Page 14 of Forever Mine

I gave her the grin that typically got me out of anything and everything in life, the irresistible one, and I saw her melt a little. I was beyond relieved to find she wasn't totally immune to me.

"Look, I saw you, but for only a second. Then as you were driving away I saw the kid. Oscar and I had met at the bar inside the restaurant a few minutes before all that, so I recognized him. I went back in and asked the hostess about Jacob. I didn't know his name at the time, but Oscar had pointed him out to me and he was easy enough to describe. Jacob had left his name so I had a lead, at least. I Googled him and found he was speaking at a convention here this weekend. I didn't know for sure you would be here, but I have a fundraiser here and a few meetings I needed to attend anyway, so I came down a few days early, hoping to run into you."

"Where are you staying?" she demanded.

"Okay, so I checked where the convention was and booked at the same hotel, which I would have anyway because my charity ball this weekend is also being held there. I was able to sweet talk the receptionist into confirming that Jacob at least was staying there. I wasn't certain, but had hoped you and Oscar were, too. I swear it was complete coincidence that I ran into him today. You just"—I took a deep breath, wondering how much I should tell her—"you just look so much like, well, you, that I couldn't stop thinking about you. I had only gotten a small whiff of your scent, not enough to confirm, just enough to set my wolf on edge. I had to see you and know for sure."

"Know what, Liam? That I'm alive? ?Cause I am, but please, do not run back to my dad and tell him you saw me. I can't go home. I can't. I have a life here, and it's a good one. They're my new pack now. My family will never understand and it's just all better if they believe I'm dead, because that's what happened, Liam. Madelyn Collier died eight years ago. She doesn't exist anymore and hasn’t for a long time. You need to just go home and forget you ever saw me."

The pain that shot through my chest was almost crippling, and I stumbled back a little. She couldn't be serious. She was my mate!

"Maddie. Jane. I don't give a shit what you want to be called, but you know I can't do that. Please don't ask that of me. You're my mate. My one true mate."

Maddie

Chapter 6

I'm not sure anything had ever shocked me more than Liam's confession. His mate? He thought I was his mate? A small voice in the back of my head said,You know he's your mate. You've known it since you first caught his scent two days ago. Why do you think the panic attack hit so hard?

"I can't be your mate," I whispered, not sure if I was actually speaking to him or myself. I wasn't at all prepared for the pain those words caused me physically, nor the sheer look of agony Liam was trying hard to reign in. I didn't know how to tell him. I didn't think he could possibly understand. I wasn't a wolf. I was different now. I could never be a proper mate for him.

He stared out across the water and his voice was hardened when he spoke again. "Like it or not, Maddie, you are my mate."

A tear slipped down my cheek. I made it a point never to cry in front of people; it had hurt my family too much during the years I had, but I cried openly now. Liam Westin was my one true mate. Eight years earlier I would have been ecstatic. I had had the biggest crush on him for years as a little girl. I loved the Westin family as much as my own, and Lily and I would actually be sisters. It was like some sick twist of fate. The perfect fairy-tale I was meant to have and couldn't.

Liam's arms wrapped around me. I hadn't let anyone hold me like that since the morning of the day I ran away. I had been so upset about being grounded and Mom had wrapped her arms around me and just let me cry in her arms as I was doing now in Liam's. It should have felt wrong. Close contact terrified me, especially from a man, but it didn't. It was so perfectly right that I started to panic.

He must have felt the change in me because he started rubbing my back, "Hey, hey, what's happening here? Just breathe, Mad, just breathe. It's okay. It's going to be okay, but you have to talk to me. I need to understand and I need you to tell me how to help you."

"You can't help me, Liam. You can't fix this. This is who I am now."

"It's okay. It's okay. It's all going to be okay." He kept telling me that over and over, but it would never be okay. His soothing voice and the circles he was rubbing on my back finally started to calm me. I didn't know how he was doing it, but I started to breathe normally again. My panic subsided and so did the tears.

"Thanks," I said. I was mortified. This was Liam-freaking-Westin, and I just had a complete meltdown in his arms. I turned away from him to look back out across the water, but he stopped me.

"Don't do that. Don't turn away from me, Mad. You choose to reject our mating call, that's going to be your decision, and yours alone. I'll figure a way to live with it and respect it, but at the very least I think I deserve an explanation." He took in a deep, frustrated breath when I didn't respond right away. "Look, you of all people know how my family feels about true mates. I've waited my entire life to feel this, to find you, and so far, it really sucks."

I was so surprised by his confession that I snorted, trying to hold in a laugh.

"I mean really sucks! I'm dealing with a pair of humans, and a kid that might idolize me. I'm not kidding there, watch out for his request for suits." I laughed again, and he got even more dramatic. "You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. It's the latest fashion in the Liam Westin fan club, just ask Zander. It's coming. Oscar will be dressing like this soon. Just you wait and see. Oh, and I found my twin sister’s obnoxious, bratty other half, and she's my mate? Yeah, what are the odds of that? I'd say I'm getting the raw end of the deal here." His voice softened and I realized he'd put me at ease and got me listening again. "So, talk to me. I need to know, ?cause spending the rest of my life without you and Oscar really isn't an option for me."

He included my son. It was more than I could have ever hoped for, but he didn't know me, and he didn't know what I'd been through. I had never told anyone and I wasn't sure I could start with him.

"I don’t know how to explain it all to you, Liam."

"So, Twenty Questions then?"

It was an old game we all used to play at camp. I smiled, remembering the hours we'd spent just asking questions and talking. Life had been so simple back then. I had learned a long time ago not to focus on the what-ifs or wallow in what had happened, but right now, with my dream man right within reach and knowing the wonderful life I had always imagined with him, it was really hard not to think about it.

"So that's a yes?" he asked when I didn't answer.

"Yes, but you've just wasted your first."

He feigned disbelief. "You little cheater. Fine. Was Oscar the reason you ran away from home?"

Wow, he was hitting the deep stuff right off the bat. "No, and yes."

"Come on, you can do better than that," he challenged.

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