Colson kept his distance from Gretchen as they packed their clothes. He could feel her eyes on him occasionally, but he refused to look up when she did.

Gretchen sighed as she shook her head. “Are you going to continue to give me the silent treatment?”

Colson shrugged. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Gretchen rolled her eyes but stayed quiet. She didn’t want to say something she might regret, but they needed to figure out where they stood with each other and if this relationship was worth fighting for. “We’re going to have to talk about what happened sooner or later.”

“Then go right ahead; last I recall, I told you how I felt, and you told me it was over.” He folded his arms over his chest and waited for her to respond.

Gretchen was dumbfounded by his comment. Was Colson really going to hold what she said against her when she was under the spell? “You said some concerning things as well,” she retorted.

Colson leaned against the dresser in the room and stared at her with confusion. “I told you I wanted to make you mine forever,” he grunted.

“You growled it into my ear, and when I looked up at you, your eyes had changed colors. You sounded like your wolf had taken over, and you were forcing me to submit to you,” Gretchen admitted. “It scared me. You know that I am still sensitive and apprehensive about your wolf. We are still just getting to know each other, and I felt like you were moving too fast for us.”

Colson got up from the dresser to walk over to her. “You could have told me that we needed to slow things down. I wasn’t trying to scare you away.” He could see in the candlelight that a small section of her hair had fallen down in her face. Colson lifted his fingers and tucked the hair behind your ear. He could hear Gretchen’s heart racing in her chest. It pained him that she was still so scared of him. He lowered his hand. “I’m sorry,” he told her before walking out of the room and out onto the balcony.

It was still pitch black outside, but the fresh air was good for him. The clouds were moving quickly across the sky, and in the distance, he heard thunder. Great, a storm was coming, just what he needed.

“Colson, why did you walk away? We still need to talk about this,” Gretchen declared.

He grabbed onto the railing of the balcony and closed his eyes. It took everything he had not to pull her into his arms and hush her with his lips pressing against hers. But that was his possessive side talking, the part of him that she was still afraid of. How was Colson going to get Gretchen to be comfortable with his wolf?

“Colson,” she yelled out.

Colson lowered his head before he answered, “What?”

Gretchen stepped out onto the balcony but stayed behind him, talking to his back. “Are you giving up?”

He felt a stab of pain go through his heart when he heard the sadness in her voice. “No,” he whispered. “I don’t know if I can give you what you want. I will always be a wolf; I can’t change that. I won’t change that.”

Gretchen shook her head. “I didn’t ask you to change.”

Colson turned around and leaned against the railing. He could feel drops of rain hit him. The coldness of the night felt good against his skin. “I can’t stop being an overprotective wolf. My instincts will always want to protect you and guard what belongs to me.”

“That! That right there. You want me to be your possession; to me, that’s not being a partner or a mate. That’s you showing your dominance over me and wanting me to submit all of myself to you. I won’t do that; I can’t. Your sister, the coven; they all tried to use me and control me to do their bidding. I won’t live like that ever again,” Gretchen cried.

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky behind Colson as thunder boomed through the air. What started as a drizzle was now coming down in a pour. Colson was getting soaked, but he didn’t move an inch. He ran his hands through his hair; there were so many things Gretchen didn’t understand about being a wolf. He had a lot to teach her if he wanted this to work. Colson would need to be patient and go at the pace she was comfortable with. He sighed as he asked himself; was she worth it?

***

Merida clenched her eyes shut as she tried to take in a deep breath. Her emotions were running wild. It was still pouring as a bolt of lightning hit down in front of the hall building, as another crash of thunder shook the sky. The wind was howling as it blew across the dark city.

“Merida, you need to calm down,” Amanda pleaded. “You can’t go up against him when you are this upset. Something will go wrong.”

Merida shook her head as she tried to push Amanda’s voice to the back of her head. “You don’t understand. I have to get away from him; this is my only chance to be free of him finally. If this doesn’t work, he will always find me.” Merida cried out.

“Look, I get it; believe me, I do.”

Merida laughed. “Yeah, right; your mate is completely in love with you; he doesn’t try to control you.”

Amanda wanted to laugh so badly. “He did when he thought I was a frail human girl that he could constantly torment. Hudson found out on our first day of College that he was my mate. He had a lot of making up to do, and he has in so many ways. I will always remember what he did to me; I don’t think it’s something I can ever forget. But I’ve forgiven him, and our love has endured a lot of obstacles, including that curse spell you worked up.”

Merida’s spirits lifted. “It worked. Wait, how are you two?”

“I said we had to endure it to get past it. But unfortunately, Vita and her mate Deak are having the same problem.”

Merida shook her head. “Vita is experiencing pain because of me?” she asked.

Amanda nodded.

“Where is she? I have to try to help her,” Merida said.

“She and Deak are somewhere here in the city,” Amanda answered.

Merida smiled. “Perfect, I should be able to find her with little to no problem then.” She held onto the necklace, rubbing the gem gently, and said aloud, “Take me to Vita.”

She then disappeared.