Liam rolled to his back, feigning injury. When Payne leaped atop him, he went for the jugular, sinking in hard and deep, ensuring there was no coming back from this wound. As the other wolf’s life ebbed away, the taste of his blood flooding Liam’s mouth, he flipped up to his feet and looked down at his enemy.
It was over.
Payne would never hurt Rebecca again.
Liam shifted into his human form, and when he looked down his skin was covered in blood, some his, most of it Payne’s. He was tired, strung tight, and needed the comfort he could only find with one woman.
She was standing in the near distance with Lilla. Her mouth was slightly open. Was that shock or fear in her eyes? He didn’t want her to hate him, to be disgusted by what he was.
He didn’t approach her, not wanting to scare her.
Rebecca took slow, robotic steps toward him. When she was within arm’s length, her scent enveloped him. “Are you afraid?”
She licked her lips. “Numb.”
“My wolf likes you.” He ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek, loving every single thing about her.
“I like your wolf.”
His beast howled within, and all was right in his world.
Chapter Ten
Several days later
Rebecca stared out of the window at the beautiful forest beyond. Liam had been spending a lot of his time either making her tea, dinner, or patrolling the perimeter. They hadn’t exactly had a good talk since he saved her from his enemy Payne. At night, he wouldn’t come in until he thought she was asleep.
She’d pretend as she knew he found it all a little difficult to talk about. The thing was, he’d bring her tea, they’d eat lunch, and she saw the hunger he had for her in his eyes. She felt that same exact hunger herself. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, there was no getting away from what they shared.
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.”