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Chapter Eighteen

Gram ate at Amelia’s mouth, wanting to explore every inch of her with his tongue. The smell of her arousal sent his wolf into high gear. It wanted to lay claim to her. So did he. But he couldn’t. Not yet. She needed to understand fully that he believed they were mates—destined for one another. She didn’t need him pawing all over her in the process.

If he dared to give in to his carnal urges for her, there was a high likelihood he’d claim her. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself. That wasn’t fair to her. No. He needed to gather control of himself and his hormones and explain everything.

Then he’d claim her.

He broke the kiss but didn’t stop touching her face.

She stared up at him with passion-glazed eyes.

He gave her a chaste kiss on the lips, despite wanting far more than that.

“I wanted to find you before I came to get a massage,” he said, unsure where to start, but he felt like blurting out the fact he thought they were mates might be a bit too much. “To explain that I was nae lying to you before, lass. Yer sister spoke to me.”

She nodded. “I know that now, and I’m sorry. You were right.”

It warmed his heart to hear her say as much. “Lass, I should get dressed so we can talk. I think, well, I’m sure, erm, we need to have a long talk.”

Her cool palm made its way to his hot chest. She ran her hand over one of his scars and teared up. “What happened to you?”

Already he’d have so much to explain away when it came to his past. A piece of him feared Amelia would reject him if she knew he’d cared for another woman—that he’d loved someone as much as he could, considering they weren’t true mates. He actually considered lying to her but thought better of it. “The woman and child Car spoke of before…”

She nodded.

He cleared his throat. “Brooke and I had nae been an item for a couple months as it was when her true mate came into her life again. She’d thought him dead, and I’d thought I dinnae have a mate of my own. I was wrong.”

Amelia remained close to him and he had to stare at the ceiling to avoid looking at her nipples through the sheer wet gown.

“Yes?”

“She and her wee one were tested on by horrible people. And these people were hunting them nonstop,” confessed Gram. “Once, they found them, and I was shot in the process. Brooke ended things with me then. She dinnae want me hurt in her battle. But, lass, I dinnae want to let go. I thought we could still work it out. It was nae until her true mate appeared in her life that I knew it was well and truly over. But that dinnae mean I’d leave them to defend themselves. When another attack came, I was there. I was attempting to get the wee one to safety when I was overrun by the enemy, injected with something that had an adverse effect on me, and then blown up.”

She gasped. “W-what? Blown up?”

“Aye. Was nae one of my finer days. But I dinnae let the little one be harmed.” He kept looking upward, more out of the fact he couldn’t face the woman he knew in his heart was made for him when he told her of another. “I wasnae expected to live, the wounds were that serious.”

He was greeted with dead silence.

She pulled her hand away from his torso, and her rejection hurt him worse than any explosion ever could.

“Lass, I’ve no right to ask for yer understanding, but…” He looked at her—and found her in tears.

“That is the sweetest, kindest thing ever, and I’m sorry you were hurt.” Amelia launched herself at him, tossing her arms around his neck and hugging him tight. She then sucked in a large breath and released him. “Ohmygoddess, did I hurt you more? I didn’t mean to.”

Gram caught her wrist. “Lass, you dinnae hurt me. I’m battered, scared of your reaction to what I just told you, and nae quite at full strength, but I’m nae glass. I’ll nae shatter. Unless you tell me to stay away from you, then I might verra well break into a million pieces.”

A questioning expression fell over her lovely face. “Why am I so drawn to you, and why do you care what I think?”

“Lass, I know we’ve only just met, but would you believe me if I told you I think we’re mates?”

Amelia took a small step back from him, but she didn’t run. He’d take that as a slight win. Any victory, even a tiny one, was welcome. “What makes you think that?”

A shaky laugh fell free from him as he adjusted the towel on his lap. “For starters, like I already told you, I had visions of you before I came here. You were in a gown much like the one yer in now, yer hair down the way it is now. And I could smell yer scent—honeysuckle and vanilla. It did to me then as it does to me now.”

She stared blankly at him before speaking. “I had a dream with you in it before you came.”

Gram did his best to hide his elation. “Aye, you mentioned as much, but you dinnae tell me what happened in the dream.”

“We were running. You were leading, holding my hand, trying to get me somewhere safe. But I didn’t know it was you right away when I saw you by the river.”

“How do you mean?”

She let out a long breath. “In the dream, I only saw you from behind. You were shirtless. I could see the scars on your back. When I came in here to give you a massage, I realized who you were—the man I dreamed about.”

Gram averted his gaze. “Lass, I’m sorry about all the scars. I understand they are nae appealing.”

“Gram, everything about you is appealing. I want to lick you all over.”

He groaned, trying to will his cock down. “Lass, the verra sight of you makes my cock so hard I think I could hammer nails with it.”

“Oh.” Her gaze went to his groin. “I think it probably could hammer nails. It’s really big.”

That was it, she was trying to kill him. He was sure of it.