Page 21 of Shadows of the Soul

“You need a furry queen to sit by your side. Two things I’m not.”

He sighed. “You are dooming our relationship before it even starts.”

“I’m being logical to avoid any heartbreak and pain.”

“Thirty years.”

I glanced at him. “What?”

“That’s how long the pack has had my full attention. I mediate, enforce, and make decisions they can’t. Under my leadership, the packs became unified in a system to make us strong, less vulnerable. I put us on the supernatural powerhouse map.”

“I know your resume. What’s your point?”

“My point is, they can suck it up or get out. I have given them everything—my time, my family, my protection. They will accept whomever I choose as my mate. That is final.”

“Can you guarantee your people wouldn’t attempt to take my life?”

“No. Can you say the same for me?”

I snapped my head toward him. He grabbed the steering wheel and kept it steady. “Why would anyone try to murder you for being with me?”

“You tell me.”

“No one would care,” I gritted out, turning back to the road and batting his hand away.

He hummed in his throat like he didn’t believe me. “So now we’ve got rid of that obstacle. What’s stopping you?” he asked.

“You don’t trust me.”

“Trust is earned.”

“I’ll rephrase. You are suspicious of everything I do.”

“I’m cautious. That’s not a crime.”

“No, but let me sum up our brief but colorful history.”

“Please do.”

“First, I’ve had a professional working relationship with your head of security for years. I helped to uncover the perpetrator behind unexplained shifter deaths and took them down alongside you.”

“One of your kind was killing them to get to you.”

“That should make you trust me more, not less. If I’m willing to give up an elemental, then you should realize that I am not governed by the shackles of my species, but by my morals.”

Silence coated the car, the heavy oppression of his thoughts pressing down upon us. Had I won an argument with Hudson? Perhaps. So that meant I’d proved I’m trustworthy and therefore it shouldn’t be an obstacle to our relationship. Wait, I’d removed an obstacle, opening up the path for us to be together. I glanced at him. He had a smug smile plastered on his face. Damn it. How do I keep backing myself into a corner again and again with this man?

“I don’t appreciate being played for a fool,” I ground out.

“I’m simply getting you to realize that you are arguing with yourself. I trust you. You have yet to trust me, that’s the issue. I will not use you. I won’t hurt you or advertise your abilities. Whatever happened in your past, he wasn’t your mate.”

“Neither are you.”

“Yet.”

I rolled my eyes. “About that. You tricked me and then put an ad out, declaring your intentions to everyone.”

He chuckled. “You’re off the market. People need to know.”

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