Page 5 of Heron's Flame

That was an odd thing to say. It confused me. Worry, a hint of fear, and something close to regret leaked through as she turned her head, breaking our connection.

“Rebel.” I used her name, hoping she could hear the sincerity in my voice. “I don’t understand what you’re telling me.” Myhand seemed to move without my permission, and I cradled the side of her face. “Don’t shut me out.”

Maybe it was all the dreams I’d had of her or how she dominated my thoughts almost every hour of the day. Or perhaps it was the pain I could feel she held back. But my thoughts shifted, and my past decided to force its way into the present. Memories of another young woman with the same innocent aura and pretty blue eyes lingered like a ghostly reminder of my regrets and failures. Cerys.Fuck.

This wasn’t the time to remember my ex or how fucked up I had been during the breakup. We ended our relationship a long time ago.

Rebel pulled away from me, and my hand dropped. “I’m asking you to leave me alone. Stop staring at me. Don’t follow me. Pretend I don’t exist.”

The fuck?

“Why? What the fuck is going on?” Yeah, that pissed me off. Concerned me, too. This wasn’t right.

Fear dominated her emotions as she shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Babe, you’re not making any sense. I’m not going to fucking pretend you don’t exist. You want me to keep my distance? Fine. I’ll give you space, but I’m not going anywhere.”

I felt a sliver of hope push through. She didn’t want what she said. So why say it?

“I’m here if you want or need me. And yeah, I don’t just mean my cock. You want held? I’m your guy. You need a shoulder to cry on? Come find me. Someone to talk to? I’ll drop whatever I’m doing to listen. That offer doesn’t have an expiration date.”

She blinked, turning her head to stare at me like she couldn’t believe the words. “Heron?”

“Yeah, Love?”

“It’s better if you walk away,” she whispered, blinking back tears.

Shit. In the year I’d known her, I never saw her cry until now. I fuckinghatedit. Someone hurt her, and I couldn’t help her move on if she didn’t give me a chance.

“Not happening,” I vowed. “Whatever this is,” I paused, gesturing between the two of us, “It’s more than just a fling. I can’t walk away.”

As quickly as the tears surfaced, they disappeared. She shoved all her emotions away, hiding the glimpse of the truth I’d gotten. “You’ll regret it. Lust is fogging your brain.”

Lust was only a tiny part of this.

I saw no point in denying I wanted her. Rebel turned me on with nothing more than a swish of her ass and a glare from across the room. I liked her sass. Hell, I wanted a woman with a bit of hellion in her blood.

But this? Knowing she’d been hurt in the past and it prevented her from giving me a chance annoyed and pissed me off. But I had to strangle those emotions because that only made me a selfish prick. I let that rule me in the past, gave into those emotions, and I lost someone I loved because of it. Cerys had been my whole fucking world before it fell apart. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

“Sure, I can’t wait to fuck you so hard that your thighs shake and you scream my name, but that isn’t my only motivation, Rebel.” I almost reached for her and decided I wouldn’t touch her again without her permission. Something kept tickling my senses, an awareness that she’d been harmed in a way I didn’t want to acknowledge. If she’d been hurt like that, I’d fucking lose my shit. “I want to know all about you. So when you’re fucking ready, you tell me. But you can be damn sure I won’t stop staring or being your shadow because I don’t know what the fuck happened, but I won’t let anyone else hurt you.”

A strangled sound left her throat before she launched herself into my arms. For about five seconds, I held her in my embrace, shocked that she sought comfort from me, even if it was brief. I dared to brush my hand down her spine and press her closer, hoping she understood that I wasn’t forcing myself on her—just the opposite. I wanted to be her champion, her protector. The guy she ran to when her world felt like it was caving in.

“If there was anyone, it would be you.”

Her whispered words gutted me as she sniffled and backed away, rushing from the spot where I had just lost my heart. Beside me, a crow landed. A deep kraa left his throat before a rattle shook his feathered chest. His emotions felt as conflicted as mine. Concern leaked through the bond we shared.

Rebel didn’t hate me. I’d been wrong. But she was hiding a dark secret, and I planned to do everything I could to gain her trust, expose the pain that held her back, and help her heal.

I came to The Roost to find out about my past. But now I understood that I was also led here for my future.

Chapter 2 Rebel

Oh, God. I nearly told Heron the truth.

After all this time, almost a year of keeping my secrets and living with a nightmare, keeping it hidden from everyone at The Roost, I nearly spilled it all to a tall, tattooed, muscled hunk of a man who would probably run when he learned how broken I was.

No one else tempted me to reveal those dark secrets except him. Not Bella, who had become my closest friend. Not Crow, the president of the club, who promised to provide sanctuary for as long as I needed it, never knowing how he exposed The Roost and everyone in it to danger. Hell, I didn’t even talk about it with the other women who had been kept prisoner on Undertaker’s lands and subjected to his cruel torments.

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