As soon as they were alone, Peter offered her his hand. Her fingers were cool against his heat, but the touch calmed his wolf enough he thought he might be able to get through this conversation without saying something he’d regret later.
“Sit with me?” she asked. “I still feel like I’m about to fall over.”
“I wish we could wait until you were stronger.” Sinking down into one of the plusher chairs in the room with Sameen tucked against his side, he quickly added, “I know we have to do this now.”
“We do. Because I’m going to lose my nerve soon.” His mate pressed closer to him, and Peter took a chance and ran his nose along the curve of her neck. “I like it when you do that. You said...it’s a mate thing?”
“It’s a wolf thing. Scenting. We operate on instinct. Which is why we also say and do a lot of stupid things.”
“Like trying to claim your mate less than a day after meeting her?” The corners of Sameen’s lips curved into a half-smile, and it was the most beautiful thing Peter had ever seen. Every new expression, every time she found a bit more of herself, he wanted more.
“Yes.” Drawing back slightly, he searched her face. “How well can you see me?”
“Are you asking if I can see your scars?” Sameen reached up and traced some of the worst of the burns along his cheek and down his neck. “Yes. Even up close, things are a little blurry, but I see you, Peter.”
“My wolf will always be yours, Sameen.Iwill always be yours. But that doesn’t mean you have to be mine. Even if you did one day decide you loved me—or wanted me—mating...it’s not ownership. Wolves are possessive. Probably the most possessive creatures on this earth other than vampires. You saw how Farren reacted to the mark on Eli’s arm.”
Sameen stared down at their joined hands, the differences in their skin tone, in size and shape, and nodded. “I trust you. You make me feel safe and protected and...”
“Loved?”
Her shoulders jerked, and he kicked himself for taking things a step too far. “I don’t know what love is. Maybe? I want to be close to you, and I want you to kiss me again.”
Peter threaded his fingers through her long locks. “I’ll kiss you any time you ask.”
She leaned closer and brushed her lips to his. “Give me time.” A tear shimmered in the corner of her eye, and Peter dashed it away with his thumb. “After they branded me, I fought them for months. I don’t remember much, but I remember having my own thoughts, my own wishes and hopes and dreams. And then...I didn’t anymore. I couldn’t escape, and every time I resisted, even a little, they’d hurt me.”
She shivered, and Peter vowed he’d never let her be cold or afraid or under anyone’s control ever again.
“Helping find Mara? Putting an end to them? It terrifies me. But it’s the only way I’ll ever be able to be...a person again.”
“You are—”
“Maybe to you. But not to me. I still feel like this weak shadow of who I might have been. Until I know all my thoughts are my own, until I can make my own decisions, take my own risks, and reclaim what they took from me, I can’t promise to stay with you, even if it’s the only thing IknowI want.”
Peter cupped her neck so he could touch his forehead to hers. “Whatever you need from me, I’ll give you. All you have to do is ask. Ask me to leave you alone or give you space or just back the fuck off. Cade and Liam will tell you...I’ve been an asshole more often than not this past year. But I want to be better for you. Iwillbe better for you. Even if it means I have to let you go.”
* * *
Sameen
The wind whipped through the trees at the edge of the vampire’s property. She let Peter keep his arm around her waist for the long walk across a perfectly manicured lawn and then into a heavily wooded area where the trees obliterated the moon and the stars and she was almost blind again.
“Peter? I can’t see anything.” She wasn’t proud of the fear in her voice, but the darkness…it terrified her.
He scooped her up into his arms with a grunt of pain. “I can. Wolves have better sight and hearing—even in our human form. Everyone else is just up ahead.”
“You won’t leave me alone out here, right?” She clung to him, drawing strength from the way his muscles flexed, how very warm he was, and the answering growl as he nuzzled her neck. He wouldn’t leave her. Not unless he had no choice.
Sameen wanted to love him—wanted to beableto love him,but was this feeling love? This intense need to be close to him? This desire to tell him everything that had happened to her—even the things she couldn’t remember—just so he’d understand her a little better? Maybe it was.
After they stopped the Thirteen. After they saved his alpha’s mate. After she was free. Then, she’d be able to figure it out.
They emerged from the thick cover of trees into a circle of freshly turned soil lit by the moon. Farren held a large bottle and was pouring something white out onto the dirt at the edges of the space.
“What is that?” Peter asked, setting Sameen down in the center next to Eli. He kept an arm around her waist, and she let him bear much of her weight. She was so tired and ravenously hungry again. She’d forgotten what hunger felt like, and now...the gnawing at her stomach was so intense, it drove much of the fear from her mind—at least temporarily.
“Salt. Once Eli removes the castin’ he did to protect Sameen, the salt should stop the Thirteen from takin’ her, even if they manage to track her here.” Farren finished the salt circle, dropped the bottle into a duffel bag, and brushed off her hands. “How much longer,mo grá?”
