Page 43 (1/2)

A war of e and as painful as anything in my life has ever been

"I doonals around him "Maybe I should’ve shot ht then and there But blood is a curious thing" He looks at ht confusion in his hawklike eyes "It ties you Even when you loathe your kind, so here" He puts his fists to his chest "Soht years with hi he’d letive a shit about hi little jobs in between I followed every trail I could find Nothing She vanished without a trace"

His bearing is stiff and proud, but I can finally see the chaos in his eyes I i his s to find and protect his h my mind, his childhood so different from mine that I don’t understand it, alot leukeround" He laughs sadly "A ine him sick But he needs to pass on his torch Wyatt--I know he’s been more of a son to him than I have But he wants the alpha" He pulls out a piece of paper "When I saw you on this list, you were supposed to be so I worked out of my system That blonde inbar with that fking assle trying to take you hoel in the rain"

"Don’t even talk toto you now" He walks forward, stopping in front ofan infinite amount of sadness "This isn’t hoanted to spend your birthday, Melanie" His voice is a tendercry I blink and s

"All I ask is that you let et to spend one day with you, I want to spend this day With you"

I can’t stand the way he knows me The way he understands me The way he makes my every dream come true and breaks my every fantasy If there were a day I’d need him in a year, it would be o hoht now?" I whisper

His eyebrows rise inquiringly "I have to Just one more mark I owe it to my mother"

He comes over and wraps me in his arms I close my eyes as his heat envelops me, his scent, him When he tries to pull away, I pull his arer "Why do you want my arms?" he whispers in ood"

"Not to me"

"Because you fell for me, you fell forI just said, you’re still falling, aren’t you," he rasps He kisses the back of ht here to catch you" He kisses the back of my ear, harder "Let me catch you"

I duck lances at my toes On each foot, my toenails spell, in perfect blue and hot pink all the way around, GREY ♥

"Nice toes"

I curl and tuck theot a pedicure At the best place in Seattle"

All for youI think ives me butterflies in my stomach, and I wish I had an ax and I could literally kill theet you to sit your restless little ass for a while to get to do that is a testament to their abilities" He looks at e little places inside me, and my stomach starts to feel heavy from the complete overload of my emotions "Or to your conviction to wear my name on your feet?"

He kneels, and I hold my breath as he takesot , long breath and rises to his feet, to over six feet of beautiful lyingsome of the stuff on the bed into his black jacket I stare into the shadoatching hi like this innocence I just lost will never, ever be recovered

"I feel like my boyfriend just died I will never, ever, have Greyson anymore"

If I sound sad, he looks wrecked

"I feel like irl And she’ll never look at me the way she did before"

We stare the e do, except we usually smile here

This time we don’t

Go home, Melanie, I think miserably

He steps forward cautiously, and I ree sadness for hi them, but drops his hands instead