“I’m not mad at you,” I said. “You saved my life. I would have to be a complete asshole to hate you after that. I may be an idiot at times, but I like to think I’m not an asshole.”
She gave a half-laugh, half-sob, a smile breaking across her face for the first time since she had come home.
“What you did was incredible,” I said, and genuinely meant it. “You literally turned part of the wraith into glass. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“I don’t know how it works,” she muttered. “I don’t even know if I could do it again.”
“I know you could do it,” I said. “I think the bigger question is whether you want to.”
And whether the wraith can find a way to work around it, I didn’t add. I didn’t want her to feel that sort of pressure. More than that, I didn’t want her to get the idea in her head that going after the wraith again was a good idea. She might have an incredible power, but that didn’t mean I wanted her putting herself in harm’s way.
I closed my eyes. If anything, she had proved she could handle herself. I had misjudged her.
“I’m sorry for saying you can’t protect yourself,” I said. “Though I hope you know that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop worrying about you. Because that’s never going to happen. I happen to care too much for you to ever do that.”
She blinked up at me, surprised. “You do?”
“Was that ever in question?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she came and nuzzled against me, her head resting in the crook of my shoulder as I pulled her into my arms, hand stroking her soft hair as I breathed in her scent.
“We should tell Elias,” I finally muttered.
It was the wrong thing to say. Rachel blanched and took several steps back, shaking her head as her eyes remained wide with fright.
“Please don’t tell anyone,” she said.
I frowned, brow furrowing. “What? Why not? He needs to know if his sister can—”
“They’ll hate me,” she said, panic lacing her words. “They already don’t like me. I don’t want another reason for them to treat me as an outcast.”
“You can fight against the wraith,” I pointed out. “Think about all the good you could do.”
Her eyes were still wide as saucers, and she seemed to shrink in on herself. Her arms wrapped around her stomach as she stared desperately at me, still shaking her head softly.
“I don’t want people to know,” she said.
Huffing, I ran my fingers through my hair as I licked my lips. This sort of information was crucial for the pack to know. It was the type of thing that could save the town. I almost opened my mouth to argue. However, staring down at her, I saw the terror radiating off her as she stared at me in a panic. She bit her lip as she bobbed from foot to foot, waiting for my response.
Letting out a deep breath, I nodded and moved to stand in front of her. “All right,” I said, wrapping my hands around hers and tugging them away from her stomach. “I won’t tell anyone until you’re ready. But I don’t think you should keep this to yourself.”
Her shoulders sagged as relief radiated off her. She let out a slow, shaky breath as she looked at me, giving a faint, almost nervous smile.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
I pulled her toward me, kissing her forehead as my mind spun, trying to figure out what the hell was going to happen next.
***
“You’re gonna love me,” Oz said, strutting into Elias’s room. Drake, the more silent, stern type, followed after as Oz gave a smug grin.
“How’s that?” I asked. “Because if you think that you dragging us out to a bar and buying us all drinks is enough to win our undying affection, that’s not gonna cut it.”
“Hey, it works with the ladies.” He winked. “But no, this is a horse of an entirely different color.”
“And that color is…?” Elias asked.
“I happen to have a lead on where the lair is,” Oz said with a broad grin.
