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He might have said it was no problem, but he wasn’t in a hurry to explain anything either. Even after he claimed to understand, was he still going to force her to drag it out of him? Would he be honest with his answers if he gave them at all? “Tell me the truth, Zeven. What did you see, that sent you running off through the neighbor’s yard?”
He sighed. “I saw a suspicious vehicle.” He stopped moving the books around and leaned forward until his elbows rested on his knees.
“And?” she pushed.
“It was probably nothing. The car pulled out before I got a close look.” Zeven shot a low browed glare toward the door.
Her gaze followed his. Despite his calm reaction she could already feel her anxiety rising. “I thought you said they wouldn’t send anyone else?”
“They won’t send another assassin until they’ve confirmed I failed which by the way would be more difficult if you would stay inside and out of sight. However, they might send the peons to keep watch over me.”
“We should leave here then.” She sank onto the sofa beside him, sliding her hand into his. In the last few hours everything had changed. She wasn’t sure if it would matter, but she was starting to think they might have a future. Not that she was feeling particularly optimistic. But just maybe… maybe meeting him again was a good thing. Maybe they could escape together.
“Not yet.”
“Why the hell not?” She didn’t understand why he was putting it off. They needed to run, and they needed to do it soon, immediately if possible. Much as she wanted to explore what was between them, even that wasn’t worth dying for or at least it wasn’t today.
It wasn’t as if this was a now or nothing kind of moment. Even if they got separated, she could always send word to him later once her life was no longer in danger. If they really had a future together, they had to stay alive to see it.
Chapter Ten
Zeven watched as Harley’s thoughts flashed across her face. She’d never been good at hiding what she was thinking, and it was a comfort to see that hadn’t changed. Unfortunately, what he saw now worried him. She was ready to run again. It may have only been a few hours, but it felt as if they were rekindling something important. But even now, she would try to leave him behind. And he couldn’t let her go.
He gripped her small hand within his. “Before anything else… We need to settle this thing between us.”
Her hand fisted inside his grasp. “And how do you propose to do that? Is your plan to screw me until I admit how wonderful you are? Fine, you’re wonderful. Now can we go?”
This wasn’t going how he wanted it at all. “Fuck.”
She pulled her hand from his and jumped from the sofa. “Screw, fuck, whatever.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He didn’t want to fight, at least not with her. But he had a feeling that if they went out her front door before they settled their past, she would disappear leaving him alone again. This was his one chance to fix what was between them. The damn shame of it was he didn’t have the social skills to make this conversation happen the way it needed to. Hell, he wasn’t even sure where to start. Maybe her idea of screwing wasn’t that bad an option. At least then they spoke the same language.
“Look this isn’t getting us anywhere.” She started pacing. “Just tell me what to do so we can get out of here and on the road. I can’t stand this feeling of being a sitting duck.”
Shit. This was about to get ugly. If they had any hope of finding a future together, first they needed to go back to where it all began. “Why did you leave me?” He stood and circled the sofa but resisted going to her.
Her step faltered. Her head spun slamming a stunned gaze into his. “You want to know that? Right now?”
“Yes.” The word was more growled than spoken. His wolf had suffered as much or more than he had when she’d left them.
Suddenly she drew up, to her full height, and shouted, “Why in the hell do you think I left?” She laughed harshly. “I had a pack of rabid werewolves chasing me, the same ones who had just murdered my family. Obviously, I was going to run away. Anyone with even a lick of sense would have done the same.”
The old hurt boiled up. “I knew that.” Of course, she’d run. The situation had been terrifying and traumatic. It made sense for her to be scared. But why hadn’t she come to him? She’d been the only person he’d ever given his trust to, but when it had counted, she’d left him too.
She stopped right in front of him. “What the hell do you want from me, Zeven?”
What did he want? How did he want this conversation to go? What were the answers he had to have before he could accept the person she’d become? It was all about that day so very long ago. That time still haunted him. He’d risked every single drop of his blood, forced his wolf to take a stand and fight the very leaders who had been meant to protect him. He’d destroyed everything he’d known.
And then he’d gone back for her, and she’d been gone. “I know you were scared, but why didn’t you come to me? I would have kept you safe.”
Her green eyes stared straight into his. “You’d have… And how was I to know that? The one time I saw you with your family, all I saw was you getting your ass beat without even fighting back. And then you left me and went back with them.”
He’d had to go back with his clan to get them to leave her and her family alone. When they’d come for him, he’d been terrified that they’d attack immediately. But they’d only roughed him up a little and dragged him off. Only later that night did he find out that they’d returned and killed her parents. And that they were still hunting for Harley.
She was so close that her hot angry breath blew over him with every careful slow word. “All I knew was that your family killed my family. One moment we were watching the stars while I told them how much I loved you. And the next they were dead. And they would have killed me too. I didn’t think you would or even could stop them. I did the only thing I could do. I hid until it was quiet and then I loaded my family’s cold bodies into our truck, and I drove away as fast as I could.” Tears were slipping from her eyes one painfully slow drop at a time.
He grabbed her, dragged her close, crushing her hands against his chest. “I would have protected you. Fuck that. I did protect you.” His arms tightened until she quit struggling. “Have you never wondered how you got away? Why they never caught you?”
