Loyalty. Healer.
Shifter. Wildlands.
Lies. Truth.
The words swam inside of Valli’s head as the door closed behind Jean-Baptiste. The afternoon sun shone through the window at her back, illuminating one long strip of blue blanket.
Illuminating her right hand and Blade’s left. He’d pulled it from her once, but it had found its way back. And she was...strangely glad.
She stared at the two. One, pale and feminine with unpolished nails. And the other, large and rough, with thick fingers which, if called upon, could turn into claws.
Her heart sped up inside her chest.
She was in the Wildlands, a place she’d only ever heard of. A place that after she’d left the clinic, after she’d found out what had happened to her, only brought on nightmares. But had those things happened to her? Or was what the Healer had said true? Had the doctors abducted her mind, her memories?
She’d never felt exactly comfortable with the doctors at the clinic, true. Hell, she hadn’t felt comfortable taking blood from another either. But she’d been desperate.
And desperation had the ability to make one blind, deaf, and reckless.
Her eyes slowly lifted to meet the concerned black ones of the male she’d been told had assaulted her. It was strange. Her mind suggested that she fear him, but her heart and her guts...
“Do you want me to take you back home, Valli?” he asked.
She just stared at him. Emotional. Confused. His question wasn’t at all what she’d been expecting when she’d agreed to be alone with him. She’d assumed he’d not only try and get her to stay, but attempt to convince her to let Jean-Baptiste take down those barriers he believed the doctors at the clinic had placed in her mind.
“And if I say yes?” she challenged. Why wasn’t she yanking her hand away? Why wasn’t his touch revolting to her?
“Then I’ll take you.”
His full lips formed a gentle smile, which was really a feat because he was such a formidable man, such a strikingly handsome, intimidating, proud man.
“I would just ask...” he began.
Bitterness instantly rose within her. She knew it wouldn’t be that easy, that simple. In her experience, her past, men always wanted something for—
“That you let me be there for you if you need anything,” he said. “And for the cub. The child.”
She stilled. And something started to hurt behind her eyes. It wasn’t a headache or sinus pain, but the pressure was intense. “I don’t understand you,” she whispered, her throat tight. “I don’t understand any of this.”
A soft gust of wind came through the open window behind her. It ruffled his blond hair.
His eyes clung to hers, desperate to connect. “I was in the clinic too, Valli,” he said in an intimate voice. “But in a very different way. For a different purpose.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.
“Not to get well, like you.” His eyes shuttered with pain. “But to be used for my blood. Many of us were taken from here, from our homes, our families, to be caged, beaten, drugged and bled.”
It was as if the air in the room had suddenly been sucked out. Valli stared at the man, wordless, her pulse starting to pound in her head.
“To them,” he continued. “Me and my kind aren’t worthy of respect or care. To them, we have no choice or freedom. To them, we’re animals…like you said...”
“Stop!” Valli shook her head. This was a nightmare. All of it. She’d just wanted to live. She hadn’t thought… Christ, she hadn’t cared about who might suffer for that gift. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
Blade cursed and squeezed her hand, and this time her heart took over and she squeezed back.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” he said. “According to what they put in your mind, what they forced you to believe—I am an animal.”
Tears threatened and her heart ached terribly. “I want the best for this baby and for myself. I just want the truth.” Her eyes implored him. “How do I know what that is? How do I know it’s not more lies?”
“Put my hand on your abdomen.”
“What? Why?”
“Please,” he said gently.
Valli hesitated. Holding his hand was one thing... But she didn’t like men touching her.
Her eyes met his and the warmth, the hope in them spoke to every inch of her.
She lifted his hand and gently placed it on her belly. She was only two months along, barely showing, just a slight curve.
She watched as Blade’s eyes closed, his nostrils flared, and a soft growl exited his throat. The sound should’ve made her nervous, made her push his hand from her stomach, but it had the opposite effect. It was the most comforting feeling she had ever known.
And then it happened.
Beneath his hand, and deep within her.
The slightest movement. A tiny ripple of feeling.
His eyes opened and locked with hers, hot and blissful.
“Our cub knows me,” he rasped.
Tears broke from her eyes then. She couldn’t contain them. Didn’t want to.
He eased his hand from her belly and reached up, cupping her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. “Valli, I’ve never touched you until last night. But I was in the room with you. They had me in there, drugged and tied down. I was forced to watch as they put my seed inside of you. I couldn’t move, couldn’t stop them, couldn’t protect you—” His voice cracked and he pulled his hand from her and stood up. As she watched, he turned and gave her his back. “It will be my greatest shame for as long as I live.”
Tears snaked down Valli’s cheeks. She’d never felt this raw. She’d never felt such a desperate need to believe someone.
He started for the door. “I’m going to tell Baptiste that I’m taking you home.”
“No!” she shouted, her heart pounding so hard she was afraid her ribs were bruising.
Blade froze, his hand on the door handle.
“Bring him back in here,” she said, swiping at her wet cheeks. “Tell him I want his help. I want to see what happened. I want the truth. And as far as going home is concerned...”
Her voice broke as he turned to look at her. She’d never seen a man so conflicted.
Or so ruthlessly handsome.
“I don’t know where I belong, but this child clearly believes it’s home.”