I was completely on my own here.

“How much longer will you have your phone?” Prisha asked.

“Probably not long. Klebus wants me to go to an SF safe house.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep, as long as Jakub’s still on the loose, I’m a sitting duck.” Anger burned through me again. I was so over all of this.

“Gods, this is all so incredibly unfair and sucks so much.”

“No shit,” I replied quietly. “Everything about this sucks.”

We talked for a few more minutes with promises to catch up again soon and talk as much as we could while I still had a phone.

After we hung up, for a moment I just sat there, staring forlornly at my mobile while feeling so incredibly isolated. I couldn’t remember ever feeling anything as bad as this.

A knock came on my door. I startled, not having heard the hunter approach on his silent footsteps.

“Yeah?” I called.

Kaillen cracked the door. “Mind if I come in?”

I shrugged. “It’s your house. I can’t really tell you where you can and can’t go.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, and then a flicker of gold appeared in his amber eyes. “I’ll leave you alone if you want, but I wanted to discuss a few things with you, about what you can expect tonight.”

My throat bobbed, and I hastily nodded. “Okay, sure. Come in.”

He prowled into the room. Since his hair was clean, his face shaved, and he didn’t look quite so horrible, I figured he’d showered and had taken a catnap.

“You look a bit better,” I commented.

Instead of a sly jab or a preening swagger—a response he would have given when we’d first met—he merely sat down on the floor opposite me, his expression heavy and clouded in so many unsaid emotions that I hastily looked away.

I clutched my phone, then ran a finger over the smooth turquoise case.

The silence stretched around us, but then I became aware of his sounds—the steady lub-dub from Kaillen’s heart and his soft breathing. It seemed true silence was a thing of the past.

“How do you deal with this?” I brought my hands to my ears. “It’s all so much. The smells, the sounds. I’m okay with the sharper eyesight, but the other ones? No thanks. Klebus smelled like a damned corpse. It was nauseating.”

I thought that last comment would get a lip tug from him, or some kind of smile, but that aching pain was still etched on his face.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry again that I did this to you.” His scent shifted, and a new tang, almost like mandarins and honeysuckle, entered it. Some inner instinct told me that he was being genuine. He wasn’t lying. He meant that statement to the depths of his soul.

“What does it smell like when someone’s being truthful?”

He cocked his head. “It kinda smells like oranges, but it’s a bit different.”

Hence why I also thought of honeysuckle. My throat thickened. So Kaillen was sincere in his apology, and hearing him apologize again cracked something inside of me. Even though I wanted to stay mad at him and rage at him, that damned practical side of me knew that he never would have intentionally done this to me. I knew deep down that if he hadn’t been so consumed with fear and the mate bond in the throes of my death, that he never would have spelled his blood, and then all of this never would have happened.

“I know,” I finally replied. “I know you’re sorry.”

A long pause followed, his breathing and heartbeat the only sounds in the silence. “Does that mean you forgive me?” he finally asked.

I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

The first hint of a smile ghosted his lips.

I smirked. It was just too damned easy to fall back into our old bantering and sarcastic ways.

He shifted from where he sat. “Has the itching started?”

I nodded. “It feels like ants are crawling under my skin.”

“And do you sense her yet?”

“Sense who?”

“Your wolf.”

My eyes widened to saucers. “I’ll sense her?”

He nodded. “That part’s unavoidable. From tonight onward, she’ll be within you. You’ll always be able to sense her, feel her, and talk to her.”

“Gods, that sounds so crazy. Like I’ll have schizophrenia or something.”

“Unfortunately, medication won’t fix this.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Was that your attempt at a joke?”

“It was, and it was a pretty bad one, eh?”

I shook my head. “Your Canadian’s coming out.”

The golden light in his eyes flared, his lips curving. “It is, eh?”

I bit back a smile as some of the panic in me eased. Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be super awful and painful. Perhaps Kaillen could distract me through the entire thing. “So you and your wolf talk, do you?”

“In a way. Our inner wolves don’t speak English and are fully animal, but it’s a symbiotic relationship. I help him. He helps me. Coming to learn who your wolf is and co-existing with them is vital to a happy and healthy relationship.”

That twisting sensation started in my stomach again. So maybe this wouldn’t be easy. “But what if I don’t like her? Or she doesn’t like me?”

“That rarely happens.”

“But what if it does?”

“It most likely won’t. Our wolves are a part of us. They blend into our beings and are an entirely natural entity within us.”

“Maybe natural for you, ’cause you were born to be this, but natural for me? I don’t think it’s ever going to be.”

Some of the sparkle that had appeared in the hunter’s eyes dimmed again. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing.” I scratched my arm again, then my legs. Ugh. It was like I had the chicken pox without the rash. “So does that mean I’ll have to, I don’t know, think about her or ask her permission about things?” That thought left a very sour taste in my mouth. In fact, all of this did. I already had a witch-twin bond with my sister. Having a second bond, or entity inside me, would just feel crowded.

Kaillen reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial of cream. “Use this. It’ll help the itching.”

As I began to slather it on my limbs—and oh my gods that felt so much better—he added, “The human side is the ultimate ruler, but your wolf can have strong opinions about things and try to rule you. You just need to make sure you exert your dominance.”

I stopped smearing whatever this magical lotion was. I’d pretty much used it all up anyway. “In what ways does one’s wolf try to rule?”

“The mate bond for one.” His eyes burned brighter, that gold hue flashing.

“Oh. Right.” ’Cause the dude had been totally controlled by his wolf when it came to me. My shoulders slumped as I was once again reminded that his attraction to me was due solely to his wolf. And thinking of that only reminded me that we hadn’t even broached that subject again.

The one time I’d brought it up and been honest with him about why I wasn’t jumping into a relationship with him, he’d disappeared for a run and then I’d been abducted.

I figured at this point, Kaillen had either forgotten about my rejection, or he was feeling guilty about putting me in that position so hadn’t brought it up again. I couldn’t blame him. I was in no hurry to start that convo again either.

I cradled my face in my hands. “I don’t want this. Any of this.”

A low grumble came from him. “They don’t rule us completely. My wolf didn’t make me—” He cut himself off.

I lifted my eyes to his. “Make you what?”

His eyes burned brighter, but then he glanced down when I began scratching my arms again. “Never mind. We don’t need to get into that now.”

I bit my lip as that cryptic statement swirled through my thoughts. Had he also been thinking about our conversation the morning I’d been abducted?

I was tempted to ask him, but then my stomach let out a huge growl and the sudden need for food, food, food completely overtook me.

“Oh my gods, I could eat a horse.” I clutched my stomach. “Or maybe I should eat a cow. Perhaps I should go that route since it’s more socially acceptable.”