she was getting in deeper and deeper with every passing day. She’d sworn to him that she didn’t want him that way. And just that afternoon, she’d been silently begging him to kiss her.
What she needed to do was sleep, forget about this. Forget about what she wanted, what she could never have. And tomorrow, and the next day and the next, she’d work on herself. Being a better, stronger mother for her children.
It was near dawn when her wet and trembling body succumbed to exhaustion.
***
“Are you cold?” he asked her.
“Not at all. It’s beautiful, actually.” She smiled. “And I’m wearing my coat and drinking coffee. All good.”
It was their fifth session, and Reaux had suggested they sit outside on the patio behind his office. For days, he’d been trying like hell to remain impassive and clinical with Karen, but it was proving impossible. The stories of what she’d been through were horrifying, yes, but they were also proof of what an incredible female she was. Brutally strong, fiercely protective.
Stunningly beautiful.
He’d never felt this way about anyone in his life, and it unnerved him. Letting a female in, allowing her access to his heart…it scared the shit out of him.
“Do you have many sessions out here?” she asked him, warming her hands on her coffee cup.
“A few.”
“Caleb’s been asking about you,” she told him, a soft smile on her lips. “Wanting to go hunting for tracks again. He hasn’t had fun like that in…ever. I can’t tell you what it meant to me.”
It had meant something to Reaux too. And that surprised him. The boy, the mother. The pair. “He’s a fine cub.” His voice sounded tired. He hadn’t been sleeping well either.
“Did you mean it when you said you could scent a cat inside him?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. I’d never hurt him like that.” When she looked relieved, even pleased, he remarked on it. “You want him to be able to shift, don’t you?”
“He wants it,” she clarified. “Desperately. And I want him to have one amazing thing come out of that hell.”
She was amazing. Goddess, he was in trouble. “Are you prepared to be a mother to a puma shifter?”
“I am,” she said with unwavering confidence. “Bring on the cat. And I plan on staying here. It’s our home now, unless Raphael decides to kick us out or something…” She laughed, but stopped short when she saw his face. “What’s wrong? You look…angry.”
Reaux did a quick self eval. Anger? Yes. And at just the idea of Raphael sending this female away from the Wildlands. Away from him. Christ, it blazed inside him even now. Anger, possessiveness. What was happening to him?
And even as he asked the question, he knew the answer.
Karen was studying him with a slightly critical squint. “Are you like a few of your kind, Reaux?”
“What do you mean?”
“The anger…the questions about me being ready to be the mom of a shifter.” Her pale brown eyes never left his for a minute. “Do you think we don’t belong here? In the Wildlands? The rats, me, Caleb…”
He couldn’t tell her what was going on in his head. In his heart. Hell, what he’d been feeling since the moment she’d nearly passed out by his door, then clung to him and cried her eyes out. This beautiful creature who made every inch of him go hard and hungry and possessive. This soulful mother, who knew how to love, and gave her boy everything she had. He couldn’t tell her that he wanted her. That he was falling in love with her.
He placed her file on the tabletop and sighed. “I can’t continue this. I’m sorry, Karen.”
She looked down at the file, then back up at him. “What are you doing?”
“You need to find another Healer.”
“No,” she said sharply. “I want you.”
Those words tore at his insides. He could image ten different scenarios where she was saying that to him. “I’m sorry. It’s not working.”
A sudden icy contempt flashed in her eyes. “Why not?”
Don’t do it. Don’t you fucking breathe a word. The woman before him had been through hell, and all she’d wanted from him was an ear and tools to help her heal. Instead he’d fallen in love with her. Last thing she needed was some alpha male panting after her, demanding to claim her and her boy. And if this—her and him—continued another day it was going to happen. Soft, sweet and gentle—that was reserved for patients. When he