Page 24 of Rising Reign

I got into bed next to her, but doing so hurt. A stabbing pain lit in my chest because I loved her so damn much, and I was so scared of losing her. My hands fisted at my sides as I fought back the other things I was feeling, the ugly stew I didn’t want to admit to.

Wren turned onto her side to face me. A different sort of line filled her face, a searching kind. “You keep holding yourself back from me.” Her voice was quieter now, fatigue trying to pull her under.

“Sleep,” I whispered.

“Why?” Wren pressed, desperation bleeding into her voice.

“We’ll talk when you wake,” I promised.

She grabbed my tee, fisting the material. “Why?”

I stared back at her, unable to allow her to think the worst. “I’m mad at you,” I confessed.

“Mad at me?” she parroted.

I nodded. “I’m furious that you sacrificed yourself for Clyde. I’m terrified that you’ll do something like that again and that I’ll lose you forever. And I can’t live without you, Wren.”

“Locke,” she whispered.

I pulled her into me, urging her head to my chest. I held tightly, knowing she was safe if she was in my arms. “Sleep. We’ll deal with it when you wake.”

She tried to argue, but the pull of sleep was too strong. She slipped off, and I kept holding on. Because it was the only thing I could do.

15

WREN

I woke slowly, not because anything from the outside world woke me, but because my wolf was clawing at me. She kept nudging me until my eyes finally fluttered open. In sleep, I’d wound myself around Locke as if forming us into a human chain, refusing to let him go.

I winced and slowly released my vise-like grip. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

Locke let out a low chuckle. “I’m never going to be mad about being close to you.” But I detected a hint of sadness in his words. One I’d do anything to wash away.

I leaned back on the pillows, really taking Locke in. The room was still dark, but I let my shifter side take over so I could make out every detail. He’d removed his glasses at some point, setting them on the bedside table. A piece of his deep-brown hair had fallen across his forehead in the kind of disarray I usually only saw when he was at his computer. And there were circles beneath those beautiful, gray eyes.

Reaching out, my fingers ghosted beneath his eyes as though the featherlight touches could erase the shadows there. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Locke’s eyes turned guarded. “You didn’t⁠—”

“I did.”

He was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “It scares me…how much I love you.”

“Me, too,” I admitted. The depths in which I cared for every single one of these men—even asshole Ender—scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t imagine the shell I would be if I lost any of them.

Locke stared back at me, his gaze sweeping over me like the brush of fingertips. “And I’m mad.”

“Okay.” I had to take that because I wanted him to tell me how he truly felt and not lock it away.

“What you did was reckless. You could’ve been killed.” The words sounded animalistic, guttural and primal, roaring from somewhere deep inside.

“I couldn’t let Bastian hurt Clyde because of me. He’s an innocent. I never would’ve been able to live with myself.”

“I know,” Locke growled, pulling me so I straddled him, his hands sinking into my hair. “And I love you because you care so deeply for others. Yet part of me wants to lock you away just to keep you from playing the shield.”

I understood the urge. How many times had I been furious because one of the guys had taken a risk to protect me? Or the lengths they’d gone to in order to keep me safe? I dropped my head to Locke’s, pressing my forehead to his and breathing him in. “Maybe we need to trust each other a little more. Trust that this love we’re building will see us through, even if it’s terrifying in the moment.”

Locke’s mouth brushed mine. “I love you.”