When I don’t answer, she shakes her head. “Maybe I should sleep in the women’s cabin after all.” She barely looks me in the eyes as she passes me in the direction of camp.
I clamp down on her arm. “Thatiswhy you asked me to train you, isn’t it? So you could mount your own rescue mission.”
Slowly, blue eyes lock on me. “I said it once, and I won’t say it again. First, I’m not Marla. Second, I refuse to make things worse for those shifters. Your team is the best chance they have. So, no, I’m not trying to rescue them or anyone else.”
I exhale slowly, calming myself at the very idea that she’d even considered attempting a rescue. “Good. Now I don’t have to worry about you running off.”
“I didn’t say I was staying here.”
My heart sinks into my stomach. “Explain that.”
“I don’t think you’re ever going to trust me. I expect thatfrom the others in this pack. From Tiberius who came up to me tonight and told me to leave, reminding me in no uncertain terms that I’m responsible for those shifters remaining prisoners. Even Damien, despite how he’s warmed to me, still sees me as trouble because of how I distracted you that day we first met. Maybe the shifters being held captive isn’t entirely my fault?—
“It’s not your fault at all,” I interject.
“As I was saying, even if their fate isn’t my responsibility, the fact remains that you disobeyed orders and returned forme. Damien and the rest will always see me as little more than the shifter who tempted you down a wrong path. Hell, isn’t that appropriate considering our little tryst today?”
“Wait, back up for a minute. What the fuck did Tiberius say to you?”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s not why I ran. Not entirely. I thought if I worked hard enough here, found a way to fit in, I could escape my role in those shifters’ fate. A few minutes ago, when you found me sitting on that log, my world shifted. Everything suddenly seemed right again, as it always does when I’m around you.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve fallen for you, Garrett,” her hand cups my cheek. “but I’m losing myself in the process. I haven’t been myself for a long time. It goes beyond a sense of vulnerability. It’s… I can’t even explain it. But nothing is the same. Everything has been failing me. And now… you. I asked you to train me because I don’t want to ever be helpless again. Despite my earlier promise, you assumed the worst of me just now, that I’ve been using you so I can go after those shifters. I’d never use you, Garrett. I couldn’t, because I love you. That’s why I can’t keep doing this.”
“What the hell does that mean?” My voice cracks. “Are you leaving me, Angel? The pack? Because if you have to leave, I’ll go with you.”
She backs up from me, shaking her head. “I need… space. I don’t know if that means leaving the pack, too. I’ve thought about it before. A lot. Right now…” She takes a deep breath. “I’m going to the women’s cabin tonight. And before you ask, no, I don’t know what I’m doing. I only know love shouldn’t hurt or destroy. It should build a person up, not tear her apart.”
What the fuck is happening?
My entire body’s on edge, so much that I don’t even feel the pain of my wolf biting me in panic. I’m too numb because I’m losing my Angel, and I don’t know how to stop that from happening.
“Angel, please, we need to talk about this.
“I… I need to think, and I can’t do that around you.” She kisses my cheek. “Bye, Garrett. Please don’t follow me.”
She walks out of my sight, leaving me standing there, as alone and empty as before I met her. Worse… she’s taken a piece of my heart with her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
ANGEL
After shifting, I race up the trail as fast as I can to get away from Garrett, before I follow every instinct and race into his arms. I try to shut down all thought, let my wolf take over, but a scent—familiar and elusive, that’s haunted me for days—pulls me up short just before I reach camp.
Veering off the path to investigate is nothing more than a distraction, a way to ignore what I don’t want to face… Garrett’s inability to trust me.
I can’t believe he thought I was using him to train me so I could go after those shifters even after I told him I wasn’t. My promise meant nothing to him.
There it is again, that familiar scent that doesn’t belong here.
I shift to human form, leaving the protection of my wolf behind. “Show yourself.”
The longer I wait for someone to step onto the path, the more foolish I feel. I’ve becometooconfident in my skills. Garrett would laugh and tell me I have a long way to go.
I can’t return to him, not until he learns to take me at myword, to see me for who I am, which is not the ghost of a dead shifter.
Why did he have to question me like that? I’ve never lied to him.
