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Since the accident.

She shudders. “I’m a wreck. No matter what I do, my stupid brain has a mind of its own.”

“Stop it,” I growl, irrationally angry at this version of Elena that’s so damn hard on herself. “You arenota wreck. You couldneverbe a wreck. Not to me.”

Her head trembles in half a shake, but I grab her chin and turn her to face me. “Lookat me.”

I can feel Elena resisting my command, but the dominant pull in my voice is hard to ignore.

When she finally meets my gaze, the vulnerability in her eyes steals my breath away. I soften my voice and loosen my grip. “Why didn’t you tell me about the panic attacks?”

“When?” she asks.

Her implication is clear. When in the two years since the accident would she have told me? It wasn’t as though we spoke.

“Fair enough,” I say with a hard swallow. “But why didn’t Raf tell me?”

“Raf doesn’t know everything about me,” Elena murmurs. “No matter how much he likes to think he does.”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“I haven’t told anyone.”

All the air rushes out of my lungs. Elena’s beencarrying this burdenalone?

I shake my head. “Why not?”

“Wouldyou?”

I open my mouth, but no words come out. I don’t like to lie — especially not to Elena — and the truth is that I would probably want to keep something like this to myself.

“Exactly,” she says, correctly interpreting my non-answer. “It’s bad enough being the alpha’s human sister. Breakable. Weak.Damaged.” Her voice breaks on the last word, but she purses her lips and doesn’t cry. “The last thing I want is to give people another reason to look down on me.”

“You arenotdamaged,” I say, my voice coming out in a fierce growl. “You’re not weak, either.”

Elena scoffs and tries to look away, but I keep hold of her chin and force her to meet my gaze.

“To go through what you did and refuse to give up on your dream?” I shake my head. “You are one of the strongest people I know.”

Her lower lip wobbles, and in this moment, I want nothing more than to cover her mouth with my own. I want to kiss her — bury her pain with the force of my love — but I know it’s not the time.

“I should get back in there,” she says, scrubbing her cheeks and fixing her hair so the curls cover up the spot where she still bears the scar from her surgery. “It’s still Carmen’s rehearsal dinner. I don’t want to bail.”

“Fuck the dinner. You don’t owe those assholes anything. Plus, I don’t think there’s going to be much of a party since I put my steak knife through Derek’s hand.

A sudden laugh bursts out of Elena, but it turns into a hiccuping sob. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“He deserved it.”

Her bottom lip quivers, and I see on her face that thelastthing she wants to do is face those wolves again.

“You’re not going back to the dinner,” I announce. “I’m taking you up to bed.”

CHAPTER TEN

ELENA

The next dayis Carmen’s wedding.