N. Walters - Legacy Found

She’d spent time with Alex and Meredith, coming to like and respect both women. She’d also come to know her brothers much better. The more time she spent with them, the more she remembered.

Isaiah was the one she had the most memories of. They’d spent time talking and simply being together. The one thing she hadn’t been able to make herself do was shift into her wolf form. Too many years of training and conditioning had taken their toll. She was afraid of that part of herself even as she was coming to accept it in the people around her.

She’d seen all her brothers shift and run as a family. She’d longed to go with them but had been unable to make herself take that final step. James had stayed with her, his arm around her waist, telling her not to worry, not to push herself. That there was plenty of time.

Well, time had run out.

And then there was James. The man was insatiable. She smiled, a private smile of pleasure. She was insatiable too when it came to him. He came to her bed every night. Some nights they’d simply pleasure one another. Other nights, they’d go all the way. She still wasn’t comfortable saying they were making love, but she wasn’t going to label it simply sex. It was much more than that.

Just this morning, he’d rolled her onto her side facing him, draped her leg over his thigh and slid into her before she was fully awake. She’d opened her eyes to find him gently rocking them both to orgasm.

She’d clung to him after, not knowing what today would bring. She had to make some decisions about her future.

“Penny for your thoughts.” As though her musings had conjured him, James slid up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. It was a familiar pose, one she was coming to love. He made her feel cared for and safe.

“I’m not certain they’re worth that much,” she offered.

He released her and turned her to face him. “Let me be the judge of that.”

She leaned against the kitchen counter and stared up into his face. When had he become so important to her? She rubbed her hand over her forehead. “It’s been a week.”

James tensed, his expression going from lazy, tolerant male to fierce predator in a heartbeat. Yet, she didn’t fear him. A week of being with him and her family had gone a long way to helping her get past the years of imprisonment.

Not that she believed she was totally over them. No, it might take her the rest of her long life to put those years behind her. If she ever did. But she’d made a good start.

James had taught her that not all men were cruel. He’d shown her that there were good males out there. Those who stood by their word and protected those around them.

He’d also shown her that she was more than simply a werewolf. She was a female with a female’s needs. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, uncomfortable as the familiar blast of desire shot through her.

All the man had to do was look at her and she wanted him.

His eyes half-closed and he took a deep breath. She knew he could smell her arousal but she didn’t care.

“You don’t have to go.” He pulled her closer and rocked her hips against his rather large erection. “Stay.” He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over her temple and down her cheekbone. “Stay with me,” he coaxed as he nibbled on her neck just below her ear.

“I can’t.” It would be too easy to remain here, to let James continue to take care of her. She’d never learn how to stand on her own two feet that way.

After all her years of captivity, Shelley needed to be free. To make her own decisions. To forge her own path in life.

“I can’t,” she whispered. Her chest hurt and breathing became difficult. She wanted to stay but had to leave.

James tightened his arms around her briefly and then moved back a step. “Where will you go?”

Perversely, she wanted him to argue with her. God, what was wrong with her? She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep his warmth as long as possible.

Shelley shrugged. “Isaiah wants me to go to Chicago with him.”

James closed his eyes briefly and nodded. “When will you leave?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “He wants to leave this morning.” Her stomach was churning. She was making the right decision. Wasn’t she? If she stayed she’d have the pressure of all the males wanting to mate with her. Plus, the more time she spent with James, the more he’d come to mean to her. As it was, she felt as though she was freefalling without a safety net.

The panic attack hit her hard and fast. Her breath caught in her throat. Her skin went hot and then cold. Perspiration beaded on her forehead and her hands began to shake.

“Breathe.” James was beside her. He didn’t touch her but kept repeating that single word over and over. She kept her eyes on his face, memorizing every hard plane and line.

The feeling of fear and dread slowly receded and she was able to suck some much needed air into her lungs.

“That’s it,” he encouraged. “One breath at a time.”

The world seemed to stop as she watched him. She’d known him a little more than a week but he’d become such a huge part of her life. She was going to miss him so much.

Leaving was going to be like cutting off a piece of herself. But like any surgery, it was best done swiftly.

“I need to finish packing.” And that was a total lie. She didn’t have that much and had shoved all of it into her two shopping bags earlier this morning.

James stood aside and she scurried out of the kitchen, feeling his eyes on her until she was out of sight. Up in her room, she shut the door and sank down on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands.

How was she going to do this? How was she going to leave?

Swiping at the tears on her cheeks, she straightened her spine. “You have to do this,” she said aloud. She needed to get strong, to learn to accept her wolf, to shift. Maybe then she could come back on her own terms. Maybe then she could be the female James needed by his side.

That thought stopped her cold. That was why she was really leaving. She didn’t feel worthy.

James was alpha of this pack. He needed a strong female beside him, not one who was literally afraid of herself.

She needed to get beyond her past, to accept all aspects of herself. Maybe when she was finally whole again, she could be what James needed. Maybe then she could return and see where the attraction between them might go. Maybe it would be too late by then.

That thought made her heart ache. But she shoved it aside. She knew what she needed to do.

James wanted to drive his fist through the wall. He needed to feel the sting of pain to distract him from the total destruction of his heart. Shelley was leaving him.

He knew it wasn’t logical to feel that way. Shelley was doing what she felt she needed to do. Still, he felt betrayed.

After spending the last week in her bed, he’d thought he’d gotten through to her, thought she’d understood how he felt about her.

All the hair on his body bristled as the wolf inside him howled for release. He clamped his hands around the edge of the countertop, not surprised to see claws instead of fingers. He was close.

His mate was leaving him and he didn’t think he’d survive.

But he would because this was what she needed. He needed to set her free if he was ever going to have a chance of claiming her as his mate. If he kept her here, forced her to stay, she’d never forgive him. And he’d be as bad as those bastard bounty hunters.

No, as hard as it was, he was going to have to let her go.

His heart felt as though a gigantic boulder was lying on it. She hadn’t even left and already he was bereft.

Taking a deep breath, he straightened and rolled his shoulders. He could do this. For Shelley. For himself. She was only going to Chicago and would be with her brother. Isaiah would take good care of her, and James could find a lot of reasons to head to Chicago on business.