Page 27 of Corbin (Wild Wolf Pack from the world of Gallize Shifters #2)

The more she smelled him, the more she felt a wave of peacefulness associated with her memories of him.

“Hey, you okay?” Corbin asked in a soft voice.

She blinked and looked to her left where she found his concerned face. “What?”

“I was saying, how about we find a quiet place to sit down and drink water so the sisters can have a moment together?”

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

A half grin curved his mouth. “I know. Everyone’s drained.” He wrapped his fingers lightly around her arm and tugged. “This way.”

Corbin carried two bottles of water as he led her to the bottom steps of the stairs. Using a rag that he pulled from his back pocket that she’d seen him wipe his brow with earlier, he cleaned a spot where she could sit.

Her clothes were filthy from running through the woods. Her face and hair couldn’t be much better. She could only imagine her tangled mess of hair that hadn’t seen a brush since she’d pulled off the wig.

In fact, only her hands were clean.

For him to treat her with such respect after she’d berated him earlier left her feeling lower than a slug. She had never been so twisted up emotionally around anyone else.

This man, whose eyes and voice brought up long-buried memories, had turned her inside out. She sat on the metal step, glad to only have inches between them when he settled his big body next to her before passing her a water bottle.

Silence wrapped them as they both guzzled water that cooled her throat and had a calming effect.

She’d promised to talk to him.

She’d never volunteered to answer questions from others but saving that baby and mother would have been worth any conversation. Truthfully, she wanted to know why he thought she’d screwed him over at some point. That accusation stabbed her chest every time she thought about it.

He’d been telling the truth again.

If she’d treated Corbin poorly in the past, she would make it right and convince him she was sincerely sorry. She kept waiting for him to start asking a barrage of questions, but he seemed content to take a few drinks and lean back with his elbows on the stairs behind him.

First, she had something important to say. “Thank you for saving Kesa and her baby.”

“You’re welcome. I’m happy everything went well.”

She waited for him to ask his questions. The more he dragged this out, the more anxious she became. She finally said, “I made a deal to address your belief that I screwed you over. Please tell me what I did.”

When he said nothing, she turned to him, ready to unload her frustration, and mentally stumbled.

He stared at her with the sweetest expression.

She hadn’t been this self-conscious since high school when every look held judgment.

“Why aren’t you asking questions?” she put to him in a more polite tone.

He sat up, the wistful expression on his face gone.

Moving his elbows to his knees, he dangled the empty bottle from one hand.

“I would not hold you to your offer in that frantic situation. I’ll let you ask questions first and then see if you’re still willing to hear mine. ” He glanced her way. “Okay?”

For the first time since allowing him to step in and save the baby, she realized she had been right to trust him.

Offered the chance to clear up her confusion first brought on a bout of self-conscious nerves. “Have we seen each other since high school?”

He looked down at his boots and drew a long breath, then lifted sad eyes to hers. “Not until now.”

He’d stolen her heart with a tiny wolf he’d carved from wood and wrapped inside the sweetest note saying how much he wanted to spend time with her. He had said he’d be at the cemetery that night. His wolf had tracked her scent there and believed that’s where her wolf ran at times.

That young boy would never have walked away from her. She’d believed that for a long time. She’d gone by his home and asked his father where Corbin had gone and when he would be back.

The mean man had said, “No idea. I hope he never returns. He didn’t like living here, and I didn’t like him being around.”

She’d wondered if those two had gotten in a fight and Corbin had run away from home. Even so, she believed he would come back to her one day—that they’d have a chance to be together.

With nowhere else to go for answers, she finally gave up waiting for him to respond.

Her heart pounded wildly at a possibility she had never considered. Had something bad happened to him? “Corbin?”

He nodded.

Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes. “What happened to you?”

He cocked his head and asked, “Do you really not know why I disappeared?”

“No.”

“Truth.” He sounded shocked and then sad. “I was on my way to meet you in the cemetery. I’d smelled your scent there more than once, which is why I suggested we meet there.”

Her head would explode any minute now. “I still have your note with those words and the little wooden wolf you’d wrapped up in the paper. I went to the cemetery to let my wolf run that night. We stayed as long as possible, but then we had to go home.”

Corbin sat right next to her.

How many years had she dreamed of finding him and demanding why he vanished without a word? How many times had she wanted to see his warm brown eyes and heart-warming face?

The boyish face of her memories had morphed into a strong-jawed man. Those eyes had seen far more life since that fateful night.

How many times had she wanted his arms around her when life yanked the ground out from beneath her feet time and again? Where had he gone?

He inhaled slowly and said, “I was grabbed by your dad’s two security goons who followed you constantly.”

She blinked. Had she heard him correctly? “I don’t understand. I told no one about the note or the meeting. My father would never have approved. I was careful leaving for my standard run and made sure no one followed me.”

A hint of disbelief tinged his words. “Your bodyguards didn’t have to follow you. They were too busy at that moment delivering me to a Romanian gang leader who needed a shifter slave. He gave the bodyguards cash, enough to pay off my dad to stay quiet. He would never miss me anyhow.”

She covered her mouth with a hand to keep the wail from escaping. Why had her dad’s men done this to him?

Now she understood why Corbin had accused her of treating him badly in the past. Pulling her hand down, she asked, “Why did you say I screwed you over?”

His chest moved with a deep breath. Every word seemed to be pulled from deep inside.

“For years, I believed you’d played me that night.

The tall goon handed me the note I’d written you as proof that you’d sent them.

He said you had ordered them to send me far enough away that I’d never make the mistake of talking to you again. ”

Her emotions were stumbling through a mine field, hitting one at a time. She gasped, “That’s not possible. I told you I still have the note.”

Taking a moment to reply, he asked, “Did it stay in your possession the whole time?”

She gripped her forehead, thinking back to that night.

“I found it in my locker and took it home. Then I put it in my jewelry box where I keep my mother’s necklace and the few things I cherish.

” She raised her gaze to his with a sick feeling in her stomach.

“I went to the library to do my homework at record speed. When I told my father I was done and going for a run, he said his usual ‘have a good time’ but be sure to take one of my bodyguards. Time was running out, so I rushed to put on clothes easy to remove for shifting and took off.”

He sat silently as she replayed that night.

She could see how it all happened now and whispered, “I didn’t think to pull the note out again until I hadn’t seen you for days. I smelled no other scent, which means they must have worn gloves. After that, I left your note hidden away for years.”

Corbin filled in the missing parts. “They must have seen me put the note in your locker and figured out something was up.”

Her chest hurt from learning the truth. How would she have felt if someone had done that to her? She’d have been out for blood. “I don’t think my father knew, which makes me wonder if someone else had paid his guards to do that.”

“Who?” Corbin asked with genuine surprise.

“My trustee has been around since my birth. He was my father’s best friend and business partner, but he is now fully in charge of my life. I can see him paying those two to keep an eye on me and removing anyone he believed would be a threat to his power down the line.”

“That’s awful.”

How could Corbin have any sympathy for her after she’d been the reason that he’d lost his freedom? “I am so sorry they did that to you, Corbin.” She wanted to hug him more than anything, but she understood why he had been what had at first seemed like unreasonably angry with her.

He lifted a hand and gently stroked her cheek. “You didn’t do it. I’m happy and relieved to know that now. I’ve been blaming you all this time. I wanted to know why you would do that to me instead of simply ignoring me.”

A tear broke free despite how hard she’d tried to hold onto her composure. In high school, humans had called her the ice queen. They judged her every action and played mean jokes on her.

None of those kids ever saw the lonely girl who suffered in silence and tiptoed around to keep from being exposed as a shifter.

Corbin had seen her. He’d been the only person. He’d offered her the one thing all her father’s money couldn’t buy, and that was friendship with someone of her own kind.

No judgment. Genuine kindness.

The minute she’d read the note about meeting him, her heart had told her this one belonged to her.

In return, Corbin had lost his freedom and his future.

“I could never ignore you, Corbin. I never noticed another boy except you.”

He lifted a hand to her face and wiped away her tears with his thumb. “Even in my angriest moments, I still missed you.”