Page 169 of Piece You Saved

I feel him watching me. Waiting, I guess, for me to decide if I can forgive him or not.

One morning, finished with my shower, I wind a towel around myself, pad over to the sink, and lift a hand to wipe the steam off the glass.

I jump.

This morning there was no rose on my pillow, no candle, and no small token of apology.

This morning, Dariel is standing in my bathroom doorway in a white shirt and black pants with one hip resting on the doorframe.

“Another apology?” I ask, searching his hands for whatever small thing it will be.

They’re empty.

“This one is a little bigger than a rose or truffles,” he says.

He has nothing in his hands, so whatever thing it is must be in his pocket. There’s no hint of a bulge in either one of them, and I can only think of something small and big that would fit. “I don’t want jewelry.”

“Good, because you aren’t getting it.” He pauses. “That comes later.”

I blink. “What do you mean, it comes—”

“Kade never told us what happened to him. None of us knew how he came to be a shifter. I guessed it must’ve been terrible for him to be so closed mouthed about it, but I never guessed it was that bad,” Dariel interrupts.

I meet his eyes in the mirror and say nothing.

“He’d joke, change the subject, act as if it was nothing, but he wanted to share his story with you. No,” he corrects himself. “Kade wanted to share his pain.”

“I wasn’t trying to hurt him,” I tell him, willing him to believe the last thing I would ever want to do is that.

“That isn’t what I said.” He gives me a probing look. “Aden would still be struggling with his form without you. Most new shifters struggle to stay human because their wolf’s voice is too loud to ignore for long.Yougive him a reason to stay human.”

Dariel walks toward me.

My mouth goes dry, and I turn to face him. “Dariel?”

I’m not afraid. Dariel hasn’t lunged at me recently, so I have no reason to fear him.

At least that’s what I tell myself. But I’m wary. So wary, I back up until my butt hits the edge of the sink.

Less than a foot away, he stops and peers down into my face.

“I accused you of being a threat to us. I thought you were someone who would tear us apart.” His unsmiling, always serious eyes probe mine. “All this time, you’ve been bringing us closer. Healing us.”

I tilt my chin up a little more since he’s so much taller than me. “Even you?”

“I don’t remember everything from the night I shifted and went to your room. It felt like a… compulsion. I couldn’t stop it, and I don’t think I tried all that hard to stop myself.” His eyes go distant. “Then you were there, staring at me.Terrified. I rarely ever remember what I do as a wolf when I’m a man, but I remember you stroking my fur. I remember your touch.”

His fingers skim my shower-damp bare arms. Up. Down. Leaving electric tension behind. They find my hands, circle my wrists, and lift.

For the longest time, he studies my palms as if they were the most incredible thing he’s ever seen in his life. As if they were magic. “And I—” His voice breaks.

Tears suddenly fill my eyes because I see the pain in him. I hear it too, but seeing it makes my heart hurt. I know what it is to be trapped, to be caged, to go without the things his wolf must have craved all this time.

And I know all this time, he wasn’t caging his wolf to be cruel like Rylan caged me. He was caging his wolf to protect the people he loved.

They are not the same. I can’t believe I ever thought they were.

I twist my right hand free and lift it to touch his jaw, wanting to ease his pain.

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