I never believed for a second I would be knocking gently on the door to Maverick’s study a little while later.

“Come in,” he instructed and I opened the door.

Sebastian remained in the hallway as I entered.

Maverick eyed me out from his seat behind the desk. “Shouldn’t you be in resting?”

“I’m here to talk,” I said, feeling nervous. His body language was closed off and it wasn’t making it any easier.

This went against every instinct I had, making me feel vulnerable. There had been moments I had wavered and almost backed out but the thought of anything happening to Maverick had put the fear of God in me.

I couldn’t allow anything to happen to him and if that meant I had to come clean about my past I was willing to do whatever it took.

“About?” His eyes held mine and I swallowed.

“My past,” I breathed, feeling the mountain of emotions bearing down on me.

He linked his hands on the desk. “I’m listening.”

The fear that something would happen to him overrode the fear that I would lose him if I told him the truth.

“I’m an orphan.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t have a family, I’ve never had anyone who cared.”

There was a softening in his eyes but I didn’t want his sympathy. I had never wanted him to know how unloved I was, how alone I was in the world.

“No one has wanted me my whole life so I don’t know why someone would pay a bounty hunter to find me.” I shrugged. “I left the orphanage about a year ago. I’ve been drifting through towns since then.”

I held my breath for a moment to work up the courage to reveal the other stuff I didn’t want him to know. The fact that I had been on the other side of the law countless times.

“I’ve had some run ins with the law. I have a rap sheet.” I dropped my arms to my sides as I waited for his response.

“For what?” he asked, still studying me.

“Small things. Mostly my temper getting the best of me.” I hated admitting all of this to him. “And I’ve stolen things.” Shamed burned in me.

If there was one time I was truly ashamed of my actions it was then as I stood waiting for his judgement.

“How old were you when you were left at the orphanage?” he asked, softly.

“I was a new born baby, only a few days old I was told when I was left on the steps of a church.”

He frowned and stood. “I’ll need the name of the orphanage and I need your real name.”

There was so many bad memories and emotions I didn’t want to deal with tied to the name.

He waited. And I finally said it. “Mary Jane.”

He nodded. “What is the name of the orphanage?”

I pressed my lips together before I revealed it and he wrote it down.

“I’ll need a list of the towns you’ve been in since you left the orphanage.” He pushed a pad of writing paper and pen to me on the table.

I studied the pad before I sat down and picked up the pen. I resented having to lay bare my life with each town that I had been through since I had left the orphanage. There was a total of fifteen.

When I was done I shoved the pad to him. He picked it up and began to look through the list.

I was still waiting for him to say something, to reveal what he was thinking but his features were unreadable. I fidgeted as I waited, each second felt like a minute. Time seemed to slow down as I waited.

He set the pad of paper down. “Why did you run Victoria?”

He was still using the name I had given him instead of my real name and that meant something to me.

“I saw a man. There was someone following me. I saw him when I was out shopping with Lark. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that I’ve seen him in the last three towns I’ve been in.” I shrugged.

“What did he look like?” he asked.

He jotted some details down as I listed them.

“Dark hair, short, with a couple of days stubble growth. He wore jeans and a black top. Sunglasses.” It was all I could remember but it could be half the guys that lived in the town.

“Was there anything else more specific you could remember?”

I shook my head.

He set the pen down on the paper and I waited for him to say something as his eyes settled on me. Was he judging me?

“Are you going to say something?” I asked, hating the wait.

“What do you want me to stay. I’m still angry Victoria.”

I was nervous. I wanted to fix things between us but I had no idea how.

“Your actions were selfish and reckless.”

I bit my lip, knowing there was nothing I could say that would soothe this over. In the moment I had made the decision, it hadn’t been selfish.

“I keep thinking of what would have happened if the bounty hunter had succeeded. If I hadn’t tracked the car to pick up your scent. What if I had been too late?”

His eyes held mine with an intensity that made it difficult to hold. I swallowed.

“If I had been a minute late, you would be gone.” His tone stark.

“I’m sorry.” I hated to hear the emotion in his voice, the fear. “I thought I was protecting you.”

“I don’t want to think about what could have happened.” He stood and walked around the desk to stand in front of me. I stood. I had to lift my gaze to meet his.

“No more running Victoria.” He told me. “It stops now.”

I nodded, unable to talk. The emotion was too much. With him I felt so much.

“You aren’t alone anymore. I’m not going anywhere. Do you understand that?” His eyes darkened and I swallowed. He reached up to touch my face. I closed my eyes as the feeling of calmness radiated from his touch through me. I didn’t want it to end.

When his thumb brushed against my lip I opened my eyes and stared deep into his.

“And whatever happens we are going to face it together.”

I nodded. I didn’t want to be without him. He was the only thing that made sense in my life.

“We need to talk about the mating ceremony.”

His hand dropped from me, breaking the connection we had just shared. It left me cold and anxious.

“We were supposed to have our mating ceremony tomorrow but I don’t want to delay it. I wanted to give you a little time to get used to the whole idea but with what happened yesterday, we can’t wait any longer.”

“Why?” I asked. “What does that have to do with the bounty hunter?”

“You’re in danger right now and I want you to be able to shift. It will make you quicker and stronger.”

“Shift?” I asked, unsure of what he was talking about.

“To shift into a wolf.”

“What does the mating ceremony have to do with that?”

He rubbed his hand over his chin. “For a female to be able to transform into her wolf she needs the bite of her mate.”

“Bite?” I asked, frowning.

He nodded. “I know it sounds a bit barbaric but it’s the only way.”

A bite. From Maverick. I didn’t know how I felt about that.

“The ceremony is a a symbolic union, and the mating will take place after that tonight.”

“Mating?” I asked, unsure of what exactly that entailed. Images of his mouth on mine our bodies against each other, wanting more. I felt a bit hot under the collar.

“We’ll finish what we started in my bed.”

I swallowed slowly. I’d wanted to finish it when it had started, I was more than ready.

“Do you trust me?” he asked softly.

I nodded. It took a lot for me to admit that to him. It wasn’t easy for me to trust people, it was something I never did. I had learned too early on that I could only depend on myself.

“I promise, it will be good.”

If the kiss we had shared was anything to go by, I knew it would be.