She flinched, her eyelashes lowering as she read the truth in what I was saying and my genuineness. “I didn’t know,” she admitted hesitantly. She paused for a long moment before asking, “Why did you apologize if it was my fault?”
“You may have started it, but I stole a kiss and a bite without permission,” I swallowed, gazing out over the valley so I wouldn’t have to meet her piercing stare. “I’ve had my will taken from me. My choice. I promised I would never do it to another and I did it to you.” Disgust coated my tongue as I considered that I’d broken my vow with the one person I never wished to harm.
A warm touch distracted me and I glanced down to see she’d rested her pinkie next to my hand. It was the barest of touches, but a sense of comfort washed through me. “You didn’t take my will,” she finally said. “Not if I was the one who initiated it.”
I blinked, giving her a sideways glance. “You didn’t know.”
“That’s not an excuse,” she retorted without heat, her eyes set somewhere in the distance. “Not for us. Some part of me understood what I was doing.” She took a deep breath and her finger eased away from mine. “Why did you finish it?”
My hand drifted, settling over hers and she glanced at me uncertainly. “Because for the first time in my life, I wanted a reason to stay.”
Bitterly, she smiled. “But you can’t stay, Caleb.” Something settled into place as she said my name, a determination to make this thing work, no matter the consequences. “Not here. Gran will never allow it.”
“Then come with me,” I countered, lifting our joined hands. “The Navarre Pack will accept you. Welcome you with open arms.” She opened her mouth and I hurried to convince her, already seeing the denial in her eyes. “You won’t be the only female wolf anymore. We have several. One is an Alpha.” Surprise kept her mute so I continued. “Leaving your Pack is hard. I know that. But you’ll have me and I promise to help you adapt. You’ll have all the time you need to integrate into the Pack.”
“Caleb,” she said and afraid she was about to say no, I spoke again.
“Dru, consider it at least. Please.”
The tiniest smile graced her lips and my heart jumped. “Are you begging?” She questioned with a lift of her eyebrow.
“Yes, if that’s what it takes,” I answered instantly.
She ducked her head, her hand curling under mine. “What you’re saying sounds….amazing.”
“Then come,” I interrupted, suddenly eager to take her to Navarre land and introduce her to Dom, Jess, Anna, and Trent. “We can go now.”
She glanced up at me apologetically. “I won’t leave Paige.”
“She can come with us,” I offered, seeing an easy solution. “No one will care about her differences.” She must have felt the truth in my words because her expression eased and she smiled gently.
“I wish it was that simple.”
“We can make it as simple as it needs to be.”
“There’s so much you don’t know,” she replied, worrying her lower lip.
“Then explain it to me and we’ll figure it out together.”
“Paige can’t leave and neither can I,” she stated, shaking her head resolutely. I saw the determination in her eyes, but it was no match for my own.
“Then we stay.”
“I stay,” she specified. “You go.”
I shook my head, equally determined. “No.”
“She’ll kill you,” Dru reminded me, her voice catching.
“I am particularly hard to kill,” I responded, unconsciously tracing the scar on my chest. Her gaze followed the path of my scar, her forehead wrinkling with worry.
“She won’t fight you with tooth and claw,” Dru warned. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with here.”
“I have you,” I answered, bringing my hand up to her face and letting it hover there until she bowed her head in permission. I gently touched the skin under her blue eye, noticing how she kept hiding it from my view. “Together, we can make this work. I know it.”
Chapter Seven
Dru
It took every ounce of control I had not to duck my head and hide the eyes I despised from his clear gaze. How he could look at me with such awe, I didn’t understand. I was a freak, my differences obvious for the world to see, and he was….perfect.
A fact my grandmother would never see, and she would tear him limb from limb out of fearful ignorance – a reality I could never allow to happen.
“You have to go,” I pleaded, terror filling me and I saw when it hit him. I didn’t know how to control the connection between us as my emotions spilled over onto him, and I suddenly felt a surge of sympathy for Paige. “I won’t allow her to destroy you.”
“Neither will I,” he promised, his ignorance making him confident of an outcome he couldn’t possibly achieve. “I won’t allow her to destroy you either.”