Karl sighed and averted his gaze. The scars. Of course she would ask about the scars. There was no point in keeping this from her now that they had come such a long way. He started unbuttoning his shirt, all the while studying the changes on Claudia’s face. At first, she looked surprised at his gesture, then, as the opened shirt revealed more skin, her eyes started to widen. She covered her mouth with her hands when he took his shirt off completely and tossed it to the side.
“Oh my God! Who did this to you?”
His chest, abdomen, shoulders, arms, and back were covered in deep, white scars.
“I did,” he said, his voice faint and hesitant.
Claudia looked up from his strong, scarred abs. She was taken aback by the shame she saw in his eyes.
“What… what do you mean? How? Why?”
He sighed. “After the war was over and things settled down, everyone went back to their normal lives. More or less. They picked up the pieces, started rebuilding their clans, packs, families… But I couldn’t do it. There were no more battles, no more strategies… I was lost. Suddenly, I had all the time in the world to think about what I had done, to dream it every night. The nightmares got worse, the members of my pack were slowly losing their minds too… I… I had to do something. When the factions signed the peace treaty, they decided to forget everything that had happened during the war and start anew. Max put a good word for me with Councilor Dimitri Voinom, the representative of the wolf faction, and everything I and my pack had done was forgiven, covered up. The councilors said all the factions had done terrible things, and what had happened that night, unfortunately, hadn’t been an isolated incident. And that’s how I ended up alone with my own conscience. I had to do something, so I punished myself… I guess. I don’t know how much of it was punishment, and how much was channeling the pain I felt inside towards
the outside, to my physical body.”
“I still don’t understand how.”
“Shifters heal immediately, but not if you know how to hurt them. There are certain herbs and substances derived from them which can cause pain and leave scars. In fact, that was how the humans got their advantage over shifters. For instance, you can seriously injure a dragon-shifter with mandrake. Coat the tip of an arrow with it, and it will leave a scar. Make a dragon drink it, and it will burn his insides. Of course, you first have to trick him into drinking it, which is basically impossible since he will smell it in a second. With werewolves, it’s wolfsbane. I could have hurt myself over and over, suffer through it and let it heal so I could do it again, but I wanted to see the marks of my punishment on my skin. The scars made it real, you know…”
“I don’t… I don’t know what to say…”
Claudia reached out a hand to touch his chest, and Karl let her. He breathed in and out slowly, making sure his wolf was under control. His mate’s soft touch made his heart beat faster. It also made him painfully hard, but this was not the time for that sort of thing. She traced his scars with the tips of her fingers, every deep ridge sending shivers up her spine, making her skin crawl a bit. She couldn’t imagine enduring so much pain.
“How long did you do this?”
“Years… I’ve stopped now, I promise.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I didn’t think you were still doing it. I told you: you’re a different man now.”
He didn’t say anything. He needed some time to get used to the way she saw him.
Claudia rested her hands on his chest. She loved the feel of his heart beating right underneath her palm.
“So, if I ask you again to have the mating ritual in two days, will you say ‘yes’ this time?”
He took a deep breath and thought about it for a second. Had telling her the truth really changed everything?
“I want to say ‘yes’, and I will, as long as you believe it’s the right thing for you.”
“It’s the right thing for us, Karl. And me becoming a hybrid.”
“I don’t know about that…”
“You want to say ‘yes’ to both.”
“I do, I really do.”
“Then do it.”
He looked straight into her eyes, and all he saw there was love and determination.
“I love you,” he finally said to her for the first time.
Her lips curled up in a huge smile.
“Is that a ‘yes’, Mr. Blackmane?”
“Yes. Yes, let’s do it. If you think the mating ritual and the cure are the right choice, then they are. I trust you.”