Page 71 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part One

Sometimes I forgot just how intense that shifter nose of his was. “No, not afraid. Worried, yes. Just wondering where I’m going to fit into all of this.”

“What do you mean?”

Although it made me feel quite vulnerable, I decided to go with the truth. Because if I was going to make such a big mental deal about trusting Leo, then I needed to actuallytrustLeo and be honest with my feelings.

“We’re doing this to get your life back with your pack, right? To get all your lives back, and to get justice. I love having you here, but my house is too small for many more of you, and the ultimate goal is your whole community. Eventually, you’ll all need to move on, won’t you?”

My voice didn’t wobble. Well, maybe a little at the end, but no one could blame me for that. I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting Leo to say or do, but I didn’t expect him to turn fully toward me and take my hands.

He had magnificent hands. Big and strong. Tanned and warm. Covered in thick veins that made me think of things that had heat pooling in my belly.

“Vanessa.” Oh, we were using full names, were we? He definitely was being serious, then. “If you want us gone, if we have brought too much inconvenience to your life, say the word and we’ll go. But until you utter those words, I am here at your side. I owe you my life. Ricky owes you his life. And if we get the rest of my pack back, they will owe their lives. You’ve saved us so many times over, I’ll never be able to repay you.”

As usual, whenever Leo got serious, my stomach flipped. He just had that natural gravitas to him. I was certain he wasn’t even aware of it. But at the same time, something in his words didn’t sit right with me.

“I don’t want you to stay here because you feel indebted to me.” That small, very insecure voice in the back of my head screamed,yes, you do! I would take any reason for him sticking around as long as he didn’t go. But no, I had worked really hard for a long time to be better than that tiny voice. I was worth having people who were enthusiastic and happy to be around me.

“It’s not that I feel indebted to you, it’s that I am. But even if I weren’t, I would beg to stay by your side as long as you would have me. If you want to go back to a more normal life, if I’ve brought too much pain and stress to your home, if I scared you too much at the estate, I’ll leave. But please believe me when I say that Earth itself could crack in two and I would still find a way to be beside you.”

Was I breathing? It didn’t feel like I was breathing.

“Y-you can’t mean that,” I sputtered. Those words weren’t just pledges of loyalty. Those words wereromantic. Words that would be said to a lover, a soul mate, not just a friend.

Leo was leaning forward, gazing so deeply into my eyes it was almost as if he was looking right into the very heart of me. I wanted to ask him what he saw, and if it was the same lonely, often cowardly girl I so often saw in the mirror.

The girl that had been so scared to be proactive about anything in her own life, she’d ended up killing her own mother.

How could he possibly mean those words to a girl like that?

“I do mean that. I mean it with all my heart. I want you to know you are under no obligation to feel the same. I showed up in your life and dragged you into all of this. You’ve been nothing but a saint, and I have truly fallen in love with your kindness. You make me want to be a better man, even when the wolf that presided over me for so long once thinks that a civilized man shouldn’t.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Surely, I was hallucinating or dreaming. There was no way on earth Leolovedme. I was a nobody. A grocery store clerk and college dropout. An orphaned, social recluse. Leo was a capable warrior and experienced alpha who had overcome impossible hardships and was reuniting his people. What could he possibly see in me?

“You love me?” I squeaked. God, I sounded so stupid, but I couldn’t help it. Finding out he had true romantic feelings for me felt as shocking as discovering the existence of shifters. It went against everything I was taught to believe.

“I do. I know it’s fast, and I accept you may not feel the same, but this connection between us is real. I never want to lose it. No matter what happens at the medical facility or with any other warlocks we encounter, I want you in my life. If you’ll have me.”

I had no idea what to say. I wasn’t the type of girl who got the whirlwind romance with Prince Charming. I was a background character. And yet the way Leo was looking at me, the way he gently squeezed my hands, told me he was absolutely speaking his truth.

Oh, my God.

I wrenched my hands out of his only to throw my arms around his neck. If I was strong enough to fuse the two of us together, I would. I wanted to say something equally romantic, but my throat was thick with emotion, and tears stung my eyes. If I was indeed dreaming, I never wanted to wake up. The man I had been falling in love with loved me. Me! It felt too good to be true, and yet when I pulled back, he was staring at me with that same fond expression.

“I don’t want you to leave,” I admitted when I finally could speak. “I know it’s not viable for all of you to stay here, but I don’t want to go back to a life without you. I am falling in love with you, and I really want to see where we could go.”

Leo dipped his head and captured my lips in a kiss. It was tender, gentle, whispering of mutual affection and a whole lot of relief. I almost giggled into it, my body quite racked with giddiness that I had somehow found the love of my life.

Well, I was probably getting ahead of myself. We’d technically only just asked each other out. Still, the connection between us was like nothing I’d ever experienced in my entire life, and knowing that he was just as transfixed by me? It seemed impossible, but it made me want to jump with joy.

When we broke apart, Leo’s pupils were blown wide into two earnest pools of desire. Heat flooded through me in response.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked, still trying to stifle a giggle.

“I absolutely am.”

Leo took my hand, and we half-ran, half-skipped up to the house. It was completely silly, but sometimes it was nice to be silly with a lover.

I shook my head. Leo was my lover now. Officially. Sure, maybe we hadn’t talked outright labels like boyfriend and girlfriend—or mates, like shifters called it—but that didn’t matter. We were on the same page.

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