"After the full moon, you must have been—"
"Devastated."
He put his arms around me, drew me close. I absorbed his warmth and his strength. Took the comfort he offered.
I didn't know how long he held me. Eventually, when we sat down, he pulled me onto his lap and kept his arms around me.
"So what happened to the cage?" I finally asked.
"When I woke up and you weren't here, I went berserk trying to get out, so I could kill Mason."
"Oh my God, Connor, I'm so sor—"
"Will you stop apologizing for things that aren't your fault? I didn't know what to think. I was afraid you were dead or hurt. I even had this moment of insanity when I thought you and Mason…" His voice trailed off.
"Mason? Ew'"
"Yeah, I couldn't see it either when rational thought returned. So I figured you were either dying or dead. When you walked through that door, it took everything in me not to let Mason see how glad I was that you were okay. But he's listening in so now he knows."
"I was so afraid that you'd be mad at me for not telling you sooner."
Leaning back, he studied my face and stroked his thumb along my cheek. "I was stunned. And the timing sucked. But I understand how hard it would be to tell me—to tell anyone—that you weren't a Shifter. I feel like I only just discovered you. Why would you trust someone you're just getting to know with your deepest secret?"
"I should have. I trust you with my life."
His eyes grew warm. "When I finally realized that banging my body against the bars wasn't going to do anything except create a cycle of bruising and healing, I started thinking about things. That bruise on your arm. It's not from Mason. It's from me. The day we wrestled."
I wanted to deny it, but if I had any chance at all of salvaging what remained of Connor's feelings for me, I had to be totally honest. I nodded. "I have one on my thigh, too. But it happens when someone is wrestling that aggressively. It's not as though you meant to bruise me."
"When you were standing in the media room—"
"It was too dark for me to see the empty seats. I was waiting for my eyes to adjust."
"When I kissed you and raced off in wolf form, you didn't follow because you couldn't."
I was embarrassed almost beyond enduring to admit it, but I murmured, "Yeah."
"Hey," he said tenderly.
It was only then that I realized tears were spilling from my eyes. I sniffed and wiped at the irritating wetness. "I'm sorry."
"I told you not to apologize for what you can't control."
"It's just that I hate being such a girl."
"I like that you're a girl." He tucked my hair back behind my ear. I hadn't bothered to braid it after the shower. "I like it a lot."
He kissed one corner of my mouth and then the other. His touch was as gentle as a butterfly alighting on a petal. He brushed his lips over mine and then his tongue followed the same path. Warmth swirled through me.
"I don't care that you can't shift," he said quietly, before he settled his mouth over mine.
Easy enough to say when it was only the two of us in this small world, alone, not knowing what tomorrow might bring. But back in the real world, when he realized what an embarrassing freak I was, he wouldn't feel the same.
But I had tonight and I planned to make the most of it.
Death hovered in the shadows. Through the slit of the window, the barest of moonlight filtered in. I'd always drawn comfort from it, but tonight it was Connor offering me solace.
Within our prison, the mound of blankets softened the floor beneath us. One blanket covered us. Connor never bothered to put on the sweatshirt I brought him, so my fingers had the luxury of dancing over his bare chest.
"Don't be afraid, Brittany." Connor's voice was soft, gentle.
But how could I not be afraid? We both knew that tomorrow we might die. Facing death brought urgency to life. All the things we'd put off, all the things we hadn't dared to explore suddenly loomed before us as dreams that might never be fulfilled.
Connor held me close, his warm lips brushing over my temple. Beneath my palm I felt the steady pounding of his heart. How could his be so calm when mine was fluttering like a bird trapped in a cage?
He skimmed his mouth over my cheek. I heard him taking a deep breath, inhaling my fragrance. I pressed my face into the curve of his neck and took his unique scent into my lungs. Even here, inside this building where we were held captive, he smelled of the outdoors: evergreens, rich earth, sweet nectar, sharp foliage. He smelled of everything I love and more.
I'd waited so long to know the feel of his hands moving slowly over my back, urging me closer. I never wanted these moments to end.
"Don't be afraid," he whispered again.
Then the beast inside him that always hovered near the surface broke free and chased away the gentleness. He kissed me hungrily, desperately, as though with our wildness we could ward off the arrival of our enemy. I eagerly returned his kiss. I wanted to experience life with a passion I've never before known. I accepted that under normal circumstances we might not be tasting each other or running our hands over each other. But these circumstances weren't normal.
We'd been stripped of everything except the intense craving to experience everything we'd soon be denied.
"I love you, Brittany," he whispered.
Tremors cascaded through me. My heart pounded against my chest so hard that I was afraid my ribs might crack. He'd given me what I'd always longed for, what I absolutely didn't deserve.
Would his love turn to hate when he discovered that I'd betrayed him…
That I'd betrayed all the Shifters—that I'd given Mason the final thing he needed to complete his experiments?
FOURTEEN
The next morning I squinted against the sunlight. I'd fallen asleep with Connor's arms around me, but now I was alone. I had a moment of panic, fear shooting through me with the thought that somehow Mason had taken Connor, but when I sat up, I saw him standing in the middle of the cage, on all fours, staring at the window. He had no reason to hide his ability to shift now that Mason knew the truth. With a silly smile on my face, I simply sat there and admired him.
He was so incredibly gorgeous.
He swung his head around to look at me.