“If your choice isn’t only for Aaron’s sake, how do you justify it?”
A strange question. “I don’t see why I need to justify it.”
He blinked, and the illusion of the amber glow disappeared. “Because you fled the paddock in terror. You see us as feral, bloodthirsty.”
“No,” she said before considering the wisdom of contradicting him now, while their truce was still made of thin ice. “I mean, yes, I did. But Nicole and Sydney and Lucy—they told me what really happened, that you weren’t trying to kill me. And I believe them, unless…unless you’re about to tell me they were wrong, and you would’ve hunted me down without the fence there.”
“Corbin might have,” he said.
Corbin… “The brown wolf you warned off.”
“At his age the instinct to hunt can be overwhelming.”
“But you backed him down. Look, I’m not saying none of you are dangerous. You’re dangerous the way wolves are dangerous. You’re not monsters.”
Malachi studied her another moment, then walked back to the window. “It’s true that if you’re bonded to Aaron, you won’t betray him. Or the rest of the pack.”
Her face burned. She wished she could say she would never have betrayed them regardless, but that was already proved untrue, whether she’d intended betrayal or not. Her guilt couldn’t be undone. She could only move forward in this commitment. Bonded mates. She knew and felt the rightness of it throughout her body. She longed for Aaron.
Malachi said, “I accept the solution with the condition that it be done tonight.”
“Um…okay…how?”
One side of his mouth twitched. Buried somewhere within that massive framewasa sense of humor; she would bet on it. “Well, the wolf’s presence is required, but he’s nearly here now. Quinn’s with him.”
“Oh…yeah, I sort of sneaked out.”
He shot her a sideways look, and the twitch of a smile threatened to grow.
Headlights appeared at the end of the driveway.
“He doesn’t know why you came here,” Malachi said.
“No.”
A rumble shook his chest. “This should be interesting.”
She had gone to confront an alpha wolf—a spent and distraught alpha wolf. She had walked alone onto Malachi’s property the day after disregarding the privacy of his pack. Despite Aaron’s absolute trust in his friend, he floored the truck up Malachi’s driveway. His insides burned to know Ember was safe. In the passenger seat, Quinn was pale and quiet.
“It’s her fault we have to go,” he whispered as they got out of the truck.
“Yeah,” Aaron said.
“You said the alpha’s safe for humans unless one of them hurts one of us. Does this count?”
“No, pup. Ember’s just fine.”
As he spoke the words, the fact of them reached his senses. Ember, nutmeg—sweet yet spicy. Ember, safe. He breathed a few times on his way up the porch steps. The fire eased inside him.
Malachi opened the door before he could knock. “All’s well.”
Aaron cocked his head. Odd statement for the overall circumstances.
“She’ll explain. Please come in.”
What…? Aaron followed him to the living room, where Ember stood looking out the picture window, the sunset’s afterglow turning Malachi’s hills pink, orange, and gold. She turned from the window as they entered, and her eyes were shining. She came to him and took both his hands.
“You don’t have to choose,” she said.
