In Reach?
Compromise

Mira’s POV

Aiden brought me down to the infirmary for a so-called check up. I dragged Alex along with me, and I’m glad he followed without question. But Liam is also here, following us, -me.

I’m still a bit confused with everything happening right now. I know that Liam let me out of the cell, but I don’t know if I’m going back. Is that why he’s here waiting for me?

I know that Alex knows about werewolves apparently, and he himself is a hunter. I’m still surprised about that. But then again, it’s not like we did tell each other everything, we just made sure to never lie to each other. So I guess that I can’t be mad at him for not telling me. But how did he know I had a dormant wolf?

I know he told the others more about me and why I’m here. I really hope that finally having someone on my side here will help the others stop suspecting me of nonsense, or at least protect me from it. But I can sense their watchful eyes on us, -on me and Alex. I doubt I can trust them now. The only one I know I can trust is Alex.

But Liam is just standing there, staring at me like he’s confused. He’s leaning in the doorway with his arms folded, right in front of me and staring straight at my hand holding Alex’s.

I don’t know what he knows or thinks about Alex, especially what I showed him last time. I can’t tell if he’s jealous, annoyed or happy. I can see a hint of a smile on his face, but I don’t know why. He’s been like that since we were upstairs. But he’s clenching his jaw like his teeth may just shatter any second now. It’s a really weird look on him.

As I look away from him, I notice Alex staring at Liam, but he’s tightening his hold on my hand.

But I’m distracted with a touch on my other wrist.

“You don’t seem to be bruised too badly.” Aiden focuses on the rest of my body. “Just a few scratches, but they should heal in no time.”

He gives me a gentle smile, but I don’t know if I should return it with everything going on, so I just give a slight nod at him.

I feel Alex tugging me off the clinic bed, by my hand he didn’t let go of. My feet barely touch the ground when Liam takes a step forward from the doorway, letting Aiden leave.

“I need to speak with her.” I know Liam is speaking to Alex even though he’s still looking at me.

Alex smirks and pulls me closer to his side. “Okay.”

Ggrh. Any form of a smile left Liam’s face. “Alone.”

Alex looks at me with a curious expression. He doesn’t need to ask out loud. I just nod letting him know it’s fine.

I can’t avoid this, -avoid talking to Liam. I need to know where we stand. Am I still his prisoner, or am I free to leave? Or…..will he want me to stay, - want me, choose me?

Alex gets me quickly out of my thoughts as he cups my face to regain my attention. “I’ll be close, so just shout if you need me.” He kisses my forehead and heads out.

When I look at Liam I can see frustration on his face, but I sense an ache in my chest. Is it his pain, is he hurting?

The room is silent as we’re both just staring at each other.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Liam steps closer to me, but very slowly.

“What,….what do you mean?”

Grh. I hear a rumble in his chest. “Why didn’t you just tell me about your past? Why did you keep quiet, like someone trying to hide something?” He stands still, right in front of me, our bodies just an inch apart.

“Because I did have something to hide.”

He has never seemed to be satisfied with me. I always seem to disappoint him. What happens if he regrets marking me? Can he still reject me? Oh dear god…….I don’t know what I’ll do if he does that.

After opening up to the idea of loving him, and letting him love me, I don’t know if I can just walk away from it, from him. It’s probably best if I just leave before he rejects me. That way, he’ll be free of me and the trouble that always finds a way to follow me, and I’ll……I’ll….I don’t even know what I’ll be without him.

I can feel my eyes tear up as I bite my lip from these aching thoughts.

Liam pulls me into his chest an cups my face, as if ready to wipe the tear should it dare to fall. “What is it? What’s wrong? What are you thinking that’s hurting you so?” I can feel his soft breath on my face.

I place my hands on his chest, not sure if I should push him away or hold onto him, should it be my last.

“I’m not what you want me to be.” He looks confused and stares deeply into my eyes as if searching for an explanation through them. “I didn’t know what to tell you. Since the first day I got here, I was in your bad books. Didn’t matter how hard I tried to tell you, to show you that I’m not the bad guy, the more you focused on the tiniest detail to prove me wrong. What would telling you about my past help in any way? It will just prove that I’m not so innocent, that I’m not what you want.”

The tear finally falls but he doesn’t wipe it with his waiting hand. He just lets it flow down his thumb.

My breath hitches when he suddenly leans his head against mine, and pulls me tighter against him. “I want you Mira. I’ve always wanted you.”

“Stop playing with me Liam.” I now try to push away from him. “You say such things, but then you just push me away again. Please, just stop.”

“No!” I freeze in his hold, not sure if he’s annoyed with my words or me trying to push away from him. “I didn’t push you away because I didn’t want you. I wasn’t trying to fight you, I was fighting myself, ……my fears. I’ve become the Alpha I am because I was always fearless, because I always knew I had no weakness, nothing to risk when leading my pack or going against enemies. But when you showed up, everything changed. You were the one thing I always thought impossible for me to have, to deserve. Ever since you came, I felt this intense swallowing fear in my gut that you may be real, that you may just be my weakness.”

“Is that why you push me away, - because I’m your weakness?” My voice practically breaks saying those words. I don’t want him to see me as bringing him weakness. Is this why he doesn’t want me near his pack?

“I was so afraid to admit that I want you, because I was afraid of losing you. But I know now, that I not only want you, but I need you too. You are mine.”

“You want me?” He said the very words I wanted to hear.

“Yes Mira, you have no idea how much I want you.” He smiles as he inhales my scent.

Liam wants me. But what does this mean? Where do we go from here?

“What does this mean? Am I still your prisoner? Am I free to leave?”

But Liam’s smile quickly fades. He lets go of me as he steps back and runs his hands through his hair. “What the fuck are you asking? Hmh? So what, this whole time you just saw yourself as my prisoner? And now…….now you want to leave?”

He roughly grips my arm and pulls me to him again. “I’m not letting you leave me!”

With the glow in his eyes, I know it’s his wolf. This controlling sadist always pops up randomly, but I feel a tingling sensation in my stomach at his possessiveness. I know I shouldn’t like it, but I like the idea of Liam and his wolf wanting me. My mate wants me.

I glide my free hand up his naked chest, trailing up to his face. He seems to calm down at my attention to him, still staring straight into my eyes. I think I’m starting to get a handle on his wolf. I can’t help but smile at the idea.

“I didn’t say I was leaving.” I feel his grip loosen on my arm. “But I think that you and I need to work on this, on us. We started on the wrong foot. We need to work on getting to trust each other. Okay?”

“Okay. And how do you think we should go about this?” He asks with a slight smile on his face.

“For one, you don’t have anyone follow me around like I’m some terrorist.”

“But you have to stay on pack grounds, and near me at all times.”

“Li-am.” I basically whine.

“What?”

“You have to trust me on my own.”

“I do, I will. But I have to keep you safe.”

“Alex can keep me safe.”

Gggrh!. “You asked me to trust you, not him.”

“But he will never let anything harm me. You should know that.”

“I don’t care. Keeping you safe is my job, as your mate.”

I can see the finality in his eyes. There really is no hope arguing. I guess I should be happy that he’s at least considering the idea to compromise with me.

“Fine.” He smiles brightly. “But no more locking me up.”

“Of course. None of that, ever. And you should not keep things from me. Tell me, everything. Doesn’t matter how small.”

Damn. He wants me to tell him ‘everything’. I don’t even do that with Alex. It’s not like I’m some safe with deadly secrets, but I’m still so insecure about trusting people with deepest thoughts.

I can see Liam lifting his brow waiting for my confirmation.

But this is about trust right? It is a two way road. And I want him to trust me as much as I want to trust him.

“Okay.” I practically stutter. “But you should also not keep things from me. There’s so much I don’t know.”

“Okay. What do you want to know?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know what it is I don’t know. I just hope you will be willing to answer me when I ask.”

“Of course.” He looks at me waiting for another request. “Anything else?”

“For now, no.”

He smiles brightly as he pulls me into a searing kiss, making my fingers and toes tingle. It wasn’t even that long, but I’m somehow left out of breath.

“What…..was that?” I ask through short breaths.

“I’m just happy to have you in my arms, happy to know you’re staying, that you want me.”

But this makes a guilty knot in my stomach to grow. I just want us to try and work things out, I’m not confirming that I will stay. He seems to notice my change in mood as he looks worried.

“Liam, I said we should first try to work on things before we decided on anything. I mean, what if we spend more time together and something happens?”

“Something like what?”

“What if…….what if you realize you don’t want me?”

“That would never happen.”

“But what if,-“

“No.”

“Liam,”

“Mira. Nothing can make me not want you. Not even your frustrating habits and your infuriating need to contradict me. You need to go into this with the hopes of it working. I’m trying to face my fears, it’s time for you to do the same. Can you do that for me?”

He’s right. If I try this, I should go all in.

“Yes.” I whisper.

“Okay. It’s getting late.” He pulls me by my hand out of the infirmary. “Let’s go shower and go to bed.”

“Wait what? Shouldn’t we take things slow.”

“Exactly, slow, not backwards. You can’t expect me to treat you like a stranger, not when you’re wearing my mark. Besides, all your things just got moved into my room, there’s no way they’re going back now.”

He continues to pull me along, upstairs to our room I assume.

“But I don’t want you to think that you can just sleep me when you feel like it just because of the mark.”

“What? Mira, don’t talk such nonsense. You know I would never force it, not that I’d have to.” He may be walking in front of me as he’s pulling me along, but I can sense his smirk. “But don’t worry, we said we’re taking this slow, so no sex until you want it, or beg for it.”

“This isn’t some challenge for you, you know.”

“I know, but there’s no way I’m going to bed without you in my arms.”

“But I should probably at least go say ‘goodnight’ to Alex. We barely had a chance to talk.”

“No. You guys can catch up tomorrow. Besides, I’m sure Theo is showing them their rooms right now and like I said, it’s already so late. Everybody must be exhausted after the day we all had.”

There is no point arguing with him when he has an answer for everything. So I just let him pull me along, a little excited to snuggle against him tonight.

I woke up this morning feeling unsure of what I even meant to Liam, and now I will go to bed knowing that he wants me and that we both will try to make this work.

I know that things won't be that easy between us. Yeah sure, things just flow naturally between us, but there is so much distrust and concerns between us. Even I am still a bit bothered with the fact that he had me locked in a cell and chained up, to torture my thoughts.

I really want this to work between us. I don't want memories of pain to be related to him.

I really hope things will only become better from here on out.

But unfortunately for Mira, this wasn’t the beginning of her happy ending. Selene can do nothing but watch Mira with sad eyes, knowing her tragic fate. Selene knows she can’t interfere, but she tried to at least warn Mira.

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