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Deep down, I knew she wasn’t.
    “I’m not pushing you away,” I said, after a long moment. “I just want things to feel right between us. We shouldn’t have to rush.”
    Finally, she crumpled in my arms, surrendering, at least for tonight. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her. God knew I did. But it was something I wanted her to experience, to remember it without regret, and if we rolled into bed at that very moment, I knew she would. She’d regret it, then hate me for it even more.
    Reaching behind the bathroom door, I handed her a navy blue robe along with one of my T-shirts that hung down to her knees. And as we headed back downstairs, I tried to convince myself I’d done the right thing—even if every ounce of me insisted I hadn’t.

Chapter Five
     
     
     
    Tucker
     
    That night, after we were both dressed and fed, we returned to the main room of the house. It was the warmest place in the cabin without lighting the fireplace in the master bedroom, and it was still too early to go to bed— to sleep, anyway. And she already knew how I felt about that.
    Emma sat in the chair opposite me, her legs curled beneath her as she sipped a cup of tea. After everything she’d experienced today, it amazed me how much she seemed to belong there, as if I were the one who was out of place.
    I caught Emma smiling at me and I sat up. “How long have you been in love with me?”
    It was an honest question. While Emma hadn’t told me, it was almost as if I could read her thoughts just as easily as she could read one of her books. I knew she’d already fallen in love with me before I’d picked her up at the psych ward. Her body language since we’d left had been evidence of that.
    Emma stared down at her tea, the warm liquid steaming against her face. “A while,” she admitted, furrowing her brow. “I’m not really sure.” She adjusted her weight in the chair to look at me. “You were my escape, you know?”
    I cocked my head to one side.
    “Even though I couldn’t leave the ward, my dreams…my thoughts of you let me escape. I guess I’ve sort of loved you ever since you left.” She shrugged.
    “It makes sense, especially because of where you were.”
    I couldn’t even imagine what had gone on within those walls, and I didn’t have the heart to ask. If she’d used her memories to escape, it was only fair for me to keep it that way. Making her look back on the ward and everything inside it would’ve done more harm than good.
    “I’m sorry I took so long,” I said, hanging my head.
    Emma hugged her mug in her hands, its contents seeming completely forgotten. “Couldn’t you find me?”
    I licked my lips. “I never lost you, Emma, but I couldn’t shift. Not until recently.”
    “How recently?”
    “Your eighteenth birthday.”
    “But that was two months ago,” Emma pointed out, sounding hurt.
    I nodded. “Yes, but I needed to round up some papers to get you out first. They wouldn’t have let you leave otherwise, and I didn’t want to risk getting caught until I was sure I had all the necessary documentation.”
    “Is the bonding…” Her voice shook, and she looked away. “Is that the reason you had to wait until I was of age?”
    “Mostly. It was also because I wanted you to be sure.”
    “Sure of what?”
    “Your dreams, me, how you felt about what I told you so long ago. The other guardians might have been able to take you much sooner, but I needed you to need me, to want my company before I’d come to you.”
    “Because of the imprinting.”
    “Yes.”
    “What about you?” Emma asked, her eyes on me. “When did you fall in love with me?”
    I stared at the flames in the fireplace. I’d only ever been in love twice, and both times I hadn’t been able to explain it. The first time I fell in love with a guardian, it was a mix of being in love with the idea of bonding with a wolf, as well as becoming one. And I was sure Emma felt the same way. But now, I couldn’t say if I’d