He was a wolf.
An alpha of a pack.
A pack of wolves that were really nice and sweet to her. They were like a family she never had. They were perfect, and she loved them all.
Finding out Liam was a wolf and alpha was … strange. Worse than strange. She’d been scared. Seeing him, being near him, that took all the fear and pain away and left only one thing, love. She loved him with all of her heart. The wolf and every single part that made him Liam. It didn’t matter to her who he was or what he was.
To her, he’d always be the love of her life.
Her savior.
She heard the spoon stirring inside the cup. He was lingering way too long on making a cup of tea, and she found it irritating. This wasn’t what she wanted.
She’d already come to terms with his wolf side and now she wanted him to come back to her and for them to be a couple again. This living in limbo, in awkward silence, wasn’t going to work.
Holding the pillow against her stomach, she watched the world pass by. He knocked on the door, and she was so tempted to throw the pillow at him just to shock him or to jolt him out of whatever stupor he seemed to be in.
“Hey,” he said.
Gritting her teeth, she forced a smile. “Hey.”
Staring at him, she waited for whatever it was he was going to say. He just kept on staring at her.
“More tea, yay.”
“You don’t like tea?”
“I love tea.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I don’t have a problem.”
“I can sense that you have an issue, Rebecca. Out with it.”
He stepped into the room, holding that cup in front of him, and she didn’t know what happened. Her emotions were all over the place. She threw the pillow, even though she really didn’t want to.
“You are my problem!” she yelled.
Getting to her feet, she charged over to him. He still held the cup and was staring at her in shock.
His shoulders drooped, and she didn’t get it. “I’m sorry for all the pain that I’ve caused you.” He set the cup on the side table.
She shook her head. “No. This is not about the pain or Payne either for that matter. This is about you and me. About the fact that you’re always avoiding me. You won’t hold me in your arms or love me or do or say anything. You’re always out of the house. Do you even want me anymore, or have I become tainted because that … man-beast thing, ruined everything?”
“How could you even think that?”
“I could be walking around butt naked and you wouldn’t show an interest.” Her cheeks were on fire right now.
“You just found out I’m a wolf. I’m being considerate here.”
She blew a raspberry. She was so damn angry, and she couldn’t believe that she’d just blown a raspberry at him.
Her body felt on fire.
He kept denying her, leaving her alone, and now she was at her wits’ end. She didn’t know what to do or say to make him see any kind of sense.
“You know what, I don’t want to have this conversation.”
“You cannot just blow a raspberry and leave!”
“I can do whatever the hell I like because you’ve done nothing but leave me alone. That no longer makes you my boyfriend or my mate. If you were either of those things, you wouldn’t get to leave me, not once.”
She brushed past him, heading straight toward the door, but he caught her arm.
“I love you, Rebecca,” he said. “You’re human. You’re not used to having wolves around you or being part of a pack. I didn’t want you to find out the truth this way, far from it. I love you more than anything else in this world. You being taken, it destroyed me. I failed you.”
She saw the pain in his eyes as well as the fear. “You saved me.”
“That asshole hurt you.”
“And I’m healing. I’m not going to let him come between us, Liam. You shouldn’t either. Otherwise he’s won. We’re better than that.” She cupped his face, finally touching him after so long of not being allowed.
She pressed her head against his and breathed a sigh of relief. He was here.
He was listening to her.
They were home.
This felt like home.
“I don’t want to leave.”
“My wolf?”
“I’m not afraid of your wolf, Liam. I think he’s beautiful, just like you. I don’t want you to pretend to be something you’re not. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Make love to me, Liam. Fuck me. Have your way with me. I don’t care what you need me to say. Just know that I love you, and I want you more than anything else.”
He cupped her ass, drawing her close. “You mean like this?”