It’s not that she’s expecting me, unless she’s looking forward to another round of bickering that will only boil my blood and have me burning for her with a heat I can’t control.
But I must control it.
If I’m to chip away at her walls and get her to open up to me, I’ll have to do better than lash out at her like I did yesterday morning. She’d clearly been shocked by my aggression, and it will do me no good in trying to get her to let down her walls.
It’s just that I have so many questions, like how it was possible for her to move on from me as if our time togethermeant nothing to her. Sure, I rejected her, but I had planned on telling her my reason for it as soon as Garret was off my back.
By then, she’d disappeared from Girdwood without a trace, and every attempt to find her was unsuccessful.
Fate led me to her, and I’m not going to let this be another missed opportunity.
I have nothing left to prove to anyone, and I’ve been a diligent alpha for the Snehvolk Pack for the last ten years of my life—the only thing I have left to prove is that I was wrong for rejecting Yvonne in the past. Even if she rejects me now, all I need is for her to open up enough to tell me that she can’t move on from the mate whose child she bore.
Straightening myself up, I head to the log cabin behind my house. This time, I go without bearing any gifts, not wanting to make things as awkward as they were yesterday.
When Yvonne opens the door, I remain composed even though my insides are yelling that her presence deserves attention. Hiding my awareness of her inviting, enticing scent, I ask if I can come in. I’d rehearsed fighting with her, not being amicable, and this suddenly feels like foreign ground I’m treading on.
“S-sure,” she hesitates, stepping aside reluctantly. “But Gio hasn’t returned from the daycare center, if you’re expecting him to thank you for the gift.”
“That’s fine,” I say as I fold a hand around my neck. “I hope he liked it.”
“He did,” Yvonne responds coldly, sending a shiver down my spine. “He would thank you if you stopped by when he’s around.”
“I can wait for him,” I suggest, taking a step forward.
Yvonne visibly tenses up, dropping her gaze. “If that’s what you want,” she whispers timidly.
Relieved that she isn’t putting up a fight, I step over the threshold and wait for her to close the door. When she turns, she comes face to face with my chest, and has to crane her neck to look up at me.
I remain cemented where I am, basking in her sweet scent and the way her throat works with a gulp. If I thought she’d forgotten the past, I was wrong. Her reaction gives it away. I notice the way her lips part slightly, and how her breathing becomes unsteady as air seeps from her lips.
“Yvonne…” I whisper, drawing forward as if there’s a magnetic force that pulls me toward her.
“Dawson…” she whispers in return as she bats her eyelids at me. But as quickly as she dropped her guard, she puts it up again and takes a defensive step back.
“Why do you want to wait here?” she asks in an accusatory tone. “You can always come back.”
I pull back and deepen my breathing to remain calm, though I’m losing my mind, unable to ignore my attraction toward her. After all these years, it appears to have grown stronger somehow, and I don’t want to be anywhere but right here.
If only I could reach for her and pull her into my arms…
“Maybe I wanted to be around you,” I admit without thinking.
“Be around me?” Yvonne asks, her brows furrowing.
“Yeah.” Another breath for composure tells me that perhaps I slipped up. “Maybe you needed something…?”
Yvonne pauses, her frown deepening. “Needed something?” she scoffs. “I don’t need anything from you, Dawson. I don’t need you.”
I shouldn’t be taking her defense as a personal attack, but in the heat of the moment, I do.
“You needed me when I saved you from the Moonshine Pack. Twice, might I add,” I object, but just as expected, it’s met with resistance.
“I never asked you to save me!” Yvonne yells. “I never expected you to be in the wrong place at the wrong time!”
“I was at the right place at the right time!” I snap back. “Lord knows what those males would have done to you!”
“I would have faced it!” she throws back, glaring at me now. “I would have dealt with anything thrown my way!”
