“Did you give her a chance to explain at all, or did you confront and accuse her, and then storm out?” she asked with a knowing look.
“There was nothing she could have said to defend her actions,” he replied, fighting the urge to squirm at the look she gave him.
“Let me ask you this, then. Is she your mate?”
“My leopard says she is.”
“What about the man in you? Do you love her?”
Pausing, his eyebrows twitched as he thought over the question, giving it serious thought. Amelia was funny, and sweet, and gorgeous. So gorgeous. She called to him on a level he hadn’t even known existed, and when they touched or kissed, it felt like she was in his soul.
“I can see that you do,” Cammie said, answering her own question.
“How can I trust it?” he asked softly. “How can I believe in her, and what we have? Or what I thought we had. How can I know that she really wants me for me, as a woman, and not as a scientist who wants her questions answered and her curiosity satisfied?”
“The answer to that is incredibly simple,” she said gently. “You ask. If she’s lying, you’ll hear it in her voice, and you’ll know for sure. But if she’s not, everything you’ve ever wanted, everything that will make you blissfully happy, will be right there in front of you. All you’ll have to do is reach out and grab it. But you’ll never know if you never ask, and not knowing for sure will eat you alive.”
Seth scrubbed a hand over his face, thinking hard. Blowing out a breath, he finally stood and walked over to her, pulling her up in front of him. “Thank you, Cam. You’re wise beyond your years.”
“Not wise so much as not involved directly in the situation, and therefore able to think more clearly. Now, go ask your questions, and find out the complete truth, good or bad. But I truly believe our animals pick the best person for us. Your leopard wouldn’t have chosen her if what developed between you wasn’t real. Go to her. Clear the air.”
“Tell Alex I said hey. And thank you again, Cammie,” he said, bending down to
kiss her cheek.
Striding out of the house, feeling like a man on the mission, Seth climbed in his car and headed back to the Anderson’s. He wasn’t as optimistic as Cammie about everything, but she was right about one thing. He needed to get Amelia’s side of things, ask his questions, know the truth once and for all. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t, and his leopard would likely eat him alive.
Driving slowly, he thought about Cammie’s questions. About one in particular. Did he love Amelia? Not his leopard claiming she was his mate, but did he, as a man, love her? As much as it scared him and filled him with a sense of defeat because of the situation they were in, the answer was yes.
Maybe she went into this all wrong, with deceitful intentions. But her actions and reactions, her words and conversations they had, were genuine. And that Amelia… that Amelia he loved. He wasn’t sure she hadn’t still, as of this morning even, had a hidden agenda. But if she’d abandoned her original plan, and just been a woman interacting genuinely with a man, could he forgive and forget how she went into this?
He thought the answer to that was yes. Right or wrong, her curiosity, and the decision to try to get the truth from him, was the catalyst for the start of their relationship. He’d been resisting her, resisting his leopard’s insistence that she was his mate. It was only after the continued run ins with her that he gave in and decided to go with this, pursue the possibility of her being his mate.
If she had abandoned her original agenda, if the majority of their relationship was genuine… he in all reality owed her. He owed her scientific, curious mind for needing answers. Not surprisingly, he felt a little resentful of that thought, but he couldn’t deny the truth of it.
Suddenly eager to know the truth, good or bad, he accelerated, his car shooting forward and rumbling in the stillness of the twilight. He wasn’t getting his hopes up, but he couldn’t help the part of him, growing bigger by the second, that was anxious, ready to hear her say he had it wrong, and she wanted him. Really wanted him, and wasn’t going to give him up, no matter what. He’d never had anyone fight for him before, not even his family, and even though he thought it made him a bit of a beef curtain, he still longed to experience her fighting for them.
Amelia blinked bleary eyes as she looked around in the darkness. She must have cried herself to sleep on the couch. She sat up, wincing at the crick in her neck, and massaged it with her hand as she looked around. Her eyes were adjusted to the darkness, but most everything was still shadowy in the absence of light. There was just enough light to find her way to the stairs, though.
Standing, she stretched, feeling her body aching from her crying jag. It was nothing compared to the hurt in her heart and soul, and still nothing less than she deserved.
Turning toward the stairs, she stilled as a noise from outside hit her ears. Straining to hear more, the hairs on her arms raised and her breath froze in her chest as she realized there was someone outside. Heart racing, she listened to what sounded like boots shuffling on her porch. Terror flooded her veins. Bloody hell, this wasn’t good. She didn’t know where her cell phone was, and she wasn’t exactly skilled at fighting off burglars.
Breath hitching as the word fighting triggered a fresh wave of pain for Seth, she felt the first stirrings of fury flooding her veins. First her heart gets broken on an almost incomprehensible level, and now someone was outside her house, sneaking around. Well, fighter or not, she wasn’t going to be a sitting duck, and she wasn’t going to make this easier on the intruder. She was going down fighting.
Glancing around, she spotted the heavy lamp on the corner table, and yanked the plug out of the wall before hefting it up. She crept to the front door where the shuffling noises were coming from. She’d just get in position by the door, and when it opened, she’d be prepared to knock the intruder in the head with the lamp.
At least that was the plan. And it would have been a good one, if she had a chance to carry it out. Instead, before she was close enough to the door, it opened and a shadowy figure started to step inside at the same time her foot got caught in the rug. With a cry, she began to pitch forward, still holding the lamp in front of her like a sword. She fell to her knees at the same time a curse hit her ears and the intruder jerked sideways, the lamp glancing off his thighs.
“What in the hell, Amelia?”
Breath freezing in her lungs at his voice, she stayed on the floor as she gazed up, squinting to make out his face in the dim light. “Seth?”
“Of course it’s Seth,” he said, bending over to pick up the lamp and put it on the table. “You almost crushed my dick with this fucking thing. Is this some kind of fetish of yours? You get off on trying to take away men’s ability to reproduce? Because there are a lot of things I can overlook in my woman, but I don’t think that’s one of them. And also, I should tell you, that’s the only hit you get tonight. Especially to my dick.”
“I didn’t know it was you. I thought you were an intruder.”
“And that was your plan? Incapacitate them by way of crushing the family jewels? I’m certain it would have worked, but surely, there were better ways to go about it.”