Love Me, Still(11)

She bent down and picked up a rock to break through the surface. Water bubbled over the small opening and she cupped her hands, collecting the ice cold water.

She drank greedily, taking gulps and refilling her palms quickly.

“You should have awakened me, love. I would have gotten the water for you.”

She nearly fell forward onto the ice in her surprise. Strong hands grasped her arms to steady her. She stared up at Cael who stood over her.

She flinched away from his touch, stumbling backward as she sought to stand. He put out his hands to help her but she warded them off, putting several feet of distance between them.

“What am I doing here?” she asked. “How did I get here?”

Behind him, Riyu approached, his gait wary as if he feared spooking her all the more. She took another protective step back. Her eyes darted back to Cael who stood there watching her, so much agony reflected in his eyes it made her wince.

“We went looking for you,” Cael said. “We found you at John Quincy’s cabin burning up with fever. We brought you home for our shaman to heal.”

“It wasn’t a dream,” she murmured. “You were all real.”

“Yes, love. We’re real.”

He hesitated and took a step forward. She immediately backed up unsure of what to do. What to say. What to feel. Why had they come for her?

“It breaks my heart that you look at me with fear in your eyes,” he said in a ragged voice. “Even as I know I deserve your loathing. I would prefer hatred in your gaze. But not the fear.”

“Cael—” She broke off and looked at Riyu who now stood beside his brother. Panic bubbled up. “Why did you come after me?”

She swayed a bit, and before she knew it, she was kneeling on the cold snow, bewildered at how she got there. Cael and Riyu were beside her in a second, picking her up with gentle hands.

She looked up at them in complete confusion. Across the snow, she heard a sharp cry. She followed the direction of the noise to see her mother-in-law hurrying toward them. Heather tensed and unwittingly shrank into Cael for protection.

Cael swung her into his arms, cradling her close. He strode back toward the cabin, meeting his mother half way.

“Not now, Mama,” he said sharply as he shouldered past her.

Soon they were back in the warmth of the cabin. Cael set her down on the bed and removed her shoes, shaking the snow from them in the process.

“You’re freezing,” he said as he wrapped her in the furs. “You shouldn’t be out so soon after your fever.”

She gaped up at him, still unsure if she was living some bizarre dream. Just to be sure, she reached up and feathered her fingers over his jaw. He closed his eyes and nuzzled into her hand.

She yanked her hand back, palming it with her other hand. “What am I doing here?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”

Cael knelt on the floor in front of her, his eyes earnestly seeking hers. Behind him, Riyu entered the room and moved over to the bed. He sat down beside her, keeping a small distance between them. He seemed to want to move closer, fidgeting, reaching for her with his hand before pulling away again.

“Heather, Riyu and I…we have wronged you terribly. We went looking for you to beg your forgiveness, to bring you home, back to us.”

He reached up to cup her cheek, his thumb smoothing over her jaw.

“You don’t think I betrayed you?” she asked in a bewildered voice. What had changed? If she lived to be a hundred, she’d never forget the look of hatred in her mates’ eyes that day.

“We were wrong,” Riyu spoke up. “Niko told us what happened.”

Heather’s spirits plummeted. She pulled away from Cael. She bent her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs protectively, pulling them to her chest.

“If Niko hadn’t come back and told you what really happened, would I be here now?” she asked.

An uncomfortable silence descended between them. Riyu made an agonized sound and moved to her side. He slipped his strong arms around her, hugging her to him.

She stiffened.

“Heather, even when we thought you had betrayed us, we loved you still. If you believe nothing else, believe that. I can’t tell you how much it hurt—”

She yanked away from Riyu, her mind flooding with anger. She stumbled from the bed, putting as much distance between the two brothers as she could.

“Don’t talk to me about hurt,” she hissed through her teeth. “I did nothing to earn your mistrust. Nothing. I was abandoned by my mates, the two men who said they loved me, who vowed to cherish me always. You didn’t even listen to me. You never gave me a chance.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she let out the anger that had simmered below the surface for so many weeks. She felt near to bursting. Like she’d explode any second.

Cael got to his feet, his eyes somber. “We were wrong, Heather. I won’t offer excuses. Our father was wrong. Our grief was raw, a terrible thing. We watched our father die, his last words condemning our mate, the woman we loved. It was a double blow. We reacted badly. We should have cared for you, listened to you, meted out justice for the wrongs that were done to you.”

His voice choked as he said the last, his face graying with sadness.

“Yes. You should have,” she whispered, the words catching as emotion nearly swelled her throat shut. “You should have believed in me.”