How has this happened?
One corner of his mouth hitches up a little, a hesitant half-smile that takes me by surprise.
He lifts his hands, palms up, as if to reassure me that he doesn’t mean me any harm.
“My name is Erik,” he says. “I would appreciate very much if you would never call meVandawolfagain.”
Chapter20
“Erik,” I whisper.
He breaks into a smile that makes his eyes crinkle at the corners, but it quickly fades as he follows the tear tracks down my cheeks.
Unwilling to acknowledge them and afraid of all the unknowns, I ask, “How long have you been awake?”
It isn’t the most important question. Not even close.
He answers it all the same, speaking with a level of detail he never gave me before. “Long enough to know that two women guard the very long corridor outside this room, that they carry concealed blades, and that they talk about you as if you’re dangerous, yet they describe you as their guest, not their prisoner.”
He gestures to the door. “Long enough to sense the abnormal shifting of air beneath the doorway, which I plugged with cloths since whatever magic was being used reeked of subterfuge. But don’t worry—there are air vents there and there.” He points to two spots in the ceiling. “Also long enough to study the striations in the rock around us, which tell me we’re in the northern mountains.”
His observations about the guards and the air indicate that his wolf’s senses must still be fully functional, giving him the ability to hear and smell things from very far away. But his comment about the mountains surprises me.
I can’t imagine him ever having been anywhere near these mountains before. “How do you know that?”
“My wolf’s pack once roamed this land,” he says, before he continues without missing a beat. “I’ve certainly been awake long enough to wonder how we got here, what you had to do to save my life, and why my face has changed, but none of that, Asha…”
He takes a step toward me, right up to the edge of the bed. In doing so, his body blocks out the lamplight behind him and drops me into shadow.
It seems like the place where I belong.
His voice lowers and his dark gaze cuts through to my heart. “None of that is as important to me right now as knowing why you’re in pain.”
I’m intensely uncertain. In the last real conversation we had, he raged at me, roared at me to leave him, but he still hasn’t shown any signs of anger or distrust.
He hasn’t ordered me about or demanded information.
There was simplicity in our relationship before.
He commanded me. I obeyed him.
We had clear boundaries that don’t exist anymore, and I wish that I had woken up before he did, because then I would have been composed and ready.
I would have been in complete control of my feelings, and I would have already thought through my next steps.
Instead, he’s asking me why I’m hurting and he’s waiting for my answer. Quietly waiting for my answer, as if he’ll give me all the time I need.
I swipe at my cheeks, trying to stop the hot tears that persist in flowing.
For some reason, that’s when he takes a step back, allowing the light to shine onto me once more.
His shoulders hunch, although his growly voice remains low and soft. “I understand… There’s no trust between us. When you started to give me your trust, I chose to break it.”
He doesn’t look away from me, the same way I would always look him in the eyes.
Oh, his eyes.
I never saw them when they were both human, before he became the Vandawolf. I have no way of knowing for sure that this is how they looked, but…
