I didn’t know things could be different until Eva. Sweet Eva.
Despite the unease coming from Rafe, he cleared his throat and answered, “Yes, she lived in the room down the hall from the front door.”
She went silent, and I couldn’t stop fidgeting. I hated making her feel bad, and there wasn’t a fucking doubt that she was feeling shit about that. If she had lived with another man that she was screwing, it would drive me up the fucking wall. A snarl stuck in my throat, and I swallowed it. She hadn’t spoken, and I couldn’t read her face.
I tapped my fingertips against the back of the couch. “Are you okay?” I asked, holding my breath.
Am I nervous?
Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she hummed affirmatively.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted.
She turned to look at me with her full attention. I wanted to shrivel into a ball. Disappointing her fucking sucked. If she left me again, I wouldn’t survive. I couldn’t be without her. Emotion clogged my throat.
“All the ways we’ve hurt you, Eva,” I continued, unable to stop. A prickling sensation spread on my hands. “I-I should have waited for you o-or?—”
“Cade,” she interrupted, eyes wide. “Breathe.”
The pressure in my chest was too much, and I felt like I was suffocating. She scooted closer to me and rested her hand on the side of my neck. Once her skin touched mine, breath exploded out of me like a valve releasing. “You’re okay, breathe.” She repeated it with such worry.Is she worried about me?
No one worried about me other than Rafe and Dorian, my pack-brothers. But they weren’t soft, never had been.
She blurred in my sight. My throat was closing up.
“Cade,” she whispered, and her caramel scent filled my nose. I reached out like I was starved for touch and pulled her onto my lap, clamping my arms around her like she would disappear.
She rested against me while I tucked my chin over her head, and I just held her. I incrementally thawed and realized I was the one shivering while she was gently smoothing her hand over my arm.
“Eva, I love you,” I whispered, feeling my heart clench for the first time in my life. It was agony—this love shit.
Her chest moved with ragged breaths and she sank into me even more, arms wrapping around my neck.
I didn’t know how much time passed, but I eventually relaxed, the pressure in my chest easing under her soft touch. Usually, when that happened to me, I withdrew in silence until I could stop the pressure from releasing.
Yet, she brought me back so easily. I relaxed, my mind at such peace that I closed my eyes and breathed her in.
“Rafe?” Eva rubbed her cheek against my chest.
“Yes?” he murmured, voice rougher than usual.
“What happened to the people who hurt you guys? Who were they?”
He went silent. Rafe was never one to talk about what happened at Forest Peak. “There were eight of them running the orphanage. All in charge of different areas.”
“Why are Dorian’s scars like that?”
“The director didn’t like Dorian’s . . . dominance.”
“Where are they?” Eva’s voice held a hard edge. Like she would find them and kill them for us. I smiled, pride expanding in my chest at her defensive tone.
“They’re gone,” Dorian called out, and his footsteps approached. Those disgusting bastards were dirt by now. I blinked my eyes open, and the game was still on the television.
A loud buzzing invaded the living room.Who’s here?
“I’ll get it,” Rafe said, standing with a grunt. He left the door to the hall open. From my vantage point, I could see him reach the foyer.
“You guys have a doorbell?” Eva lifted off my chest, sitting upright on my lap. I rested my hand on her thigh. She furrowed her eyebrows.
