What do I need? Safety. Security. Release from the building pressure inside me. But more than that, I needhim.
His touch.
His strength.
His care.
"I need you," I whisper softly. "I wantyou to help me through my heat."
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
WRAITH
Time stops.
Her words hang between us.
"I need you. I want you to help me through my heat."
My brain can't process them.
Can't make them fit into any reality I understand.
She can't have said what I think she said.
No one wantsme.
I'm frozen, staring down at her. At this beautiful, brave omega curled against my side, asking for the impossible.
She watches me.
Patient.
Waiting for a response I can't form.
The scent of wild honeysuckle wraps around me, warming with the beginnings of her heat despite the suppressant.
The biological pull is undeniable.
But biology isn't enough to overcome what I am.
My hands lift between us, trembling so violently I can barely form the signs. I have to try three times before my fingers cooperate.
Y-O-U... S-A-W... M-E.
Her brow furrows, confused. "Yes? And?"
I struggle to understand how she doesn't get it. How she can't comprehend the reality of what's beneath my mask. Even the glimpse she caught should have been enough to send her running.
M-E,I emphasize, pointing to my masked face, my scars, the horror I keep hidden.
"Wraith," she says softly, propping herself up on her elbow to face me more directly. "I told you, it doesn't matter what you look like."
It does matter.
It's all that matters.
