After two weeks...
.
.
VICTORIA STOOD AT HER BEDROOM window overlooking the view outside, before someone knocked at her door,
Interrupting her confused thoughts.
“Come.” She let the gauzy curtain drop and turned.
Lukas opened the door but remained in the hall. “May I have a word with you? Please.”
She nodded mutely.
He hesitated. “I thought we could take a turn around the garden?”
“Of course.” It would be better for her to talk to him alone outside. Also, she needs more air.
Yes she recovered from her wounds, quicker than she thought. The healer told her that the bond between her and Lukas help a lot.
She caught up a woolen shawl and preceded him down the stairs.
He held the door for her, and Victoria stepped into the cold sunshine. One of the old servant in the kitchen owns a vegetable garden and it was in a sad state this time of year.
The hard earth was crusted with a thin layer of killing frost. Skeleton stalks of kale leaned in a drunken row. Beside them, some thin onion leaves were frozen to the ground, black and brittle.
A few shrunken apples, missed at picking time, clung to the bare branches of the pruned trees. Winter overlaid the garden in a sleep that mimicked death.
Victoria folded her arms about herself and took a steadying breath. “You’re avoiding me after my recovery.”
He nodded. “I can’t accept the fact that I can't even protect you and I can't face you knowing that I am a weak coward mate who put you in pain for a week . . .” He grimaced.
“It was my own weak self that made you suffer. I can't accept the idea that I promised to make you feel safe but it was you who save me instead I."
“So why face me now?” She couldn’t look at him and remain impassive, so she kept her gaze on the rattling tree branches.
“What gives you courage and strength to face me now?”
He laughed, a harsh sound. “Because I miss you... I really miss you Victoria. Yes, I was wrong for avoiding you, but please don't push me away, I need you Victoria. I-I love you.”
She did glance at him then. His face was bitter. And lonely.
“Why do you say that? Why do think that way? That I will push you away? Why do you think that I need your protection from time to time? If you can protect me—then why am I not allowed to do the same thing?” she asked.
He hesitated, appeared to debate, then finally shook his head. “There is so much you do not know about me, will never know about me. Very few do, and in your case, I prefer it that way.”
He wasn’t going to tell her, and she felt an unreasoning spurt of rage. Did he still think she was a glass figurine to wrap in gauze? Or did he simply not respect her enough to confide in her?
“Do you really prefer I don’t know you?” She turned to face him. “Or do you say that thinking I am some kind of naive woman you meet? So this is why I still felt like I am talking to some stranger even though you marked me as your mate.”
“Think?” His lips quirked. “You cut me to the bone.”
“You’re fobbing me off with blather.”
He blinked, his head rearing back as if she’d slapped him. “Blather—”
“Yes, blather.” Her voice trembled with anger, but she couldn’t seem to steady it.
YOU ARE READING
Feral Hearts
Werewolf'Mate her!' Lukas's beast roared from within. The outburst surprised him. Unlike some situation where his wolf wanted blood from his women now, it's a bit different. He wanted to mate not only to have sex but to own the witch for good, marking her w...
