Page 61 of Defeated

He stops, his back to me.

“I told you I ran from my mate. He was not a good person, Chris. So I ran, and I spent the last two years running. I think it’s time I stopped.”

He’s holding his breath as I struggle to say the thing I was so scared to say before.

“It’s asking a lot, but I was always afraid I would go back to my old pack, see my mate, and a part of me would convince me to stay with him even knowing it wasn’t what I wanted. But I’d like to go back and end things once and for all. And to stop running. If the thought of coming with me to do that hasn’t scared you off or made you change your mind about me, I’d like to see if I have a future with you in Winter Lake.”

I don’t see him move. I’m suddenly crushed against his chest, his arms wrapped around me.

I lift my arms around him and hug him back. “Is that a yes?”

“It’s a hell yeah.”

We’re still hugging each other when a female voice drifts in from the window. “Can we go in now, Colton? Or are we waiting for them to have sex first?”

“Penny…” Colton sighs.

“What! I didn’t say I had a problem with it,” Penny responds. “I just wanted to know when was better for you. I’m happy to stay in the car.”

Chris breaks the kiss to grin at me. “How about we grab something to eat since breakfast didn’t happen? I think it’s still waiting for us in my U-Haul.”

“I’d like that.”

He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and his expression softens. “Maybe we could invite our packmates?”

Packmates.

A pack.

I peer up at Chris and I’m… stunned at the thought of something I hadn’t considered. Until now.

“Zoe?”

I shake my head, blinking tears from my eyes. “I hadn’t thought I would ever have a pack again. You said you had one in Winter Lake and I just… I never considered they would be mine too if I went with you.”

“You’ll do fine,” he assures me.

“I’ve spent years running from shifters,” I remind him. “The first thing I might want to do is run.”

“And they will understand. We all have our own reasons for having left the lives we had before Winter Lake, so there isn’t anyone who won’t understand. You’ll be fine.”

I’m not sure I believe him, but I smile faintly. “Okay.”

He leans in close, kissing me softly on the lips. “Okay.”

Remembering his words from before and the anguished guilt at something that wasn’t his fault, I cradle his jaw with one hand. “You weren’t to blame for Gracie. I know you said you were responsible, but you really weren’t.”

He turns his head, presses his lips to my palm as he grips my wrist and holds it there. “I failed her. Badly. If I had just?—”

“Stood by and watched a stag charge toward you and do nothing, hoping it would change direction before it skewered you?” I arch my brow.

He doesn’t respond.

“Hindsight sometimes is painful,” I tell him quietly, “especially when there’s no one to reassure you that you did the right thing. You did the only thing you could to save her. I will tell you that every day until you believe it, if you’d like.”

His eyes dip to my lips. “And will it come with another of those kisses?” His voice is gruff as he slides a hand around the nape of my neck.

“It might.” I study him, thinking. “I’m not sure I should have asked you to come with me to my former pack.”

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