Page 28 of Corbin (Wild Wolf Pack from the world of Gallize Shifters #2)

She gripped his hand and held it against her face, wanting to keep him close. “You have no idea how much I hoped you’d show up one day.” She held on to his hand and lowered it to her knee.

“You weren’t happy to see me today,” he reminded her.

She sighed heavily. “I have so much going on and thought you had been sent by someone trying to pin the security guard deaths on me as well as Archie, the badly injured one. I’ve tried to do what I can to figure out what is going on.”

His tone perked up. “Do you know who is behind the attacks?”

“Not yet. I keep expecting SCIS to show up any day,” she admitted.

“Oh, hell no. We will figure out what’s going on.”

We. She had never been part of a we . It felt so good to have someone willing to step into her dangerous world and offer his help. She put her other hand on top of the one holding his and marveled again over the only important thing at this minute.

A happiness she hadn’t felt since the last time she’d seen him surged through her, filling her body and heart with fresh hope for a real future.

She’d battled alone so long to save her female shifters, to stand against Leszek, to build a theater for her vision of charity events, and to .

.. make it through every day to start another one.

Life should be about more than surviving.

Corbin had undoubtedly faced worse obstacles to survive. She would be there for him now too.

He seemed content to just be with her.

She was still awed over what he’d done for Kesa and her pup. “You said upstairs you’d delivered babies twice in the past while working in a remote area. Were you talking about your time with that Romanian creep?”

“Yes. I spent the first year in Romania. It was a bad situation for many of us, especially women they brought in to be trafficked or who lived in villages he entered and demanded they feed his people. The first time had been after he’d captured a female shifter to sell who turned up pregnant.

None of the human men wanted anything to do with her.

She’d been moaning and moving slowly for hours before being ordered to feed us.

Her water broke, and they started yelling. They were going to beat her.”

“Oh, no. What kind of monster would do that?”

Corbin gave her a sad smile. “The worst kind you never want to meet.” He continued, “I got up and asked Vlad, the leader, if he wanted her to live. No other question would have gotten a yes answer. He nodded. I told him if he’d let me, I would help her with the baby.

That was the longest night of my life, but she gave birth and survived.

The next time, it was another shifter female, and Vlad ordered me to deliver her baby.

While working with her, she told me that right before Vlad captured her, a healer had said her baby would have to be turned.

She did her best to explain what I needed to do, but I was terrified of killing her and the baby with my lack of experience. ”

He took a couple of deep breaths and blew them out, then washed a hand over his face and shook his head as if clearing it.

“It did not look like the baby and mother would make it at all. If she had died, then Vlad would’ve beaten me senseless, but once I started, I couldn’t have stopped if Vlad had been kicking me.

I could feel the baby and closed my eyes to shut out all distractions.

I turned it.” He smiled at her a bit sheepishly.

“Hearing that baby cry was the greatest sound of my life.”

“I am so glad you followed me tonight.” She reached over and brushed a loose lock of hair off his forehead, admiring the man he’d become.

“I was terrified I had condemned Kesa and her baby to death by my lack of resources. Thank you for all you did even after I had sounded more like a shrew than a friend.”

His smile remained but softened into one that lit hope in her chest.

They sat that way for a while, then he glanced around and asked, “How did you get involved in all this?”

See? No one else wanted to know what she cared about.

“My father had allowed me to shift and let my wolf run in a national park while we were on a road trip out west. The bodyguards stayed with him. My wolf, Pixie, was deep in the woods when she heard a child cry out and changed directions. I was sixteen and had never seen Pixie rush toward danger. She’s not dominant, but she ran straight to where a woman was beating a small boy with a stick.

He acted like he was trying to get away, screaming for his mama. ”

Corbin guessed, “It sounds like she was capturing him.”

“Exactly.” Eirene nodded. “No human would have heard the boy unless they were that deep in the woods at that moment. Pixie jumped at the middle-aged woman who had been in good shape, knocking her to the ground. The woman went crazy yelling at Pixie that she would kill her. When the woman got back on her feet, Pixie stood in front of the little boy who was curled up and bawling his eyes out. Pixie snarled and started stalking the woman who took off running. We stayed there until my father sent the bodyguards to find us. They followed Pixie’s howling to locate us.

They called in law enforcement while Pixie ran back to where my father waited.

The bodyguards said the police had been hunting a missing child, thinking he had wandered off. ”

Corbin turned an impressed look her way. “Wow. How can you say your wolf is not dominant? That was strong.”

Eirene’s lips curved into a sweet smile. “Pixie is very bright and the best friend I’ve had all these years, but she goes along to get along. Well, with one exception. She has a protective streak a mile wide for a child.”

Talking about her journey brought up a thousand questions she had for him. “What happened with the Romanian, and how did you end up here? Do you live here? Are you staying?” The last question held more importance than the first ones.

He started laughing. “Whoa. One at a time.”

“I love hearing you laugh,” she blurted out like a schoolgirl with a crush again. In all fairness to her, she’d never been free to say anything like that to him in school like other girls her age could.

He stopped laughing and studied her face as if needing to see every detail. “I love the sweet smell of your scent, the sound of your voice, and your vibrant eyes.”

Her lips parted. He’d stolen her ability to form a reply. Even during her time with that miserable human guy, she’d never heard any declaration that sent warmth flowing through her soul like Corbin’s words.

Without thinking, she leaned toward him. He didn’t hesitate to meet her halfway and gently kiss her lips. It was as if that want had been left suspended in time until now, when it felt perfectly natural to succumb together.

She lifted her hand to his shoulder, holding him in place, fearful of losing him again.

The kiss bloomed from sweet to searing heat. He lifted her to his lap, where she had better access to his mouth and took advantage of those sexy lips.

He paused, smiling at her. “You’re a demanding princess.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Yes, I’m demanding, but I’m no princess. There’s nothing special about me.”

“I would argue, but I refuse to waste a precious second with you when I’ve dreamed of this for so long.” He leaned in and kissed her again as her secret phone chirped.

Groaning at the world for not allowing her a little time to herself, she pulled back reluctantly. “I have to read this text and make the woman sending it talk to me. I can’t stand her, but she has resources for the sisters. I want her to move them somewhere safer with real medical care.”

His eyes lit up. “Do whatever you need to do, babe. My life is finally making sense. I can wait for us to talk.”

“Or we could kiss some more,” she quipped, drawing another laugh from him. “I need to stand. I tend to pace when I talk to her.” It helped with the nervous energy already rising inside her. She was not a negotiator, but she intended to sound like one tonight.

He lifted her to her feet. The phone chirped again with the bitch’s text.

Wiping happiness from her mind, she focused on being furious and out of patience. Instead of replying to the text with a thumbs-up to let Nova know Eirene had received the message, she kept her fingers still. If she replied as usual, Nova would expect her to do as told.

Eirene killed the noise and watched her phone as she paced.

A duplicate text message came through thirty seconds later.

She did not move a finger.

Her phone rang. She answered and heard, “ What’s wrong with you? Answer the damn text, or you can forget—”

Eirene had reached her limit and was far enough away from the sisters not to disturb them. She snarled, “Shut. Up. Now.”

“ Who do you think you are talk—”

Undeterred, Eirene kept her tone firm. “Shut up or forget me doing another thing for you.”

“ You don’t want me to expose what you’re doing, Givenchy .”

The threat pushed Eirene’s final button with this woman.

She did not want this bitch to expose her connection with these female shifters on the run for many reasons, one being that SCIS would come after her for harboring rogue shifters and the sisters for being rogue.

Leszek would have all the ammunition that he’d need to tie up her future forever in court.

Her frightened chicks would have no one to help them then.

But she would not back down now. Not after being left with no help for Kesa.

Forcing ice into her tone as she’d learned to do with the paparazzi, Eirene warned, “If you try to hurt me or any of the women I’m helping, I’ll expose you .”

Silence.