Chapter 16. Eight Years

Wade POV

I stood in the middle of the yard with my claws still out and her voice in my ears, and every instinct I had told me to keep walking.

Into the trees. Up the ridge. Somewhere she couldn't see what I was. Somewhere I couldn't hurt her.

That's what I'd done for eight years. Every time something got too close, I walked into the trees.

Don't bother coming back through that door.

She meant it. I could hear it in her heartbeat, steady as a metronome. She wasn't threatening me. She was telling me the price.

I made my hands close. One finger at a time. Five breaths. The claws slid back under my nails with a sting like pulling splinters.

Then I turned around and walked back to her.