Page 41 of Run Free

“The situation we walked into was horrifying. Mother was hysterical, on her knees begging my dad to spare her lover’s life. She yelled at me, called me a traitor. Me! They were plotting to kill my father, but I was the traitor for telling on her. Mark jumped to my defense just as Uncle Mick jumped up with a gun. It went off and I moved to cover my father, but it struck Mark first. He was dead before he hit the ground. Chaos ensued. In the end Uncle Mick was killed and Jeremy was wounded. Dad was in shock and my mother looked right at me and told me it was my fault my brother was dead. I looked around and no one corrected her. No one came to my defense. In hindsight I’m certain they were in shock, but I didn’t stick around to find out. I left that night and never looked back.”

Clara was weeping openly by the time I finished. I still carried the guilt of my brother’s death, and despite everything, the embarrassment of betraying my mother. I didn’t reach out to Clara. I didn’t know what she was thinking. I had never shared that night with anyone. Did she think I was a coward for running away and not facing the consequences of my actions? Was she upset now knowing the stain she’d put on her own family by associating with me? Watching her cry made me feel worse than I had since that night, maybe worse than that even. I wanted to soothe her and make things right, but I couldn’t. I froze and just sat there, waiting.

“You were so young, Gage. I can’t imagine how scared and alone you were. No wonder you don’t let people close. I know you’d said your mom wasn’t faithful to her mate, but this is so much more than that. Thank you for sharing it. I understand you so much more now and my heart breaks for everything you went through,” she said.

I stared at her with a confused expression. I wasn’t sure anything she could have said would shock me more. “What? I just told you that you mated a murderer and traitor and I abandoned my pack and my duties.”

Clara

Chapter 22

I was shocked by his words, and more so knowing he truly believed them. I reached out and touched his cheek. “None of that was your fault, Gage. You aren’t a murderer or a traitor. If anything, you’re a hero.”

He looked at me like I was the biggest idiot on the planet. I didn’t give him a chance to talk, I launched into my next speech.

“You were put in a terrible situation. No mother should ever put a burden like that on her child. It was horrible, what she did to you. You did the right thing by telling your brother what you’d heard. And he did the right thing in going to your father, but what happened to him was not your fault. He died a hero and your father lived because of both your actions. And I don’t blame you for running away from all that. It probably saved you in the end. It was too much. I have no doubt you were in shock and I don’t know how you survived it all. I’m not strong like you.”

“Strong?” he choked out. “I’m not strong, Clara.”

“Yes you are, Gage. So much stronger than you realize. You should never have survived that zoo,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks. “I was there, remember? There is no medical reason I know of that you’re alive today. You broke your own bones just so they wouldn’t heal wrong. You’re a fighter, a survivor, and yes, you’re strong. The strongest man I know.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. He was stiff at first, but then slowly began to relax and comfort me.

“You’re the one truly hurting and I’m the one that needs comforting. Doesn’t say much about me, but definitely proves what I said about you.” I sniffled.

He shook his head and kissed the top of mine, still without words.

“I love you, Gage,” I whispered.

I didn’t know exactly when it had happened, but I was certain of my feelings for him. Maybe it was when I realized he’d returned to the zoo and pitched in to help, knowing it would make me happy and take a little stress off my shoulders. It could have been the time I caught him sleeping outside my window in his wolf form just to be close to me. Perhaps the first time we made love and sealed our bond forever. Or maybe a hundred other moments since. I’d been slowly falling for my mate since the first moment I laid eyes on him.

I knew Gage was worried I’d be disappointed or disgusted by the story he told, and I was, but not in the way he clearly expected.

“You don’t love me, Clara,” he finally said, trying to pull back from me.

I looked into his eyes and smiled. “Yes I do, and nothing you’ve told me tonight changes how I feel. If anything, it only makes me love you more. So if you thought you were going to finally get rid of me after that, you were very, very mistaken.”

He shook his head looking confused, scared, and happy all at the same time. “I don’t deserve you,” he whispered.

“I guess that’s the glorious thing about love. No one actually deserves it. We all have darkness in our pasts we wish others didn’t know about. We all feel ungrateful and undeserving of love, and yet, we open our hearts and love others in spite of that. I love you.”

He smiled and pulled me towards him, kissing me hard as our tongues began to swirl as one. I repositioned to straddle him, already feeling my body ignite with a burning fire. When our bodies aligned, I didn’t hesitate to show him exactly how much I loved him.

“Shit. Clara,” he moaned as I rode him harder.

I had sensed earlier his wolf was on edge. It wasn’t anymore, but the look in his eyes as he’d told his story had freaked mine out. I had this need burning deep inside me to claim him, to make him fully mine in every way. He relinquished all control to me as I pushed us closer and closer to the edge, and then slowed my pace to draw things out. Over and over I continued this pattern until my thighs burned and my desire was reaching painful levels.

I stared into his eyes, never breaking contact until they rolled back into his head. I threw my head back and gave fully into my release, knowing he would follow me.

“Holy shit, angel, that was amazing,” he said breathlessly, panting through his words.

I shook all over as the waves of passion continued to roll through me.

“I love you, damn it. And you are not going to just leave me for something that happened a lifetime before I even met you,” I sobbed, feeling emotionally and physically spent.

“I’ll go anywhere you go, always by your side, angel. I’m so damn grateful you’re still willing to have me. I’ll never screw this up. I don’t deserve you, but I can’t live without you either. I love you, Clara. I love you so damn much. I won’t even complain the next time you stick my ass in that flying tin can.”

I laughed through my tears, letting out a crazy sounding snort. Or was it a sniffle? Whatever the noise was made me laugh even harder. Gage loved me, he wasn’t leaving me, and at the end of the day with the stress that had been hanging over us and the secrets he’d shared, that was all I needed to hear.

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