Chapter 197

Cara’s POV

As soon as the words left my mouth, I watched Noel, waiting for the moment the pain struck him. I saw it, aching as his face twisted with discomfort.

Quickly, he said, “I reject you too.”

Then, at once, he exhaled, and the discomfort eased away. He placed his hand to his chest.

“Are you alright?” I asked him.

“I am,” he said, but sounded out of breath. Then he looked up at me. “You? Did it trigger anything? Your wolf?”

I didn’t feel any different, but to honor his sacrifice, I closed my eyes and tried to reach out to Lucy. For a moment, I felt a flicker of her presence. Almost like she was waking up!

My heart leaped into my throat, even as it raced with blessed anticipation. She was reacting! She had to be! She was –

As soon as the feeling came, it dissipated, disappearing like it had never been there at all.

My heart sank back down to my chest as my disappointment swelled.

Noel was looking at me with hope and anticipation. It immediately evaporated when he saw the look on my face. “No good?”

“Almost,” I said. “For a moment, I almost…”

“I see.”

“Noel, I’m so sorry,” I said.

“Don’t be sorry,” Noel said. He smiled, the same as he had done many times in the past. “Just continue to be my friend.”

I tried to match his smile, even as I felt raw inside. I could only imagine what he felt like. Having been rejected in the past, I knew how devastating it could be.

“Of course,” I said. “We will always be friends.”

I offered him a hug and he accepted it. I could only hope that his broken heart would heal quickly.

He was a decent man with a strong conviction. He would make some woman very happy, hopefully sooner than later. He deserved his own happiness with someone who could love him back as much as he was ready to love.

When he left, I couldn’t help reflecting on the things he said, as well as his bravery at having said them. It made me think of Alaric, and of how timid I’d been in dealing with my feelings for him.

Since moving to BloodyMoon, I had become very good at pushing Alaric away from me. I’d told myself time and again that it had been a tactic to defend myself from future hurts, but I wasn’t all that convinced this was true.

More often than not, I wondered if what I’d truly been doing was punishing him for the hurt that he had bestowed onto me all those years I had wanted us to be together, and he had kept me at arm’s distance.

Whether by accident or on purpose, hadn’t I become the same kind of person? Keeping him away, refusing to accept his love, even when we both felt the attraction and affection for each other.

Even now, with doctor’s specific orders to keep Alaric by my side, he was still at the hotel waiting for my call while I was here without him.

Who was I hurting now? Both of us.

For someone who wanted to be strong, I felt like a true coward sometimes.

It was past time to amend this.

Alaric’s POV

I was surprised when Cara contacted me, wanting to meet me at the hotel lobby to discuss a few things. Usually I was the one who had to go to her, but this time, she was willing to come to where I was. I assured her she didn’t need to. I didn’t mind the travel, but she was insistent.

“I want to start meeting you halfway,” she said, which gave me pause.

Why on earth would she feel the need to meet me halfway? Did she think there had been something about her previous behavior that had been lacking?

Did she not understand how lucky I felt just to be part of her orbit? After everything I’d done to her in the past, even leading to her present condition, I truly had no right to be a part of her life at all. She didn’t owe me anything, and still, I would have been grateful for the scraps.

I would never turn her down though, so when she arrived at the hotel, I met her down in the more private area of the lobby, where several booths were arrange to accommodate patrons of the in-house coffee-shop.

After buying a coffee, I found Cara sitting with her own in the corner booth and quickly went to join her.

She smiled at me as I sat down, but it was a pained sort of smile that told me something weighed heavily on her.

“Did something happen?” I asked.

“Yes, but…” She cleared her throat. “Noel and I rejected each other.”

The news struck me like a blow to the face and I immediately straightened. I didn’t want to show too much joy, not when she was apparently torn up about it, but inside, my wolf and I were celebrating.

“Are you alright?” I asked, my happiness dimmed only by the remembrance of how much pain she had suffered the last time she had been rejected – when I had been the one to reject her.

That thought killed all lingering joy.

“I didn’t feel anything this time,” Cara said. “Noel thought the rejection might trigger a response from Lucy. And it almost did… I think… But, in the end, it’s the same.”

Oh. “Did you only reject him to try to reach Lucy?” I asked, worried.

“No,” she said. “It was dishonest to keep him tied to the bond between us. Not when my heart just wasn’t in it.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No,” she said, and her smile returned ever so slightly. “My heart belongs to another.”

“It does?”

“Yes,” she said, and laughed. “At least, we’re working on it.”

“We are,” I said.

“Which is one of the reasons I wanted to see you. I want to ask you something. Maybe I should have done it a while ago. I definitely should have asked this when Richard and Grayson told me how important our closeness could be…”

“Ask me anything,” I said.

“Would you move in with me?” she asked. “It could be a temporary situation. For three months or so? To see how things work. Maybe your nearness would awaken Lucy… Or maybe…” Her voice trailed.

I should have been elated by the question, and part of me was, surely. But another part of me was concerned.

I had hurt Cara so much in the past. Committing to this now, while she was in such a fragile state… What if I accidentally hurt her again? Would she be able to withstand it?

“We won’t hurt her,” my wolf grumbled, and it sounded like a threat.

Still, I didn’t feel as if I was worthy of her.

Yet, how could I possibly turn her down? If this could help her, I had to do it, and I was far too selfish not to want to be near her side as much as I could for as long as I could.

“Alright,” I said. “Three months.”