“Am I?”
“Now’s not the time to ask me what I feel about anything. I barely know where my head is.”
“I thought you’d enjoy…I mean, you were so open and flirting with me earlier…”
He storms off and that makes my stomach sink. As for my wolf, she’s tucked her tail between her legs and is no help. I went into this alone and that’s how I have to find my way out of it.
By the time I finish dressing, Garrett’s back, holding the scarf I lost earlier. He doesn’t hold it out to me, as if he’s afraid to get too close.
“I shouldn’t have claimed you,” he says.
How the hell did things go so wrong? Things got intense between us, but for him to be this mad at me… I’m the one who screwed up, but he’s bearing the brunt of the responsibility.
I force a smile. “I don’t expect anything from you. I’ll move back to the women’s cabin today, and find someone else to train me. No one needs to know what happened here. I mean, it’s not like we blood-bonded. It was just sex, right?”
“Ah, fuck.” He pulls me in against his chest and wraps his arms around me. “You’re staying with me and I’m going to keep training you, as long as you want.”
Tears start rolling down my cheeks, but I try to swipe them away before he notices. “Why?”
“Because I care about you. What happened here….”
“I know, it shouldn’t have happened. I promised not to seduce you.”
A derisive laugh leaves his body. “I want to say it’s not you, it’s me, but that will sound like a line.”
“Then what? You think I’m too broken for you? Or you’re simply not attracted to me? All the scars and?—”
His lips stop me mid-sentence, the kiss soft and gentle, but no less intimate than what we just shared minutes ago.
“You’re the most beautiful female I’ve ever known, but you’re also vulnerable. You have been since before I brought you back here. Letting things go that far when I’m still messed up. It’s not right.”
“Don’t treat me like I’m a piece of glass. I survived the WSSO.”
“But it left scars, and I don’t mean the burns. Scars that run deeper. You’re starting to heal and I don’t want to keep you from recovering.”
I don’t deny it. I’ve lost my pack, my confidence, my bearing in life, but I still know who I am.
My palms rest against his chest as I tilt my head back and look into those beautiful eyes that rescued me long before he pulled me from that dog cage. “Has it ever occurred to you that you’re the reason I’m healing? That you remind me of all the good in the world? You’re the reason I haven’t given up.”
He shakes his head. “That’s trauma bonding, Angel. Nothing more. You would have fallen for any other shifter who rescued you just the same.”
I slap him across the face. “Don’t you dare make me out to be some fragile female who falls for her rescuer. If anyone’s suffering from trauma, it’s you.”
He rubs his cheek where I slapped him. “I told you, I never loved Marla.”
“You don’t see it, do you? You’re afraid to get close because of how she betrayed your trust. You think I’ll do the same. Don’t you think I thought about that when I asked you to help train me. That you’d lump me together with Marla, expect me to break your trust.” My eyes go wide as I look around at where we are, in the middle of the woods, after having sex. “I guess I did, didn’t I?”
He takes my face in his hands, making sure I look at him. “What happened here between us has nothing to do with anyone else. I gave in to a weakness.”
“What weakness?”
“Don’t make me say it.”
“What weakness?” I physically push him back, taking my anger out on him. This mess isn’t his doing. I broke his trust inme, not the other way around. “What weakness?” I practically shout this time.
“You! You’re my weakness.”
We stare at each other, both breathing heavily.
