Beep beep. Beep beep.

Fucking alarm clock. What bastard put that on?

I rolled over, my eyes determined to remain closed, and reached out a hand to shut the thing off.

Instead of my wooden bedside table stacked high with books and magazines and makeup, my fingers grazed a cold, metal surface. I couldn’t find my phone anywhere.

Something tugged on the back of my hand, yanking me back into the bed.

Beep beep. Beep beep.

I fumbled for the thing on my hand, and felt a long, thin tube attached to my hand with a piece of tape. My skin stung from where the tube pierced it.

Beep beep. Beep beep.

If that’s not my phone, what is it?

My eyes flew open, and I raised my hand to my face, trying to register the unfamiliar scene around me. Why did I have a tube in my hand? Why was I in this grey room, surrounded by beeping machinery? Why did my thigh throb with pain and my head feel as though it was full of cotton wool?

“You’re awake.”

I snapped my head toward the voice. Big mistake. Pain seared through my skull. The air hissed from my lungs, and I gasped for breath.

“Dinnae move so much.” Robbie leaned over me, his warm hands settling me back into the bed. “You’ll damage yourself more.”

“Ow,” I moaned, as my tender head hit the pillow. I caught a better glimpse at the beeping machine attached to my hand, and realised at last that I was in a hospital. I tried to cast my mind back to remember what had happened to land me in this lumpy bed, but everything was a fuzzy blank.

Everything except him. Robbie. Sitting as close to me as possible without actually climbing into the bed beside me, his kind eyes sparkled with relief, the corners of his mouth turned up into one of his gorgeous grins. The smell of him invaded my nostrils – rich and sweet against the sterility of the room.

I thought I lost you. I couldn’t remember why, only that at the sight of him, a wave of joy surged through my veins. He took my non-tube hand in his, his touch sending that familiar shiver through my body.

“Stay still and never do that to me again, and you’ll be just fine.” His beautiful voice rolled over me, like a soothing drink after a bad day. If only I didn’t feel like I’d just been hit with ten hangovers at once.

“What happened to me?”

Robbie turned his eyes away. “You nearly died, Bianca. That’s what happened. Serenity Jones stabbed you. You lost a ton of blood. You’ve been unconscious for three days. It’s been … hard.”

A sharp pain grazed my temples, and I cried out. Robbie winced, as though he was the one in pain. “Should I call a doctor?”

“No, I just … everything hurts.” Flashes of memory tugged at me. “Sally … the reporter …”

“You mean Serenity?”

“No … her real name is Sally … I knew her in high school … that’s why she looked so familiar … she was my first girlfriend and she wanted revenge because I treated her like shite …” My fingers brushed Robbie’s. “Oh, god. I treated you like shite, too. Robbie, I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, don’t you go apologising to me. I’m not the one in hospital.” Robbie lowered his gaze. “I tried to save you, but Rolf’s smell … it nearly did me in. I nearly tore your throat out myself. Bianca, I’m the one who should be sorry.”

I shook my head. “You came to rescue me. That gets you an automatic pass on any transgression from now on. But how did you know?”

“Serenity … er, Sally sent me a text message from your phone. She mustnae have known we were …” He gulped. “You know, because it was too casual. I came back because I figured out where the Benedict Ring was, and then my full moon shift hit, but Anna read the text out to me and I just had this … feeling, I guess … that you were in trouble. I thought Rolf had attacked you. So I came, and she’d stabbed you and covered you in Rolf’s clothes to get me to attack you.”

“What?”

“She wanted me to kill you. She must’ve been listening to every conversation we had, because she knew all about the instinct I’d have when I shifted during the full moon. She wanted to film me mauling you to death and … I guess use it to expose shifters to the world. I managed to get her off you, but you were already so …” He gulped, looking away again. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

After a few moment he turned back, and I gazed into his beautiful, kind eyes. A lump rose in my throat. This man had saved my life. He mastered his own inner wolf, in order to protect me. “I’m trying to remember … what did we fight about again?”

“It doesn’t matter now.” Robbie rubbed my hand.

“It does matter, Robbie. It matters because it was probably my fault and I need to apologise.”

“No, Bianca. It was me. It was all my fault. I let Rolf get to me, and because of that, you’d naturally assume that I might’ve done the things—”

“Hey,” I croaked, rubbing my finger across his knuckles. “I’m the one in hospital. If I want it to be my fault, it’s my fault.”

“Fine. It’s your fault.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it, his lips like fire against my skin.

“So … I’ve been here for three days?”

Robbie nodded. “Aye. Elinor hasn’t left your side since they brought you here. I’ve been hiding in the bushes outside the window to be close to you until the full moon waned.” He withdrew one of his hands to pull his phone from his pocket. “I’ll text her, let her know you’re awake. She’ll want to see you.”

I placed a hand over the screen. “In a minute, okay? I just want to …”

Another memory tugged at my mind, of me screaming at Robbie that I never wanted to see him again. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to believe that I’d thought Robbie, beautiful Robbie, could have trashed my shop. I’ve been so selfish, so consumed with The Prim and my own stupid problems, I couldn’t see the wonderful man who was right in front of me.

I took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do. Once the thought came to me, I knew I’d never be able to rest easy until I got it out. I wondered briefly if I should be frightened, after all – it’s what I’d been resisting for so long, what I’d been railing against my entire life. But one look into Robbie’s eyes and I knew I’d never have to feel scared, ever again.

He leaned closer. “Are you okay? You look all weird. I’ll get the doctor—”

“Robbie Maclean, will you marry me?”

Robbie blinked. “Don’t take the piss,” he said, sitting up with a stiff back.

I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. “I’m not even remotely taking the piss. There’s nothing like being stabbed multiple times by an old high school hook-up to put your life into perspective. I was scared before, Robbie. I was so terrified that I’d open up to you, and then you’d turn around and throw it all back into my face, the way my parents did. But I was a fool, because you’re amazing, and I was so, so selfish. I wanted all the best bits of you, without giving anything in return.”

“Bianca …”

I held up a hand. “Let me finish. I always thought marriage would be a chain around my ankles, forcing me to conform, to do things I thought were disgusting, like marry my cousin and live in a stuffy, loveless house. But now I realise it’s the opposite. Because being with you – completely with you – gives me the confidence to be completely myself. Our marriage is not my parents’ marriage, or your parents’ marriage. It’s exciting, and challenging, and filled with love and joy and all that good stuff. Just because we missed out on that growing up, doesn’t mean we can create that together.”

Tears welled in Robbie’s eyes. “Oh, Bianca.”

My own fat, wet tears rolled down my cheeks. “I want to be the wife from your storybooks, because you’re already the husband I was too afraid to dream of. I love you, Robbie, with everything I am and everything I want to be. So come on, will you marry me again, for real this time?”

“Aye, I will.”

Robbie’s whole face broke into a grin, the smile reaching right to the tips of his ears. The grin that launched a thousand ships. My heart surged as I received his answer. He threw his arms around me, and I sank into his warmth, ignoring the pain arcing through my body. I rested my head on his shoulder – and for the first time in my whole life, I knew exactly what it meant to be loved, and to love in return.