please. Please.”
“I hurt,” I whispered, and passed out.
When I awoke again, it was in a luxuriously soft bed and cocooned in supple sheets white as new fallen snow. I felt…clean. Relaxed. Better than I had in a long time. Still a little tired, but nothing that wouldn’t be cured from lounging in bed for a few hours more. The room was more lavishly decorated than our small guest room had been. The walls here were whitewashed and fitted with furnishings in such a way that a feng shui master would be jealous. Between the time of my half-death and my newly awakened state, the sun had come back out and beamed happily through the frosted glass windows to my right.
I stretched and realized I was dressed in a white slip—and that my arms were covered with the scars of healed slash marks. I traced my fingers over them in awe…and horror. Lavawort always left scars behind after it healed. How many wounds did I have when the extract went to work? I closed my eyes and shifted on my pillows. Someone in the room let out a faint groan.
I opened my eyes again and gazed around. Then I tilted my head back. Wolf sat near the corner of the bed, leaning back against headboard, his head resting against the corner post. I wondered where Alex and Marianne were. No doubt they’d been taken care of as well. He whimpered softly in his sleep. He’d cleaned up, now dressed in blues and grays. His sable hair was brushed back as always, yet I wasn’t surprised to see the shadow of stubble on his face. Yet as good as he looked, dark circles ringed his eyes.
I yawned and stretched again, a satisfying cat-like stretch, unkinking all my muscles and waking up all my bones to renewed life.
My movements roused Wolf, and in the blink of an eye, he dropped to his knees beside the bed, clutching one of my hands in his.
“Caroline, I’m so glad…” he trailed off, unable to finish. His eyes misted over with tears. “Oh Caroline. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I…”
His face begged me, implored me to understand. To see that if he’d only known the kind of pain he would cause me, he’d rather have driven a knife through his own heart.
“She told you to break your promise,” I said, unable to get my voice above a whisper.
He looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. “I thought it was just my heart I was risking. It never occurred to me that yours…that you might….”
He put his hand over my heart, losing himself for a moment as it beat beneath his fingers. I covered his hand with mine.
“Tell me,” I said.
“It was a lie.” His words spilled forth as though I’d unleashed a dam. “Everything I said in front of her was a lie. The lake was real. Everything without her was real. I love you, Caroline. You’re my mate, my heart, and I love you so much. I lied because the witch told me if I learned the truth about you—about you being the Guardian—I’d have to break my vow. And then I did and she knew and if I didn’t play along she’d kill me and I’d never be able to rescue you.” He held onto my hands as though I might fall away if he let go and leaned forward to press his forehead to mine.
“You sent the wolves, didn’t you?” I asked. He nodded.
“I had a plan all worked out, but then you broke out first and I wanted to go after you so badly but I couldn’t, so instead I followed along and tried to work with Martock to figure out a way to save you and Marianne and Alex and, oh Caroline, I thought I would die when I saw you in that dress…”
I held his face away to search his eyes. “That was you? I thought I heard someone…”
“I couldn’t help it. I wanted to see you and then you were so beautiful and you smelled amazing.” He paused to breathe deeply, his eyes closing as he inhaled my scent. “I wanted to steal you away then and there and tell you everything. If only I’d known your heart was breaking. Caroline, my sweet Caroline. Can you ever forgive me? I didn’t know. If only I’d known.”
His voice dropped to a whisper. His nose gently touched mine, but he went no further. I swept my fingers through his