It caught her attention so that she let him turn her around. He leaned back against the conference table, pulled her arms down and held her tight. She leaned her body against him and rested her head on his shoulder.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody anything about me,” she said. The tears streamed down her face and soaked his T-shirt. “I was supposed to live my life in secret. But I didn’t want to be alone. All I told was one damn secret and it keeps snowballing on me. First Keith, then you, then the Elves, then Goblins, then the Fae King, then more Elves again, and all the people in this room watching, and you just keep digging and digging at me and you won’t stop until I feel like I’m going to scream.”
He rested his cheek against her head and rubbed her back. “I am cursed with a terminal case of curiosity,” he said. “I am jealous, selfish, acquisitive, territorial and possessive. I have a terrible temper, and I know I can be a cruel son of a bitch.” He cocked his head. “I used to eat people, you know.”
If he meant to shock her out of crying, he succeeded. A snort burst out of her. “That’s awful,” she said. Her nose was clogged. “I mean it, that’s awful. It’s not funny. I’m not laughing.”
He sighed. “It was a long time ago. Thousands of years. Once I really was the beast the Elves call me.”
She closed her eyes, took a deep, shuddering breath and rubbed her fingers along the seam of his T-shirt. “What made you stop?”
“I had a conversation with somebody. It was an epiphany.” His voice was rueful. He rocked her. “From that point on I swore I would never eat something that could talk.”
“Hey, that’s kind of your version of turning vegetarian, isn’t it?” she said.
He laughed. “I guess maybe it is. All of that is a long, roundabout way of saying I’m sorry. I don’t always get the emotional nuances of a situation and I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s everything, it’s not just you.” She turned her head and put her face in his neck.
He held her closer. “I want you to trust me more than you trusted that dumbass boyfriend of yours.”
She sighed. “When are you going to let go of that? Ex-boyfriend. Ex. And anyway, he’s dead.”
“I want you to tell me what and who you are, not just because I want to know but because you want to tell me.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“Because you’re mine,” he snapped.
“I’m not just a possession, like you’d own a lamp.” She pulled back and glared at him. He just looked back at her, face hard and eyes unapologetic. She sighed. “I guess that’s the possessive and territorial bit, isn’t it? You know, I don’t want to fight with you.”
Like any efficient predator, he scented weakness and acted on it. “Then don’t,” he said. He gave her a coaxing smile. “Just give me everything I want.”
She groaned and let her head fall back. She stared at the ceiling. She had to grant him a lot of respect. At least he was all out there, nothing hidden. He was up front with who he was and what he wanted, and he wasn’t ashamed of a single bit of it. Not like her.
“I guess I’ve got a lot to think about,” she said.
Even as he enjoyed looking at the pure, clean line of her throat, he frowned. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He cupped the back of her head and pulled her upright so that he could look into her eyes. They were a drenched dark violet blue, bigger and more beautiful than ever. She gazed back at him, waiting to see what he would do next. That wasn’t what he wanted either.
There she was, inside of her skin, and she was more of a mystery to him than ever. It was driving him crazy. Curiosity gripped him, and without realizing he was taking a momentous step, he asked, “What do you want?”
Surprise lit her face. She tilted her head and smiled at him. Did she dare to have the kind of courage he had and just say what she wanted out loud? “I guess I want what a lot of people want. I want to feel safe,” she said, lifting one shoulder. “I want to have a say in my own life. I want to be loved. I don’t want to live this half life of not being either human or Wyr. I wish I were one thing or the other. I want to belong somewhere.”
He had a strange, intent expression on his face as he listened to her. His eyes were open and accepting in a way she didn’t think she had experienced from anyone else before.
“I don’t know what love means,” he said. “But you belong somewhere. You belong here with me. I will keep you safe. And I think you might be more Wyr than you realize.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’re stronger since we were in the Other land. I can sense it in you.” His eyes narrowed. “Haven’t you noticed?”