It had been the hardest two days of my life.

Two days since Tyler came staggering into the camp, his stomach bleeding, barely conscious. I wasn’t even sure if he was going to live. I’d been frantic as I stitched him up, and it was only then that I realized the truth.

“I know, baby, I know. It’ll be over soon. You’re gonna be fine.”

The words had come out of my mouth as naturally as anything else I’d ever said.

Baby…

I guess when someone almost dies it really puts things in perspective. I had thought I’d had forever to make up my mind about whether or not I was ready to be in a relationship with Tyler, but seeing him there with his life’s blood pouring out of him, my heart made the decision for me.

Just the idea of never seeing Tyler again felt like my heart was cracking in half, so I pushed the thought from my mind and turned back to the vase filled with the roses he’d given me. They were wilting slightly, but still holding strong, and as I looked at them, I started thinking.

The roses weren’t unlike my relationship with Tyler. He was beautiful, just like the roses, but getting close to him was also painful, like the thorns on the rose’s stems. Old wounds opened up when I thought about giving myself over to him, but watching them slowly die, knowing there was only so much I could do for them before their life was gone, was a definite reminder of the fact that if I didn’t do something soon, accept Tyler into my life, he would be gone.

I couldn’t expect him to wait forever.

The ambulance had taken him away, and I still didn’t know what had happened to him. After he’d gone, the rest of the pack had done their best to console me, but all I’d wanted was to be alone.

“He’ll live,” Tate had told me. But I already knew that. Tyler was strong, and I’d done a good job stitching him up. His blood had been all over my hands, red like the petals of the roses he’d given me.

“What happened to him!?” I had been saying over and over. None of it made sense. Who would want to hurt Tyler? He was such a sweet guy, and he wasn’t involved in a pack that was at war with another pack or anything like that. He didn’t come from a bad part of town – Hell, his parents lived in one of the nicest areas of Portsmouth. I couldn’t help but think there was something sinister behind what had happened to him.

But what could it be?

I hadn’t left my cabin for the two days since he’d left. I couldn’t focus on anything else but Tyler. All I’d wanted was to go to sleep until he came back to me. Dealing with his absence, wondering if he was okay, it was all too much to bear.

A knock came from the cabin door, causing me to jump. I was on edge, and had been since the ambulance had left.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“Patrick!” he sounded cheery. I got to my feet and opened the door to find him standing under the falling snow, holding a large pot. “I brought soup!”

Without waiting for my reply, he stepped into the cabin and shook the snow off his head. Grinning, he made his way to my bedside table, which was a complete mess, and set the pot down.

“My, someone needs a maid!” he laughed as he started to clean up.

“Don’t do that, Patrick!” I pleaded with him, embarrassed at the state of my cabin.

“Oh, it’s no problem!” he replied, plucking the old food wrappers from the table and tossing them into the trash. “Need to make room! You have to tell me how you like my new recipe!”

It was his way of getting me to eat something. I was miserable, and wanted to protest, but I was also starving.

“What is it?” I asked him, giving in and taking a seat on the bed.

“It’s a new stew recipe,” he told me with excitement. “I was going to serve it for tonight’s dinner, but I didn’t realize just how many leftovers we had, so if you like it, I’ll serve it tomorrow. Open up!”

He had a spoon in his hand and was headed for my mouth. I barely had time to open my lips before he was shoving it inside.

“Oh!”

The stew was warm, but not too hot like I’d expected, and as I closed my lips around the spoon, the flavors exploded like a warm embrace across my tongue. My eyes went wide and Patrick smiled.

“Good?” he asked me.

“Delicious!” I mumbled, trying not to spill stew from my mouth. “Pork?”

Patrick nodded happily and took a seat beside me.

“Listen, Nate,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about hanging up some Christmas lights soon, maybe decorating the big pine out back for our tree? What do you think? Wanna help me?”

Patrick’s enthusiasm for life was infectious, and I couldn’t help but let some of it pour into me.

“That would be nice,” I replied as he handed me a bowl of his new stew.

“Great,” Patrick smiled. As I shoveled another spoonful into my mouth, another knock came from the door.

“Who is it?” Patrick asked for me. The door swung open and Matias poked his head inside.

“Nate?” he asked me. I could see from the look in his eyes that something was going on, and I felt my heart jump inside my chest.

“Yes?!” I said, quickly swallowing my mouthful of stew.

“Someone’s here to see you,” he said. As he stepped aside, and I saw who it was standing behind him, all thought left my mind and I was left with nothing but pure emotion.

My heart soared and the world went into slow motion as I saw him, standing there, looking more beautiful than ever. I gasped and leapt to my feet, racing across the room toward the man I knew now for certain would be my mate.

“Tyler!”