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“Then why are you here?” Did he not know what happened? Was that even possible?
No. He had to know. He’d tracked me down, after all.
“To drag my wayward bride back home. You made a deal, and now you think you’re walking out without a word?”
“But…” He didn’t know. It was the only thing that made sense. He couldn’t want me to come back. Even if he did, his pack would never have me.
“But what? I told you that you had one out, and you didn’t take it.”
I was speechless for a few seconds. A few seconds didn’t sound like a lot, but it stretched out when I had Kicks staring at me like he was about to throw me over his shoulder and march back the way he’d come. I finally got my lips to move.
“I just killed two shifters—in front of everyone. Not to mention Groza is proclaiming I poisoned Jaysa.” He either hadn’t heard or something was really wrong.
“I know,” he said, closing in on me. “What I can’t fathom is why you’d take Charlie and run instead of going to the hotel, where our people would’ve protected you.”
“To the hotel? Because they’ll want to kill me too!”
He kept closing in on me, and I found myself backing up in an effort to avoid touching him.
“Our pack doesn’t want to kill you, and even if they did, they wouldn’t touch a hair on your head without my say-so.” Hehad me backed against the house, clearly not worried about my touching him, even though I had my hands fisted at my sides.
“And what about the other pack down the street? You think they won’t touch me because you say so?”
“They’re lucky I found you before they did.”
He reached up, brushing his thumb across my cheek. After all of this, he still wasn’t afraid to touch me, even as I flinched at the contact, at what I could do to him.
But he was still there, healthy, and without a speck of fear in his eyes.
“You don’t care that everyone knows I’m a killer?” With Duncan, I’d felt like I was constantly fighting for approval I could never truly get. Yet Kicks was a shifter, an alpha. Whydidn’the care?
“You mean that you killed in self-defense? You think your way of killing is that much worse than mine? Trust me, yours is nicer.”
His eyes were on my lips a second before his mouth covered mine. It wasn’t the unleashed passion of our last kiss but something so much more intimate. It was a promise, a reassurance, and it made me glad for the wall behind me.
“I should’ve made you feel safer in our pack,” he said. “I will going forward, so something like this won’t ever happen again. You were more vulnerable out here on your own.”
Ourpack. He’d said it repeatedly, as if it were really true.
I nodded, wishing it were that simple. But nothing ever was. “Even if they do accept me, I can’t stay down the street from Groza and her pack. It’ll never work. They’ll come for me.”
He rubbed my shoulders as he said, “We go back, get our things, and head to Arkansas.”
I searched his face for a lie. Was it really that simple to him? Just up and change his plans for me? “What about the reasonyou came here in the first place? You needed numbers, said it was better for the packs to be together.”
“Maddocks already left, and for good reason. He didn’t see a way forward with Groza. Said he’d rather stand alone with fewer numbers. I feel the same. What are numbers when they might turn against you at any moment?”
“If I come back, I want to talk to everyone about what happened before we go to Arkansas. I’m not going through this again unless they understand what I truly am.” There were many more people in Arkansas too, but it was a start. A fresh start. If this was what I’d become, they either accepted it or we’d go our separate ways.
“Whenwe get back, you can tell them whatever you want before we leave,” he said, smiling because he’d twisted my words. “You’re dead on your feet. Why don’t you get a couple of hours’ sleep with Charlie, and then we’ll head back. I’ll keep an eye out while you do.”
He gave me a little push toward the door, though I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to lie down, let alone sleep.
I settled in beside Charlie, closed my eyes, and was asleep in no time.
The sounds of people arguing outside woke me not even two hours later.
Chapter Thirty-Two
