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I would show him.

Then I'd explain the part that frightened me far more than scales, wings, or fire ever could.

Lifebound.

My mother.

My father's warnings.

The people who had wanted something from me without always understanding why.

And finally, Ash.

After what his father had done to him, after seeing how completely one person could alter somebody else's life by controlling which pieces of the truth they were allowed to see, I couldn't convince myself my silence was acceptable simply because my reasons were kinder.

I wasn't his father, and I knew that. Fear wasn't cruelty, and keeping a secret because I was terrified of what it meant wasn't the same as deliberately constructing a lie and using it to torment a child.

But Ash had spent enough of his life making choices without all the information.

I wouldn't ask him to choose me the same way.

“You're doing it again.”

I blinked and realized Ash had turned toward me.

“The eyebrow thing,” he explained, and my hand almost rose toward my forehead before I caught myself.

His smile widened. “You were going to check.”

“I was not.”

“You absolutely were, but it's okay.” He set his mug on the porch rail and moved closer until his shoulder rested against mine. “Whatever it is, you can tell me when you're ready.”

The irony nearly took my breath away.

He trusted me.

After everything that had happened, Ash still trusted me enough to stand here in the darkness and offer patience I wasn't entirely sure I'd earned.

I slid my arm around him, careful of his ribs, and he leaned into me with an ease that would've seemed impossible only a few weeks ago.

Tomorrow I would give him the truth and, with it, the ability to decide what he wanted to do with me.

No more delays and no more deciding what Ash could handle because I was frightened of his answer.

I pressed my mouth to his temple before looking across the dark fields toward the secluded stretch of land where I would take him in the morning.

Ash settled more comfortably against my side, apparently satisfied with that promise.

For a little while longer, I allowed myself to stand here with him and enjoy the life I'd spent years building—the farm I'd chosen, the home I'd made, and the man I loved resting against me as though he'd already begun to belong there.

Tomorrow might change everything between us.

Tonight, Ash was home with me.

Chapter twenty-one

Checking - Using legal body contact to separate an opponent from the puck or disrupt their play.