Page 55 of The Enforcers: NOAH

“Yeah.” He stole a glance at her. “And I wanted to meet you as a human so I could kiss the fuck out of you, too.”

That made her giggle. “Brock said Mr. Gray Woof wanted me to give him kisses.”

“And he was totally right. I even bought you dinner and drinks.”

Mina felt her face get hot. “Oh my God, you heard that! You said that on purpose, in the restaurant.”

“Guilty,” he admitted. “I was so happy to be with you, I couldn’t help messing with you a little.”

She wanted to believe him, so badly. But there were still so many unanswered questions.

“So…were you ever going to tell me you were a shifter?”

He bit his lip. “I don’t know,” he said. “If things worked out with us, yeah, I would have had to tell you eventually so we could be together. But honestly, I never really thought they would work out. I’m…” he looked down at their joined hands. “I’m still fucked-up inside, like I told you earlier. I used to…” He broke off, as if the words were choking him.

Mina just waited, holding his hands, willing him to share his darkness with her.

Noah took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice, not meeting her eyes. “The woman who messed me up? I was still hearing her voice in my head. All the time. The healers said she did something to my neural pathways that made me bond to her, like an addiction. They took out the compulsions she put in there, but it was like there was a huge raw gaping hole inside me that nothing could fill.”

He ran his thumbs over the backs of her hands. “But ever since I met you, I haven’t heard her voice a single time. The inside of my chest doesn’t feel cold and raw and empty anymore. It feels like the sun came out. Just standing next to you makes me feel good, and being apart from you hurts my heart.”

He tugged gently on her hands, pulling her closer. “And making love to you tonight was like nothing I ever felt before. I can’t lose you, Mina. Please say you’ll stay with me.”

Mina put her arms around his waist and held him tight. She still wasn’t sure what to feel. She knew what it was like to be in that dark place, so full of pain and confusion.

You’d hold on to anything that made you feel better. She should know that better than anybody—she’d latched onto Robbie, leaned on him too much, ended up married to him because it was too hard to be alone.

And look how that turned out.

It was so, so tempting to turn to Noah, and to let him turn to her. They were both broken, both damaged, both needing something the other could give.

But was that a reason to bind themselves together as mates?

She looked up at him. “Noah, I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you want to do this for me and Brock. And I do have feelings for you.”

She reached her hand up to touch his cheek. “But I’m exhausted and my whole life turned upside down tonight, and I just can’t decide something that important without thinking it through. Can you understand that?”

He nodded. “Sure,” he said. “I understand.”

He was disappointed, though. She could tell. And that place in the middle of her chest that had felt so supernova explody when they were making love earlier, felt all cold and unhappy.

“I—would you stay with me tonight, though? Not like—” She sighed. She was messing this up. “Just to sleep. Tank’s bed is huge, and I—I just want you with me. If that’s okay.”

“Of course.”

He gave one last look toward the crazy shed, where Tank was still talking to Tristan, before following her inside.