Page 139 of Scent to the Feral Cowboys

"I see you, Nelly. I see you as you are right now," Wade countered, stepping closer. "A fighter. Someone who doesn't give up even when she thinks she has nothing left. Even running away from us proved that you’re strong, that you’re special, that you’re perfect.”

I shook my head, feeling the cowboy hat shift. “I ran away and ran right back. That’s not a fighter. That’s a coward."

"Nelly," he said, his voice softening, “sometimes coming back, sometimes staying, takes more courage.” He reached up slowly, his fingers hovering near my face without touching me. “May I?”

That question held childish hope. I couldn’t refuse him.

I nodded, barely breathing as he gently removed the hat and walked a few feet away to hang it from a black hook. I fidgeted with my hair, trying to come fingers through it. I felt exposed somehow, vulnerable in a way that had nothing to do with physical nakedness. Funny how removing a hat can remove other things, things like the walls you’d built to keep yourself safe, walls that had already been close to crumbling.

"Do you know what I see when I look at you?" Wade asked as he closed the distance back to me, his eyes never leaving mine. He stopped within arms’ reach, and I wanted him closer.

"Someone who's still running from something?" I offered weakly.

"Someone worth running to," he corrected. "Someone worth running for. Someone who needs a home base she never has to run from.”

The air between us crackled with tension. I could feel my Omega responding to him, my body betraying its attraction with each passing second. My scent thickened around us, sweet and inviting. His responded in kind, until the stables swirled with the combination cologne.

"I don't know how to do this either," I admitted. "I don't know how to trust again. How to believe that I won't be... discarded when I'm no longer useful.”

Wade's expression darkened. "That's not how packs work. That's not howwework."

"You keep saying 'we'," I pointed out. "But you're all individuals. What if one of you decides I'm not enough? What if Wyatt never warms up to me? What if Boone compares me to his past mate and finds me lacking?"

Wade ran a hand through his hair, his mouth began curving into a grin, showing off his gap. “What if Wyatt never warms up to you? Are you insane?”

I didn’t understand his smile; it didn’t make sense. Wyatt, the take-charge leader, clearly would prefer someone who followed orders better. No matter what he said at the breakfast table, he was used to being in charge and not having a wild card mucking up the works.

“I’m not insane. Wyatt wants someone he can control. Stay in her room. Listen to what he says. He might have tried to play it off this morning, but deep down you and I both know I’m not the docile Omega he’d prefer.”

Wade let out a slow whistle. “You are so off base it’s funny,” he chuckled. “You are exactly my brother’s type.”

"Excuse me?" I snorted, absolutely sure Wade was mistaken. Yet in his face I found no trace of mockery, only his endearing smile. I frowned, confused. "I saw Wyatt's face after I tried to run away. He was pissed. That man would rather hunt a mountain lion at night than go back in the house where I was.”

"Wyatt wasterrified," Wade rebutted, taking another step toward me. "He puts on a tough front, but underneath all that bossiness is a man who's scared of losing what matters. And you matter, Nelly. Already."

I felt my chest tighten. "You can't just say things like that."

"Why not?" His eyes searched mine, and I felt more exposed now than I ever had at Club Midnight. "It's the truth."

The air between us seemed to shimmer with possibility and I became hyperaware of every detail.

Water droplets clinging to his lashes.

Shirt still clinging to his chiseled chest.

Smile gone, but lips oh-so-kissable.

"You can’t say things like that, because it makes me want to believe you," I whispered.

"Then believe me." His voice was a rough caress. "Believe all of us. We want you. When we signed that Eros paperwork, we had no idea what would happen. We only knew that we’dsearched for our person. We’d searched and we’d failed, and we had to try something different. I can’t regret it, Nelly. I can’t regret it, because it brought us you.”

“I... I don’t know what to... I don’t have words.” The sob was pushing against my tonsils, desperate for release.

“You don’t need words, Nell. Just give us a chance.” He must have seen my expression minutely shift when he said that, because he rushed out the next words. “A chance while we wait for Eros’s answer. Give yourself a chance not to hate us, a chance to really know us.”

“I can’t promise anything.” I crossed my arms. “I’m just… God, I’m justso confused.” I hung my head, closing my eyes.What do you do if the supposed loves of your life betrayed you from the beginning? Even if they didn’t mean to, how do you forget that?

“You said you and horses don’t get along, right?” He changed the subject so quickly that I had to shake my head, as if my ears had gone out of focus and I needed to jog them back working again.