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“Just enjoying the view.” No guy ever caught my attention the way Dastien did. I studied his face, with its strong angles. His amber eyes seemed to be laughing at me, and his grin sure said I was amusing.
It took some effort to reign in my hormones.
I turned my gaze to the ground and started down the path. He wasn’t kidding. It was steep. Dastien made it look easy as he climbed down, but dirt and rocks skidded out from under my shoes, dropping the forty feet or so to the bottom. I kept one hand against the cliff wall as we walked.
I gasped as I slipped, pebbles scattering.
Dastien grabbed my waist. “Careful.”
“You didn’t tell me I might die on this trail.”
He didn’t laugh like I expected. “I would never let you fall.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was kidding.”
“But I’m not.”
The moment was too intense for words. He kept eye contact a second longer than was comfortable, and then turned back to the trail.
By the time we reached the bottom, I’d worked up a good sweat. I scanned up and down the creek. “It’s so quiet.” With the creek walls and trees cutting off even the normal outdoor noise, it felt like we were the only people for miles.
Dastien sat down on a large rock. “Yeah.”
“It’s peaceful here. I’m peaceful.” I sat down next to him and took a deep breath. It was the most settled I’d felt in days. Years. I’d always been frazzled from the torrent of visions. Sure, I’d gotten used to them, managed them, but it was never easy. “Something’s changed.”
Dastien stared at me. He knew what was going on and the jerk wasn’t sharing.
“What?” I said.
He shrugged.
“Why do I feel so calm?”
“I’m an alpha. One of the perks of being a strong alpha means that you can hold a pack.” He laughed at the confusion on my face. “I’ve used it on you a couple of times. Made you feel calm. Settled down your wolf to stop the shift.”
I crossed my arms. He had done something to me before, but I’d been too grateful for it to ask about what it was. “Are you doing it now?”
“Not exactly, but your wolf is content with mine.”
His gaze was too intense to hold. I stared at the caves. “God. I’ve been acting like a crazy person.” I sighed. “My temper’s gone totally nutso.”
“You’ll be okay. Everyone goes through a phase where they feel like that.”
I guessed that was true, especially after Imogene’s display in the cafeteria. That girl was out of control for sure. Or maybe she was just psycho in general. Which brought the question up again. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why me? Am I really what you wanted? From what I hear, you had your pick of the girls. Why would you risk it? With me.”
He ran a finger along my bottom lip. “You want to know what was going through my mind when I bit you?”
God. I wished he wouldn’t do that. It took everything in me not to lick his finger. “Yeah. It might help.”
“It’s hard to…” He sighed. “Okay. So I guess I should start at the beginning. My whole life I’ve felt as if part of myself was missing. It was a nagging feeling, and it made me anxious. Irritable.”
“You mean it made you a dick.”
He chuckled. “You could say that. I wasn’t mean to anyone, but closed off. And then a few days before you came…there was this sense one day when I was in Michael’s cabin. I felt this presence and it was like something clicked. But just as it did, it was gone. I knew I was missing my other half, but had no idea how to find you. I kind of went a little crazy.”
