He looks up at me, and I can see the plea in his eyes.
“I thought you wanted me gone, Koda, after I told you were I came from.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not why I left.” I can tell he needs to say something but doesn’t want to say it.
I run my hand from his hair down to the side of his face. He leans into my touch, turning to kiss the center of my palm.
“Say you won’t leave me.”
“I didn’t want to leave to begin with,” I admit. Each step I took from the cabin hurt more and more. It was like I was leaving the place that was meant to be my home.
“Say it,” he demands, making a smile pull at my lips.
“I won’t leave you.” I can still see the uncertainty in his face. “Ever,” I add. “As long as you want me here, I’ll stay.”
“I’ll always want you here,” he says instantly. I smile.
“I killed your father.” His hands tighten on my hips like I might try to pull away from him.
“Good.” I feel relief. Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I’ll no longer have to look over my shoulder in fear of my father popping up at any moment. Koda just gave me a gift and he doesn’t even know it.
He looks at me with shock on his face.
“Did you expect me to be sad about that? I ran from him. Have been running from him. I’ve felt guilt for years about the people I’d left behind. Worse, when I got to safety, it took twelve hours for me to admit where I’d come from, and when they went back to try and save some of the shifters, the place was empty. Maybe if I had said something sooner, you could have been free sooner!”
A sob rips from my throat as I think about how I’d left him there.
“Snow.” He pulls me into his lap so I’m straddling him. “You were eleven.” I know. He isn’t telling me something my brothers haven’t been trying to say for years. I shouldn’t have any guilt, but it’s still there.
“Besides, I’d take every year in there if it meant it led me on the path to finding you.”
“Oh, my God.” I wrap myself around him, burying my face in his neck as the tears start to flow. I can’t believe he just said that. It’s bittersweet. He would have willingly stayed in that place just to be with me.
“I love you,” I sob into his neck. In one quick movement, I’m pinned to the floor.
“Say it again,” he demands.
“I love you.” His month comes down on mine. His kiss is soft and sweet but lined with possessiveness. Everything he does when it comes to me is possessive.
When he finally pulls back, I have to ask. “I know being mates makes you drawn to me no matter what, but do you think that maybe you could love me one day, even knowing who my father was?”
“I don’t care where you came from. You’re mine,” he growls, taking my mouth in another kiss and making my body come alive. It seems to do that every time he says the word mine. I love that I belong to someone, that I’m so important to him. I don’t care how needy that makes me.
I try to pull his shirt off, but he stops me, resting his forehead against mine.
“I love you, Snow. You brought me back to life. I was just moving through the motions each day, but now I feel like I have purpose. A reason to be here.”
“You say the sweetest stuff to me.”
“I’ll be so good to you,” he says, adding more sweetness. I’ll be shocked if I’m not a big pile of happy goo when he’s done talking.
“Like take me into town and let me open the shutters?” I tease, making him growl, but he nods.
“I’ll go with you every time. Someone might try and take you from me.”
“No one is going to snatch me.”
“Yes they would, because I would.” It’s adorable that he thinks everyone wants me. He thinks I’m so rare and special that no one could resist taking me.
“Did,” I correct him as I laugh. I don’t want to go anywhere without him anyway. I don’t know if some of my old fears still reside inside me, but I never like it when I’m alone, and I feel safe in Koda’s home with all the security.
I go to pull his shirt off, wanting to make love to him, but he stops me once again. I pout.
“They’ll hear.” He looks over his shoulder at the front door. “I don’t want them to hear me taking you. No one hears that.”
Suddenly, we hear the locks start to pop one by one. Koda is on his feet instantly, pulling me with him. He turns when the door flies open.