Her Wild Hero

She moved closer until she was only inches from that big, perfect, muscular chest of his. Then she poked him with a finger.

“Don’t you dare patronize me,” she shouted. “If I say I love you, then I love you. I’ve never said those words to another man in my life, and I won’t stand here and let you throw it back in my face. And as for it not mattering, well, it sure as hell matters to me!”

His lips quirked ever so slightly, but he didn’t smile. Which was a good thing. If he started laughing at her, she’d smack him.

“I didn’t mean to sound patronizing, Kendra. I really didn’t,” he said. “I know that you feel what you feel. All I’m trying to say is that in our case, being in love isn’t enough.”

Okay, that was…confusing. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He didn’t answer.

“Declan, please talk to me,” she begged.

He gently brushed her hair back, allowing his hand to linger there for just a moment before letting it fall to his side with a sigh. “I’m saying that you don’t have to pretend for me. I saw the expression on your face when I showed up in the hybrid camp. I saw the fear and panic plain as day. It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen that look on a woman’s face, but it sure as hell will be the last, I promise you that.”

What did he mean about her pretending? And what did her reaction to seeing him in the hybrid camp have to do with any of this? If she remembered correctly, she’d been overwhelmed by a dozen different emotions at that time. And yes, fear and panic had definitely been among them.

That’s when it hit her. This had nothing to do with her or how she’d looked at him that day. The whole drive over here she’d been trying to figure out what she’d done wrong. Trying to imagine what she could have said that was so bad it made Declan feel he had to leave the DCO to avoid being around her. But the one thing she’d never imagined was that Declan was leaving because he thought she was scared of him. He thought his worst nightmare was happening all over again, only this time it was her instead of Marissa, and this time he decided to be the one who ran. Crap, why the heck hadn’t he just told her all this?

She put her hands on her hips and tipped her head back to look at him. “Declan MacBride, if there’s one thing I thought you would have already learned about me, it’s that I’m nothing like your ex-fiancée.”

His brows furrowed. “This isn’t about her.”

“It’s not? It sure seems like it is to me.” She snorted. “You go all shifter trying to protect a woman you care for, like Marissa. Then you see something that looks like fear and panic in my eyes, and decide all on your own that I suddenly don’t want to have anything to do with you and your fangs and your claws—like Marissa.”

She didn’t realize that she was poking him in the chest with her finger again until he caught her hand in his to make her stop. She pulled away from him angrily.

“But this time, instead of waiting for the woman to bail on you, you decide to bail first. I bet you thought it’d be less painful for you that way, huh? Well, it’s not going to happen, Declan. I’m not going to let you walk out on us because you’re worried I can’t handle your inner bear.”

Declan arched a brow. “Are you honestly going to stand there and tell me that you weren’t freaked out when you saw me? That you weren’t absolutely horrified?”

She closed her eyes and counted again. She wanted to scream. He could be so dense! When she got to ten, she opened her eyes and leveled her gaze at him.

“Was I freaked out when I saw you? Hell, yes. Was I horrified? Definitely. But was it because I was scared of you? No.” She took his hands in both of hers. “I was scared because I’d left you in that shelter the night before to save your life. And there you were, practically hand-delivering yourself to the very people I was trying to protect you from, the ones who wanted to capture you and experiment on you. What you saw on my face was pure and total fear. I was terrified they’d grab you and torture you like they’d done to Ivy. Marcus practically admitted to me that was what he planned to do if he ever got his hands on you.”

Declan’s hands tightened around hers. “I thought that was why you left me alone in the shelter—to lure the hybrids away.”

Tears welled in her eyes. This time she didn’t blink them back. “I would rather have died than let them get their hands on you.”

He reached up and caught the tear rolling down her cheek with his thumb, tenderly brushing it away. “When I woke up and realized you were gone, I…I sort of went nuts. I was so scared when I couldn’t find your trail. That’s when I finally completely shifted.”

She stepped closer and rested her palm on the part of his pecs she’d poked earlier. “I’m sorry I frightened you like that. But I’d do it again if that’s what it took to keep you safe.”

He cupped her cheek. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to keep you safe, too.”