“How are you going to discourage them from coming after us again?” Kayla asked.
Lucas shook his head. “I haven’t a clue. But we’ll figure something out. We have time.”
He ended the meeting. He and Kayla left to go talk with the elders. Brittany left, too, as did Rafe, though reluctantly.
“Do you really think we can convince them to leave us alone?” I asked Connor.
“Probably not, but we can try.” He moved around the desk and took my hand. “You feeling okay?”
Physically or emotionally? I thought.
“Just a little tired.” I decided to go with the physical answer. It was so much easier to deal with.
“You feel up to a walk?”
I didn’t. My energy level was quickly declining, but I nodded. I had to explain some things to Connor. He was my best friend, besides Kayla. He was the friend I’d had the longest.
We made our way outside and walked to where trees grew in earnest. Although a wrought-iron fence surrounded Wolford, the property was large enough that we could go into the woods while still protected by the fence—or as protected as we could be when considering that bullets still could zip through. I’d always considered myself invincible, but now I knew that death could come quickly and unexpectedly.
“I’ve got a birthday present for you,” Connor said quietly, “but it’ll have to wait until after your transformation.”
My birthday had come while I was recovering. I didn’t even remember it. “You don’t have to give me anything,” I said.
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to.”
He stopped walking, reached into his jeans pocket, and brought out a small velvet box. My heart galloped.
“Oh, Connor.”
“Open it.”
With shaking hands, I did. Inside was a gold chain with a small, perfectly round pearl dangling from it. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s supposed to represent the full moon,” he said.
I looked up at him. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“I knew you’d like it.”
He knew so much about me. I couldn’t believe how his gift overwhelmed me. Maybe because I’d almost died, everything seemed so much more important. When he took my hand, my fingers closed around his.
We took several steps in silence. Once we could have spent hours together without talking, and it had seemed the most natural thing in the world. Now it just seemed as though a lot of unsaid thoughts hung heavily between us.
I shoved them to the back of my mind and concentrated on the healing properties of the forest. I was already beginning to feel my strength returning, which was good, because when the full moon arrived, I’d be facing an ordeal that would require all the energy I could muster. But before that, I needed a question answered.
“Do you ever wonder if you declared me too soon?” I asked.
Connor tilted his head as though looking at me from a different angle might help him decipher my strange mood. “No. I’ve always known you were the one. I love you, Lindsey. I always have.”
There it was. The words he could say so easily. Something Rafe had never said. Quite honestly, I couldn’t see Rafe uttering those words—but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel them. It just meant that he isn’t as free about revealing his emotions as Connor is.
Connor held my gaze, and I could see how much my doubts had hurt him. Yet he never gave up on me; he always put me first.
“Your moon is almost here, Lindsey. You have to make a choice.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t have to make it. I already made it.” I took a deep breath. “It’s you, Connor. I love you.”
He looked stunned. “What about Rafe? What about your doubts?”
I shook my head. “It’s you. And my doubts are gone. This is going to sound strange, but I think getting shot might have been the best thing that could have happened to me. It gave me a chance to just reflect. I saw the kaleidoscope of my life and no matter how I turned it, I saw you.”
A wide grin spread across his face. “You’re serious?”
I smiled. “I’m serious.”
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me with excitement and enthusiasm. When we finally came up for air, I was dizzy.
“I was thinking we’d go to the waterfall lair for your transformation,” he said.
The first transformation always occurred in the forest, away from other Shifters. A guy went through it alone. He just went off—and when he came back, he was changed. The girl always went off to a secluded place with her mate. The area around the waterfall was one of the most beautiful in the forest. Our lair was hidden behind the waterfall. It was a favorite place for many a couple. My father had taken my mother there. It provided a little extra romance for the occasion.
“Sounds amazing.”
“If we’re going to go to the waterfall, we should leave in the morning. If you feel strong enough,” he added.
I nodded. “I will.” Suddenly I felt so weary. “But right now, I need to lie down.”
He took my hand and we started walking back toward the mansion. Why did I feel as though I was being watched?
I glanced slyly off to the side. And there was the beautiful black wolf, watching.
When I woke up from my nap, Brittany was sitting on the window seat, gazing out as twilight fell. I’d gone to the room that I usually shared with her and Kayla. I was feeling strong enough that I didn’t need to be nursed anymore—and getting away from my mom for a while was a nice bonus.
With a yawn, I sat up and pushed the pillows behind my back. “So where are you going for your transformation?”
“Not the waterfall.” She didn’t turn toward me.
“Brittany, who’s going with you?”
She didn’t answer. She just sat there. I climbed out of bed, walked over to the window, and sat on the thick pillow. “You can’t go through this alone.”
“That’s just an old wives’ tale.”
“What if it’s not?”
She looked at me, something hard in her blue eyes. “Then it’s a seriously messed-up evolutionary tactic. I mean, really, it’s totally sexist. If guys can go through it alone, we can, too.”
“You could ask…Rafe.”
Her eyes softened with sadness. “So you chose Connor?”