Hunt Me! (I Crave The Chase) - Page 209

It’d been sunny the day I was taken. But the day I found my way home, Elmwood was blanketed in pillowy snow.

I hadn’t had many perfect moments in my life.

In fact, I hadn’t had any—not until I’d met Mutt.

There had always been a noose around my neck, my heart heavy.

But now I was…light.

Lighter than ever before.

I heard the steady thump of his heart, and knew he was telling the truth. Before, I would’ve killed to have this skill. To know without a doubt in my mind whether or not someone was lying. To know if Mutt’s “I love yous” were sincere.

But…I didn’t need to hear the steady thrum of his heart to know that anymore.

It showed in every action he took. In the little glances, the finger brushes, the way he breathed me in like I was enough to sustain him. The way he looked at me, bright and wide, and full of affection. The way he laughed simply because he enjoyed me.

The way he’d sacrificed himself. So terrified of hurting me and the others he loved, that he’d seen no other choice.

For so long, Mutt had given me his love, I’d just been too hurt to see what was right in front of my face. To trust it. To trust him. To trust the thrum of my heart and the love I’d felt bubbling up inside me in return.

I’d thought because I’d never loved before I had to second-guess it.

But I was tired of second-guessing.

I was tired of being scared.

And I thought…if there was one person who deserved my trust, it was Mutt.

So I said the three words I’d never said before.

Said them to the person that made my heart hurt, made my skin buzz, made my belly flip and my stomach tie in knots. Said them to the person who made me feel strong. Who made me hopeful for the future. Said them to the wolf who made me feel like I was whole.

“I love you” tasted like freedom in a way nothing ever had before.

And as Mutt took my mouth with his, his heart skittering beneath my palm, my tail wagging behind me, I knew with absolute certainty that I was lucky after all.

Because while I still had my issues, and those would never go away completely, I had so much to look forward to. No longer stuck in a replay of the past, I was ready to make new memories. To move forward in a way I never knew I could. It would be difficult, I knew. And there would be days with clouds, days when the memories resurfaced and the noose felt tight once again.

But things got better.

They got brighter.

For so long my life had been a tragedy. But one day it wouldn’t be. There would be a day when I forgot the pain of what I’d been through, when it would be simply another memory.

Like blood covered by snow.

Buried beneath the happy memories I was determined to make.

I had years and years and years with this perfect, silly, wonderful wolf. Years to rewrite my past, to fill my head with love and my heart with his warmth. And for once, I couldn’t wait to move forward.

Because Blair was right that day we’d sat in a graveyard and he’d cracked my chest right open.

He was right.

It was time to move on.

I deserved to be happy.