Page 44 of In Your Eyes
“Samuel.”
“Yes.”
Walter took in a deep breath. “Jason told me what he saw.”
I furrowed my brow in confusion and said, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“When he came here with Rick. They saw you leaving the workshop.” He looked away again and lowered his voice. “They said you weren’t dressed and when they went in, they scented you on the trib—” He froze, and I realized I was growling again. “On Korban Keller,” he corrected.
Though Korban had assured me time and again that I hadn’t hurt him, that he had wanted us to tie, and that he would have stopped me if he had felt otherwise, I still hated myself for what I’d done to him. Because of that, when I tried to respond, no words came out.
“You have to stop,” Walter said. “I know they took your father from you. They took my closest friend from me. They took our Alpha from us. But your father wouldn’t have wanted to tarnish your soul with this type of revenge. Torturing a man sexually is unacceptable.”
“What? No! I didn’t… I mean, I….” I had tied with him, that much I couldn’t deny, but I hadn’t tortured him. Even when I’d lost control and tied with him in our animal forms, my intent had never been to hurt Korban.
“There’s no point in saying it isn’t true, Samuel,” he said tiredly. “I can smell him on you now. His scent is as strong as yours.” He paused and tilted his head to the side. “His scent is as strong as yours,” he repeated slowly. “That doesn’t make sense.” He stepped closer to me. “No matter how much contact a shifter has with someone else, his own scent always remains strongest.”
He was talking to himself, processing what his senses were telling him. Walter Clemson was an intelligent man. There was only one possible explanation for my altered scent, and he’d realize exactly what it was on his own, which would be more effective than anything I could say.
“I can smell soap on you too.” He had come near enough to touch me and he did just that, reaching forward and smoothing his hand over my head. “Your hair’s damp. That means you just bathed. His scent should have washed off you.” His eyebrows furrowed together. “Why hasn’t his scent washed off you?”
I stayed still. It wouldn’t take him long.
Leaning down, he inhaled deeply. “Wait. His scent isn’tonyou. It’s your scent.” He jerked as if I’d hit him. “Your scent is different.” He shook his head quickly. “No, that’s not right. It’s the same, but it’s different. And Korban’s is there too, below the skin. It’s like they’re combined, like they’re braided together, like—” He gasped and stared at me wide-eyed, realization having set in. “How?”
Tilting one corner of my mouth up in amusement, I raised my eyebrows and gave him a knowing look.
“Notthat. I know how, but….” He stumbled over to a chair and collapsed in it. “He’s your true mate?”
“Yes,” I said proudly. “He is.”
“HEY,” KORBANsaid as I started walking up the stairs.
I snapped my head up. “Hi.” My mind had been on my conversation with Walter and what I needed to do next, so I hadn’t noticed him. “How long have you been sitting there?”
“I finished up in the shower pretty soon after you left. Then I called a couple of friends to find out what’s going on in Miancarem, but that didn’t take long, so”—he smiled softly—“a while.”
The living room was immediately adjacent to the open area at the bottom of the stairs, and rather than a doorway, it had a large arched opening. With the way sound traveled, a shifter standing—or in Korban’s case, sitting—on the stairs would have been able to make out most of my conversation with Walter.
“How much did you hear?” I asked.
“A lot.” He scooted over to the side and opened his arms. “C’mere.”
I rushed up the stairs, sat down, and hugged him tightly. “I made so many mistakes.”
“You didn’t torture me,” he said. “You didn’t hurt me. I already told you that. Your pack member was wrong.”
Though I doubted I’d ever come to terms with the circumstances surrounding our first mating, I knew Korban harbored no bad feelings over it. But it was only one of my mistakes.
“Not only that,” I said, burrowing closer to him, surrounding myself in his scent and heat. “I demanded retribution without thinking through all the possible outcomes. Now Miancarem has an issue with its leadership and my pack sees you as nothing more than a tribute. I should have realized that would happen. I should have recognized who you were to me much sooner. I should have admitted to my father that I’d never tied and that was the reason I had trouble shifting into my human form. I should—”
“Whoa, slow down,” Korban said. “My brain and my ears need a minute to catch up.” He combed his fingers through my hair and kissed my head. “How long had you been having trouble shifting?”
“A few years.”
“Me too. Except for me, it was harder to get into my wolf form.”
“Really?” I leaned back and processed that statement. “I wonder why. You’re male, and male wolves need to tie to hold on to their human halves, not to release their wolves. Plus, your wolf was already free.”
