Page 85 of Broken-Hearted

I wish I hadn’t prodded him awake now. He was pretending to be asleep, and I should have let him continue to pretend.

My eyes slide over his shoulder. “You’re going to be mad at me if I tell you.”

“Probably.” He grips my chin and returns my gaze to him. “But I think I need to hear it.”

I blow out a sigh and say very quietly. “He didn’t grab me. I volunteered to go with him.”

Nathan stares at me without expression.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I blurt out.

“What the hell were you thinking, Clara?” he growls.

“I was thinking about not waiting for you to come back to the cabin and watching him rip out your throat is what I was thinking,” I growl back.

“He wouldn’t have?—”

“Adrian threatened to wipe out your entire pack, Nathan.” I swallow hard when tears clog my throat, briefly choking me. “I was trying to do the right thing. Better that I’m the only one hurt.”

I struggle to read Nathan’s expression.

He releases my chin and turns to lie on his back beside me.

I angle my head to look at him, his response confusing me. “Nathan?”

“Give me a minute, peach.”

I turn fully on my side, giving him that minute.

“Are you still mad?”

One corner of his mouth twitches. “That wasn’t a minute.”

“I counted down. Maybe a little fast, but it was definitely sixty seconds.”

He rolls onto his side to face me, more serious than I was expecting. “I think I had about five million heart attacks.”

“Really?”

He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles. “I came to the cabin and found you gone. There were scents I didn’t recognize, and I had no fucking clue where you were. I lost you and I didn’t know how to get you back, or even if you wanted to come back.”

I didn’t realize he would think I just left him.

“Nathan…” My eyes prickle.

He gives me another longer look. “You went with him for me?”

I nod. “I couldn’t let him hurt you because of me. How did you find me?”

“Called your sister, who I promised you would call as soon as we got you home. Once we had a state and a city, tracking his pack was easy.”

“Yeah, she’s going to be worried.”

“She was. Less worried when I told her we wouldn’t be leaving Minnesota until we got you home. I still can’t believe it. You push me down a hill, then you volunteer yourself to get kidnapped to protect me.” He shakes his head. “Living with you is never going to be boring, is it, peach?”

“Probably not.” I eye him closely. “I’d promise to change, but I think this is just me. Martha has tried to get me to see sense for years and I’m as impulsive as I’ve always been.”

He huffs out a laugh and draws me close, tucking me under his shoulder as he wraps his arms around me. “I don’t want you to change, Clara. I want you just the way you are.”

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