“Hey,” his voice coaxed her out of her mind. “Do you want to go on a walk? Maybe get some fresh air? I know it’s late, but perhaps a walk will help us unwind.”
“Sure,” she said, but it wasn’t what she really wanted. Instead, she wanted to knock herself unconscious somehow and slip into the silent darkness and stay there. She let him pull her to her feet and thread his fingers through hers. Part of her loved his touch, loved that he gave it so freely and with such tenderness. But part of her loathed it because she couldn’t understand how he could possibly want to touch her. He’d seen a glimpse of what had been done to her, how her body had been violated. How could he possibly still see her as desirable?
He led her up the stairs from the vault of history to where he made his home. They emerged into a hallway of the Romania pack mansion. The house was huge. She’d walked around some, but she still hadn’t seen the entire thing.
They didn’t pass anyone on their way to the front doors, which sort of surprised her. Despite the late hour, there always seemed to be at least a few people up and about in the mansion.
“It’s quiet,” she murmured, feeling she shouldn’t speak too loudly.
Wadim nodded. “Yeah, it almost feels like the calm before the storm. Vasile mentioned to me tonight that he is expecting Skender, one of our male wolves who has been looking for his mate in the U.S., to arrive any day now. The storm that’s coming is named Costin. He will most likely kill Skender once he finds out what Skender knows.”
“What?”
Wadim blanched as he looked her. She knew he must see horror on her face.
“Crap, I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess I shouldn’t talk about killing another person so casually. I didn’t mean to scare you. Don’t be alarmed. We arenothinglike the vampires. We do not kill for sport. But, occasionally, unfortunate things happen when members of the pack betray one another. As you know, male Canis lupus are very, very protective of their mates. According to Vasile, Skender was aware of what happened to Sally, and yet he did not call his Alpha and inform him. It’s a betrayal of his pack that cannot be forgiven. His actions are a death sentence. The punishment will be carried out by the one affected most by his betrayal. Don’t mention any of this to Jen, Jacque, or Sally. I don’t know how much they know about Skender, if anything, and the situation must be handled delicately. They are good girls but they, too, are still relatively new to our pack. Sometimes, well-meaning though they might be, they exacerbate problems instead of helping matters.”
“Speaking of Sally,” Zara said, hoping not to return to the topic of her own issues, “how is she doing?”
“I’ve only seen her a couple of times since they got back, but it seems like the visit to her home was good for her.”
Zara’s heart clenched tightly in her chest. She had no home to go back to.
Wadim stopped and gently lifted her chin. “I may not be able to see into your mind, beautiful, but I’m perfectly capable of reading your face. Your pain is like a physical ache in me. I would do anything to remove it. Remember this,I’myour home now. I’m your safe place.”
Zara nodded but didn’t speak. There were no words she could offer. Hewasher home. Even if she didn’t deserve him and wasn’t worthy of him, he was all she had.
They continued and as Wadim pulled open the large front door, she took a deep breath of the clean, mountain air. It was summer, and the air was warm in her lungs. The evening sun had surrendered her sky to the moon hours ago, and all of nature seemed to be asleep under the vast canopy of stars. “You can phase if you want,” she told him. His eyes were glowing again, and she could see the eagerness in his body.
“I won’t be able to talk to you.”
She knew he was referring to their bond, and it made her feel guilty. Still, she wasn’t willing to open it, knowing what he would see inside of her. He continued to hold her hand as they walked out onto the front lawn, past the driveway, and off into the woods where the pack liked to roam.
“What was your last name?” Wadim asked.
It wasn’t a strange question, really. But Zara knew there was more to the question than a simple curiosity about her previous life. Wadim was the pack historian. She’d noticed he had a habit of seeking out information he would eventually store in the archives. This tendency bled over into their relationship. It felt slightly invasive, but he always backed off when she needed him to.
“I know you said you don’t want to use it anymore,” he added. “But it’s a part of who you were, and I want all of you.”
“Possessive much?” she teased.
“Very,” he answered, and his voice rumbled with his wolf.
“Myers,” Zara said. “My last name was Myers. My parents were Summer and Zach Myers.”
He smiled. “Fitting that a woman named Summer would give her offspring a name like Zara. Beautiful and unusual, just like her.”
“You’re a little biased.”
“Because I’m your true mate?” he asked. “Perhaps a little,” he admitted. “But I’m also male, and I’d have to be blind not to see how beautiful you are. And deaf and dumb not to hear your sweet, genuine voice and know that you have a kind, giving spirit.”
What was she supposed to say to that? Thanks? You’re welcome? That would have been a Jen answer. But what was a Zara answer? To tuck her tail and run, yes, that seemed more up her alley. But he was a predator, so if she ran, he would simply chase her. And she had a feeling she’d tire out way before he did.
“My beautiful mate, you’ll learn to take my compliments. I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.” He squeezed her hand and then ran his thumb across the palm of the hand he was holding. His touch did strange things to her, and by the grin on his face, he knew it.
They walked in companionable silence for over half an hour, and by the time they returned to the mansion, Zara was finally beginning to feel tired. She tilted her head back and stared up at the dark night sky and wondered how it could be so beautiful and so scary at the same time. There was a time when she wasn’t afraid of the dark. She hadn’t believed in monsters and thought she was untouchable in the safe bubble of her middle-class home. She’d been so very wrong.
“I have a surprise for you,” Wadim said as he led her up the steps to the front door. “Do you mind heading down to our place? I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
