Love Me, Still(13)

She pulled back and looked away.

“Come, little one,” he said gently. “Let me return you to your cabin. You shouldn’t be out in the cold. You need rest.”

As they turned to walk back to the cabin, she looked up to see Cael and Riyu standing in the distance, watching her. Had they seen her kiss Niko? She pushed aside the guilt that plagued her, inserting anger in its stead. She had nothing to feel guilt over. Nothing at all.

As they drew closer to the two brothers, Cael stepped forward, wrapping an arm around Heather’s shoulders and pulling her against his side.

“Thank you for seeing to our mate, Niko. We will care for her from here.”

Niko nodded curtly and strode away, kicking up the snow with his boots.

Cael guided Heather into the warmth of the cabin. He could feel her trembling against him, though he wondered if it was just the cold.

Riyu followed behind, his stance awkward, his demeanor screaming helplessness. Cael understood that helplessness. Niko had offered Heather his protection. Had she accepted? Would she leave them to go with Niko now?

Cael couldn’t blame her for wanting to go, for not wanting to stay with the men who had hurt her so badly. But he also knew he couldn’t live without her. He would have to make his stand or risk losing her forever.

He guided Heather over to a chair in front of the fire. He eased her into the seat and tucked a fur over her lap. He eyed his brother over her head, silently communicating what he was about to do.

Riyu moved to Heather’s other side. Together they would fight for their mate.

“Heather, we need to talk,” Cael said as he pulled a chair at an angle to her.

Her blue eyes flashed at him, mirrored the hurt he knew she felt. He’d do anything to take the hurt away. To erase it. Make it never happen. But God, he couldn’t. He couldn’t change the past.

He slid his hand over her arm, enjoying the feel of her flesh underneath his fingers. “Do you love us, still?” he asked.

She tensed beneath his hand, and she looked away, but not before he saw the rim of moisture at her lids.

“We know you’re angry and hurt, love,” Riyu spoke up, his voice strained and edgy. “You have every right to be. But has your love for us died? Do we have any chance of making you love us again?”

Cael felt the tension in her, heard the stuttering of her breath as it tore from her chest.

“I never stopped loving you,” she whispered. “It is you who lost your love and faith in me.”

Cael’s chest sliced open at her words, and his stomach rolled. “Oh no, my heart,” he said as he gathered her into his arms. “Never. Not even when we thought the worst did our love vanish.”

He held her close, whispering kisses through her hair. Her heart beat wildly against his chest. Riyu reached for her, his need to touch her reflected in his eyes. Cael relinquished her to his brother, but kept close as Riyu’s arms folded around her.

“Can you ever forgive us?” Riyu asked hoarsely. “What we ask is no simple thing, but I beg it nonetheless. I can’t live without you, my love. If it takes the rest of my life, I will live every day to make up for the way we have wronged you.”

Heather was a mass of confusion. It was heaven to be back in their arms and the worst sort of hell. Niko’s offer rested in the back of her mind, a safe haven from the pain and agony of the decision that she must make. It was the coward’s way out, but she wasn’t sure she had the strength to be courageous. Not anymore.

She allowed herself the exquisite comfort of Riyu’s embrace for a few seconds longer before pulling away. She glanced between the two brothers, saw the fear and the anxiety in their eyes. They feared losing her. But hadn’t they lost her already? Hadn’t they been willing to go on without her? What if she had died when they’d left her?

Her eyes closed. She felt so weary. So torn. Never before had she faced a decision of this magnitude. One that had the power to affect the rest of her life in a way no other decision would. She could live out her life alone, denying herself the two men who claimed to love her, the two men she loved more than anything. Or she could take a chance, put herself into their keeping, something that before she would have done without thought or worry. But she didn’t have that luxury now.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I just don’t know.”

Cael looked at her with bleak eyes. “It is all right, my heart. You must rest. Get better. We will care for you. Take the time you need to make your decision. But know this. We will always love you. We will always care for you. Never again will you be left alone.”

She gazed up at him, wanting to believe him with all her heart, wanting to start over and forget the past. But it wasn’t that easy. It never would be.

Slowly, she looked away, turning her stare into the flames of the fire. “The hunters,” she whispered. “I don’t want them here.”

She wrapped her arms protectively over her chest, clutching at her arms as memories rolled over her.

Cael and Riyu both stiffened, and when she looked up at them, rage rolled off them in waves.

“It will be done,” Cael said in a dangerously low voice. “You will never have to look upon them again.”

She shivered at the intensity in his expression. He bent his head, hesitantly at first, and softly brushed his lips across hers.

It was a jolt to her system. She closed her eyes as a sense of homecoming hummed sweetly through her veins. When Cael pulled away, she felt bereft of his touch.