Page 49 of Possessive Mate

Elena scoffed, sniffling still. “You’re just saying that.”

Hanson moved so that he could look her dead in the eye and shook his head. “No, I mean it. You are the most beautiful she-wolf I have ever laid eyes on. And your soul is even more beautiful.”

“Stop it,” Elena said, cringing away, though in truth his words made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Still more than a little sensitive, she wasn’t sure she was ready for this kind of talk.

“Elena, there is something I need to tell you,” Hanson said, and she was certain she heard a quivering to his voice, a nervousness she had never heard come out of his mouth before.

“What’s the matter?” Elena asked, stiffening. Was this the part where everything fell apart? Was he about to tell her that something terrible had happened while she had been out cold? “What’s wrong? Is Eddie alright? Jack? The others?”

Her heart hammered in her chest. She had almost entirely forgotten about everyone else. How could she possibly have done that? They had all risked their lives to save Hanson from the barn.

Had the Pine Valley wolves arrived in time? What if they had, only to be destroyed themselves?

A whole host of horrendous thoughts took up residence in her mind. She hated it. She hated her anxiety and that even in her desperation to know the truth, she was still somehow terrified of knowing it.

“Elena, calm down,” Hanson said, holding her close. “Eddie is fine. Everyone is fine—a little battered and bruised, but alive!”

Elena pulled away from him then and looked him in the eye. “Then what do you want to tell me?”

“Jeez, Elena, you don’t half make things difficult,” Hanson growled at her, his eyes darkening. Her stomach twisted and then started to flutter as he took hold of her face in both his hands. He didn’t so much as blink as he said, “I have been fighting the urge to tell you this for a long time, but I can’t hold it back any longer. I love you, Elena.”

A growl rumbled in Elena’s chest. It made its way up her throat and out into the world before she could stop it. Defensively, she pulled her face from his hands and turned away.

“You’re only saying that because I’m carrying your pups,” she said, cringing. Even to her, it sounded absolutely ridiculous, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe otherwise.

“Stop it, Elena, stop pushing me away!” Hanson snarled at her. He grabbed her chin and forced her face back around to him. Meeting her gaze again, he said, “I understand why you are doing it now, but I am tired of it. I am not Jason, and these babies,” he paused, laying his free hand on her stomach, “they aren’t your last baby.”

The lump in Elena’s throat grew. Just the reminder of how everything had gone the last time made her feel sick to her stomach.

Tears threatened once more. She barely managed to get the words out as she said, “I can’t go through that again.”

Hanson kissed her then. It was a tender, affectionate kiss filled with love, and it made her head spin. He leaned his forehead against hers then and whispered against her lips, “We will do whatever we can to prevent anything like that ever happening again.”

“How?” Elena whimpered. She closed her eyes, not daring to look at him. She knew she was asking him the impossible. Even for werewolves, miscarriages were entirely unavoidable. If they happened, they happened. There was usually no stopping them.

“We’ve got Violet and the other magic users,” Hanson pointed out. “I happen to have heard that the witch is an excellent midwife.”

Elena couldn’t help but laugh at that. It was so different to weeping that it made her feel strange.

A little embarrassed, she attempted to be funny. “You aren’t seriously expecting me to have a witch for a midwife, are you?”

Hanson cocked his brow and grumbled, “I said everything, and I meant everything. If a witch midwife is what it takes to keep you and these pups safe, then so be it.”

The determination in his tone sent a shiver through Elena. She wanted so desperately to wrap her arms around him, hold him and never let go. And yet, she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.

Luckily, she didn’t have to. Hanson grabbed hold of her face once more and growled, “I can’t deny it any longer, Elena. I can’t stay away from you, no matter how hard I have tried.”

What the hell is he trying to do to me? she thought, fighting back tears again. This time, they were tears of relief, of the knowledge that she wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks or what anyone says. You’re mine. Whether you like it or not, that’s the truth, and if you want me to stay away I will,” Hanson continued, his eyes boring into hers in a way that made it impossible for her to blink. “But if you want me to stay, if you want me to be here for you and for these pups, I will be. And I won’t let a single thing come in between us.”

Elena gulped. What exactly was Eddie going to think of all this? He had been like a wolf with a sore head ever since she had arrived. Whether he had been like that before she did, she didn’t know, but this was bound to only make him worse.

When Hanson kissed her again, she realized, he is just going to have to get used to it.

They all were. After all, what did all of this mean for the both of them? If they were mates, they had a huge problem. He was a Blackwell wolf, and she was an outsider. Her stomach twisted. Jack had always offered for her to join them if she wished, but the last time he had mentioned it was a long time ago, before she had gotten herself into trouble with Christopher’s pack, before she had gone and gotten herself knocked up by one of his wolves without even asking to join the pack beforehand.

If everything was so damn messed up, how did it also feel so damn right?

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