Page 34 of Cleansed By Water (The Nature Hunters Academy 3)

Gabby snorted. He wasn’t wrong.

“Am I for women’s rights? Absolutely. But I also think women have a specific purpose in this world, just like men. And I think the woman’s purpose is vital to a man’s life.

“A woman brings balance to her male. She compliments his weaknesses just as he compliments hers. They fit together in so many ways, not just physically.”

Gabby was shocked when he didn’t turn that into some sort of sexual joke but instead kept speaking with intense conviction.

“I wouldn’t want to live in a world without women. I would hate to lose the chance to spend my life with a woman who could love me. Despite my shortcomings, despite my ability to be completely inappropriate, and despite the fact that I’m going to screw up so many times that it will drive her insane, she will still choose to love me and I her.

“I want the opportunity to give the woman I love everything. Everything that I am. Everything that I have. I want to provide for her, protect her, comfort her, revel in her. So, yes, I am for women. But I also want the ability to open the door for her. I want to be physically stronger than her and have her be okay with that because it means I can protect her from danger, not just bad weather with a roof over her head.”

He paused, and Gabby let out the breath she’d been holding. “You’ve really thought about this,” she said, not hiding her surprise as her eyes widened. She shifted her feet, and Liam pulled her closer as if he knew she wanted to bolt and he wasn’t going to let her. She totally would have if he wasn’t holding her hand.

“Only recently,” he admitted. “Before the soul bonded were remembered, I didn’t think I’d ever find a girl who could possibly want me or that I’d want to spend forever with. But then I met you.”

Gabby’s mind started racing. She realized he was about to lay his cards on the table, and she wasn’t ready. Her own hand was terrible, and she wanted to fold as soon as possible. But he wasn’t giving her the opportunity. He pulled her even closer and lowered his head to hers. His scent wrapped around her, and his warm breath on her face made her want to close her eyes and sink into his body.

“The second I saw you, Gabby, I knew you were her.”

“Her?” Maybe if she acted obtuse, he’d get frustrated and give up. Yeah, right. This was the guy who ignored every blunt rejection she’d given him. He wasn’t giving up any time soon, if ever.

“My soul bonded,” Liam continued, completely oblivious of the inner turmoil building in her. “You need me.”

She snorted. “Vain much?”

“And I need you,” he said, ignoring her words. “You don’t have to acknowledge it for it to be true.”

“Just because you feel a certain way, doesn’t make it true, either,” Gabby challenged.

“I agree, but this isn’t just a feeling, Gabby. It’s the truth. You were made for me, given to me by the goddess. You need my light, and I need your everything.”

Gabby shook her head and tried to tug her hand from his, but he refused to release her.

“You can feel it,” Liam said. “I know you can. I can see it in the way your body tenses every time I’m near. You are drawn to me. Your soul cries out for mine because you were made for me.”

He repeated the phrase he’d said a moment earlier, the one thing that had run across her skin like a dull razor blade because she knew there was no way it was true.

“I wasn’t made for anyone, Liam,” she said through gritted teeth. “Not even the people who brought me into this world. They made it perfectly clear I was a mistake. Now I’m just trying to do something positive in this damn world because otherwise I’m just taking up oxygen for those who are actually worthy of it.” She was practically yelling by the time she stopped speaking. Her breath was even more ragged than it had been when they’d been climbing up the mountain. Gabby suddenly felt drained. She wanted to crawl in a hole or jump into the volcano—that would work, too.

“Why the hell would you think those things?” Liam said. “You aren’t a mistake, dammit! You’re mine!”

“I’m no one’s!” she wailed back. “We are nothing,” she bellowed. “I’m sure as hell not yours!”

“Well I am yours, female! I. AM. YOURS!” His voice was so loud Gabby wondered if those at the bottom of the mountain had heard him. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he seemed to try to regain his composure. “I don’t give a damn what you say, beautiful. I am yours, and if that’s all we have for now then I can wait until you realize it and I prove it to you.

“Your parents sound like dicks. What they have said or done doesn’t matter.Iwill do everything I can to show you that whatever they told you wasn’t true. They were dirt beneath your feet and didn’t have the right to breathe the same air as you. If it were in my ability, I would bring them back from the grave and beat the shit out of them before I re-buried them, alive.”

Gabby was shaking by the time Liam stopped speaking. If he wasn’t holding her hands, she’d have been running full speed in the opposite direction. She could see the cracks forming in the wall she’d erected around herself, and it terrified her. There was a time in her life when she’d believed that she could somehow earn her parents love. If only she could be good enough. If she could be normal enough. If she could make them happy. But she was never enough in any way. Gabby had forever been a disappointment to them up until the day they died.

She’d gone to their funeral and been the only one there. It was that day she knew she would never be good enough for anyone’s love. The day she decided she would never allow anyone close enough to figure out she wasn’t enough.

She purposefully set out to keep everyone at arm's length because she refused to be hurt any more. If she wasn't good enough, fine. But she wasn’t going to be continually reminded of it the way she had been by her parents.

“Gabby.” Liam breathed out her name like a prayer.

She realized they were so close she could feel his heartbeat, and it was pounding fast and hard. What was she supposed to say? What did he expect her to say?

“You don’t have to say anything,” he said.

---