Page 42 of Season of the Wolf

My stomach sank and I didn’t immediately know what to say. I wouldn’t lie to him, so denial was off the table.

“Who … told you?” I stammered. “Dallas?”

Liam shook his head, still not meeting my gaze. “No. One of theotherhundred people who knows,” he answered bitterly. “One of Nick’s brothers.”

My teeth sank into my lip.

I had every reason to keep what I’d done from Liam. Namely … this reaction. Granted it might have gone over better had he heard it straight from me, but there still would’ve been hell to pay.

“I would have told you, but—”

“But you knew how reckless it was? But you knew I’d tell you how that monster would have ripped you apart the moment he laid eyes on you?”

Those shoulders were heaving again, muscle rolling beneath skin as he stared. The disappointment in his gaze was impossible to miss.

“Evangeline, I can’t …”

He stopped and began pacing in front of the door while searching for the right words to scold me.

“I can’t protect you,” he admitted.

Watching him, my warrior, I knew those words burned like venom as they left his mouth.

I lowered my head.

“And if you keep doing things like this, if you keep—”

This time, I was the one who cuthimoff.

“It won’t happen again,” I promised, knowing I only gave my word to make that look he wore go away. To describe it as heartbreaking would be an understatement.

A response didn’t come immediately, and I knew that meant he was still thinking, knew it meant the conversation was nowhere near over.

“I’d like to believe that, but every time I turn around, you’re running straight into the eye of the storm,” he fumed as desperation rivaled anger for dominance. The frustration within him was bubbling over.

More pain in his voice. More hopelessness.

I heard him. Really, I did, but also felt so misunderstood. It wasn’t lost on me how stupid I’d been. No, it wasn’t okay that what I did caused him distress, but in my eyes my actions were justified. As much as I hated to admit this after I’d just given him my word, I’d go out there into the darkness, the uncertainty, all over again if I had to.

For him.

“I’m not ashamed of what I did,” I spoke up, knowing he heard the boldness in my voice, knowing he likely resented it under these circumstances. “You would have done the same for me.”

He didn’t argue with that because we both knew I was right. The difference was, in his eyes, my life had more value. However, I begged to differ. The same resolve he felt when it came to putting his life on the line for me, I felt for him.

I stood when my blood heated in my veins.

“What was I supposed to do?” I asked, lifting my hands into the air before they fell to my sides again.

“You asked me to do something a while back,” he interjected, ignoring my question. “You asked me to always tell you the truth. Even when it was hard. Even when it felt like the wrong thing to do.”

The conversation was still fresh in my mind. “I remember.”

“Then you should also remember that I agreed to this, gave you my word.”

I nodded, feeling a breath hitch in my throat when he took steps closer, so close I felt his energy pulsing in tandem with mine, even in the absence of his dragon.

“I remember,” I repeated, distracted by the pull of his soul as it lassoed mine closer.

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