Chapter 206
0206
(Lily POV)
James took my hand and silently led me to the couch. He then sat down and pulled me onto his lap. I
buried my face in his chest, and he nuzzled his chin in my hair.
“Are you okay?” he asked me.
I nodded. “Yeah. It just sucks. I never meant to hurt him.”
James did not say anything, so then I added: “I am sorry that you had to hear all of that. That must have
been uncomfortable for you.
“No, you were right. I never would have agreed to leave you two alone. And if you had actually tried to talk
to him via mind-link, I would have interrupted every few seconds. As it was, it took all my willpower not to
storm in and put an end to Brady yelling at you. You did not deserve his guilt trip.
“I sort-of did though. I led him on. Not on purpose, but I did,”
“Do not blame yourself, Lily,” James said in a determined voice. “Brady saw what he wanted to see. That
was on him, not on you.”
I reached for James’ hand and intertwined our fingers together..
“Thank you.”
For a minute, neither of us said anything else.
After a while, I looked up at him, and he seemed to be lost in thought. I realized that something was bothering him.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Yes. I am here with you,” he responded simply.
“The apartment looks beautiful,” 1 commented after another couple minutes of silence, hoping to get things back on track.
“I wanted tonight to be special.”
I reached up and stroked his cheek. “It still will be.”
James did not say anything. Instead, he went back to whatever thoughts were churning around his head.
“How did you do it, Lily?” James finally asked me. There was a surprising amount of somberness in his
“How did I do what?”
“How did you forgive and forget so easily? Brady was right about how much I hurt you. He was also right about how little time has passed. How did you do it?”
1 got off James’ lap and sat on my knees so that I could look him directly in the eyes. I saw fear, shame,
and concern looking back at me.
“Are you worried that I am going to change my mind?” I asked him. “That I am going to regret being with
you?”
“Will you?”
“No.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Two reasons. One, I trust Rose. And she wants this as much as I do.”
“But Rose-
I put one finger on James’ lips. “No buts. And I’m not done.”
James scowled at me, but I kept going anyway.
“Two, regardless of what Brady said or what you might think, I did not ‘forgive and forget.’ I have forgiven
you, but I have not forgotten.”
James gave me a strange look. “What are you saying?”
I took both of his hands and looked at him seriously.
“I am going into this relationship with my eyes wide open. I did not forget what you did, and I am not
pretending that it did not happen.
When I think about those awful six years, it still bothers me a lot. I still have a lot of emotional scars from
that time period, and I do not know if they will ever go away.
But you were only responsible for some of what happened. And I now understand why you did what you
did. Our parents manipulated you and everyone else as well. You were just a kid when they started playing
with your mind and with your emotions.
You are not blameless in it all, but everyone makes mistakes. I truly believe that you are so much more
than your mistakes or those horrible six years. I have seen and felt the changes in you, and I have seen
I do not believe what happened in the past defines who you are, and I do not believe that it has to define
who we are together.
You are the only male who has ever made my heart sk ip a beat just by walking into a room, and you are the only wolf-male or female- who I have ever felt completely comfortable being myself around-good, bad, or indifferent. You also are the only wolf that I have ever known that can somehow make me feel safe and protected while at the same time not treating me like a broken, helpless princess.
You are also the first and only male who I have ever truly loved, and now that I realize how I feel about
you, I will be d&&ned if I let you go.”
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