt. His bear growled in approval as she pressed closer. “I have to make a phone call,” she said. He blinked in surprise, and she smiled. “The sooner I make the call, the sooner we can talk.”
The way she said ‘talk’ made him hope that she didn’t want to justtalk, but perhaps do the sort of naked talking that mates did. He nodded, and she took his hand and led him up the walk to her door.
She unlocked the door and tugged him inside. He shut it behind them as she walked swiftly to the kitchen and picked up the phone attached to the wall over a small built-in desk. He put his bag down and joined her in the kitchen as she spoke to someone about her duties. He appreciated that she was so dedicated to her position, but he still hated everything that he’d seen so far within the pack. She deserved so much better. Not just because she was his mate, but because she had suffered and was still being held down, constantly reminded that she was less-than simply because someone else had hurt her. He wouldn’t want to be held responsible for someone else’s actions, or to have his scars pointed out to him time and again as if they were a liability. He wished again that he’d met her years ago, when she needed a strong hand to protect her.
Now, as he listened to her find wolves to take her duties, he wished that she wasn’t part of the wolf pack. If she were part of the sleuth, no one would think anything about her scars. They would see them as a part of her, but not the definition of her. She wouldn’t be held down because of them, but lifted up as a survivor.
“I covered my duties for two weeks,” she said, coming back into the room. His bear growled in happiness when she slipped right into his arms as if she hated being away from his side.
“Two weeks?” he said, nuzzling the top of her head and inhaling her scent.
She tilted her head to gaze up at him. “I didn’t know when we were going to leave for your sleuth or how long we’d stay.”
Forever. He wanted her to stay in his sleuth, away from her pack, forever. Not that he’d ask her right now, because things were still so new between them, but it was on his mind. He’d said he would come back and work by her side in the pack and he meant it, but he hoped she’d love the sleuth so much that she’d want to stay.
He wrapped both arms around her tightly and rubbed his cheek against hers. “However long you want, baby,” he said.
Her hands flexed on his back and she exhaled sharply. A fine tremble wove through her. He lifted his head to ask what was wrong, and was surprised to see that her eyes were a beautiful mixture of brown and amber.
“Baby?”
“Come with me,” she said, her voice husky.
Clasping his hands, she walked backward slowly, never taking her eyes from his. She navigated the short distance to her bedroom easily, and then stopped in front of the bed.
“I’m going to,” she said, stopping and clearing her throat. “I want to –”
As she struggled with the words, Row could see that she was fighting past her fears. He cupped her face and kissed her gently. “Take your time, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere.”
He kissed her again, savoring the sweet taste of her, then took her trembling hands in his and helped her lift his own shirt over his head. Her nails scratched his skin lightly as she trailed them down his arms. She rubbed his wrists with the pads of her fingers and stared up at him. Her eyes were clear amber, and he knew that she was letting her wolf out to help with her nerves. She exerted a little pressure on his wrists and drew his hands to the hem of her top.
He lifted it slowly, aware that she was giving him a great gift right now—her trust. With as much care as he could muster, he dragged the shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. She wore a plain white bra, which was still the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. The swell of her breasts over the satin made his mouth water, and he was dying to tear it off her. She was trembling all over, and he knew why—the scars on her torso were old but vivid. He could almost hear her cries when she was struck, and it made his bear, once more, want to hunt down her uncle and destroy him piece by piece.
